A temporary migrant facility opened in West Texas in June with the intention of housing up to 300 Central American teens. Six months later, the facility has grown to a capacity of over 2,700, and operations behind its tarped fences remain a mystery.
Joshua Rubin has been documenting what occurs in the Tornillo tent city for the past three months and joins us to discuss what he has seen.
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Customs and Border Protection have been dominating headlines in recent weeks, fueling opinions on border issues from both Republicans and Democrats. Most recently, the death of 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin has called for investigations in the care and conditions provided to asylum-seeking migrants. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has rolled-back strict background checks for sponsor families and struck a deal with Mexican officials that may alleviate some U.S. detention centers from overcrowding.
BCFS, a San Antonio-based nonprofit, has a contract with the federal government to run the Tornillo tent city through Dec. 31.
Rubin, a software developer from New York who has been living in Tornillo since October, has been documenting what he sees day-in and day-out on the Facebook page: Witness: Tornillo.
Norma Martinez can be reached at norma@tpr.org and on Twitter @NormDog1 and Lauren Terrazas can be reached at lauren@tpr.org and on Twitter @terrazas_lauren.