U.S. Rep: Southwest Key holding 500 of 2,000 separated children
For a second day in row, members of Congress toured facilities in Brownsville that house both unaccompanied minor undocumented immigrants and children who have been separated from parents who allegedly entered the country illegally.
On Monday, U.S. Reps Filemon Vela, D-Texas; Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.; Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas; Ben Ray Luján, D-New Mexico; Frederica Wilson, D-Fla.; and Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, toured the Southwest Key Programs Casa Padre and Casa Presidente facilities.
Their visit came less than 24 hours after another congressional delegation led by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, participated in a whirlwind tour of Border Patrol facilities and detention centers in the Rio Grande Valley.
Both visits provided new insights into the Southwest Key Programs in Brownsville, which became the center of a national firestorm after staff at the facility called the Brownsville Police Department two weeks ago on Merkley who attempted to enter the shelter for a tour.
Merkley and all of the congressional members who have visited the border in the past two days have been extremely critical of President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy where federal authorities prosecute anyone who enters the country illegally and separates anyone caught from their child or children.
The Associated Press has reported that in the last six weeks, when the policy went into full effect, that 2,000 children have been separated from their families.
According to Vela, 500 of those children are held by Southwest Key Programs.
During a round-table discussion with community members and reporters Monday, Vela said Casa Padre, which is in the old Walmart on Padre Island Highway, houses 1,500 young boys, 70 of whom were separated from their parents. At Casa Presidente, there are 80 even younger boys and girls that Southwest Key Programs houses and about half of those have been separated from their parent or parents, placing the known number at 110.
As for the remaining 390 children separated from their parents, Vela said they weren’t told where those kids are held.
“We don’t know which facility, exactly, those children are in, but we also don’t know where the other 1,500 are,” Vela said.
A more complete version of this story is available on www.myBrownsvilleHerald.com
Note: This story has been edited from its previous version.