UN human rights chief ‘shocked’ and ‘appalled’ by migrant detention conditions on southern US border
- Michelle Bachelet said migrant children were being ‘forced to sleep on the floor … without access to adequate health care or food’
- ‘Consider the damage being done every day by allowing this alarming situation to continue,’ she said
“Clearly, border management measures must comply with the state’s human rights obligations and should not be based on narrow policies aimed only at detecting, detaining and expeditiously deporting irregular migrants,” Bachelet said.
The high commissioner singled out the treatment of migrant children, saying she was “deeply shocked that children are forced to sleep on the floor in overcrowded facilities, without access to adequate health care or food, and with poor sanitation conditions.”
Detained migrants told to drink toilet water, US congresswoman says
On Monday, Bachelet said immigration detention – which is never in the best interests of a child – can have a significant impact on a child’s health and development. “[C]onsider the damage being done every day by allowing this alarming situation to continue,” she said.
Several human rights bodies have determined that detention of migrant children under current conditions at the US border violates international law as “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”
Bachelet’s statement comes days after the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog issued a report about detention centre conditions.
The Office of Inspector General concluded the “urgent” situation required “immediate attention and action” and advised the federal government to “take immediate steps to alleviate dangerous overcrowding and prolonged detention of children and adults.”
Tuesday’s DHS report stated that at least three facilities denied children access to showers and “some children under age seven had been held in jammed centres for more than two weeks. Some cells were so cramped that adults were forced to stand for days on end.”
Notwithstanding the report, DHS officials have remained steadfast in their defence of Border Patrol station conditions. On Sunday, acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan called the situation “extraordinarily challenging” during an interview on ABC’s This Week.