The report also said that agents in Yuma adequately provided migrants with access to water, food and toilets despite being at 193% capacity.
Yuma, Arizona (KECY, KYMA) – Visit to the Yuma Border Patrol Centralized Processing Center July 2022 revealed overcrowding, detention of migrants for longer than government standards, and mishandling of migrants’ religious property.
These findings were released as a report from the U.S. Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on July 6, 2023.
The OIG said 1,700 migrants were in custody on the day of the surprise inspection, exceeding Yuma’s capacity by 193%.
Despite overcrowding, officials in the Yuma sector adequately provided immigrants with access to water, food, hygiene products and toilets, according to the report.
At the same time, however, he added, migrants were held for too long, staying an average of two and a half days longer than the norm.
With an 8-year-old immigrant child dying in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody just this May, immigration policy experts say being held in overcrowded facilities can always be harmful. said there is.
Aaron Reichlin Melnick, director of policy at the U.S. Immigration Council, said: “Every time we see a situation like this, it raises a lot of concern. Why should the Biden administration take action to prevent immigrants from being detained longer than necessary? ”
The report also said Yuma Sector officials mishandled immigrants’ religious items.
Destroyed multiple turbans, as officially acknowledged by the Yuma Sector.
In an interview last October, I asked then-head of the division, Chris Klemm, about these reports.
He said the department was working to rectify the problem, but was dealing with immigrant property within Border Patrol policy.
“When you’re looking at 400 to 500 people at a time, you’re limited in what people can film. This is law enforcement, not the port of entry, not people who entered the country legally,” Clem said. said.
The report concludes that “CBP is currently developing permanent guidelines to clarify procedures for handling detainees’ religious items.”
The OIG gave CBP four recommendations for correcting the problems it found.
CBP agreed with the recommendations and said it believes some have been resolved, but others remain unresolved.
