McALLEN, TEXAS — A House Democrat who toured an immigration processing center and detention center in the Rio Grande Valley of the Texas border on Saturday arrived with a series of questions for law enforcement officers and detainees.
Rep. Mike Capuano, D-Mass., left behind those questions, which were picked up by the Washington Examiner. Capuano was part of a border trip taken by more than two dozen other Democrats that was described as a “fact-finding mission investigating the Trump administration’s cruel family separation policy.”
Capuano’s visit came just after President Trump ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop separating parents and children who were apprehended between ports of entry.
The folder contains 12 pages of questions for everyone at the facilities, two pages of talking points on family separations from the House Judiciary Committee ranking member’s office, Congressional Review analysis on the April-June border crisis, and analysis on the Flores Settlement by the Women’s Refugee Commission.
Capuano’s papers told him to ask questions about how families are processed, how separated parents and children are tracked, and whether children are “allowed to play with their own toys.”
Below are some of the questions Capuano sought to ask during his visit, and a full copy of the documents follow:
“Ask to see segregation areas, including medical, administration, and disciplinary. Ask under what circumstances an individual may be segregated, how frequently segregation is used in the facility, and for what duration.”
Questions for CBP Agents and Facility Officials
- What forms are individual required to sign, and are these forms also available in Spanish and other languages?
- Are families separated before or after processing?
- How does CBP processing enable separated parents and children to be tracked concurrently?
- Are parents given their child’s identification number? What is the procedure to file a grievance, and what orientation does a detained individual receive in the grievance process? Is this procedures different for minors?
- Are children allowed to play with their own toys? Under what circumstances are toys and children items confiscated during processing?
Questions for ICE and Facility Officials
- What processes are in place to allow parents to contact their children?
- What information is provided to parents regarding the location and conditions of the ORR facility in which their child has been placed?
- How are individuals disciplined?
- Are privileges ever restricted as a punitive measure? If so, are parents ever restricted from placing calls to their children?
- Can family members be found using ICE’s Online Detainee Locator System?
- What is the procedure to file a grievance, and what orientation does a detained individual receive in the grievance process?
- What countries are represented and in what percentages?
- What is the average length of stay?
- How does Ice determine which individuals are placed into detention, as compared to placement in an alternative to detention or release?
- What is the bond policy? What is the average bond amount? How does it compare to others detained in ICE custody in that area of responsibility?
- How many people have received credible fear interviews (CFIs)? Grant rate for CFIS?
Questions for Detainees
- Where were you apprehended? By whom?
- How long have you been at this facility?
- Were you separated from your family? At the point of arrest? During processing? What were you told?
- Do you have your child’s identification number?
- Have you been transferred here from any other facilities?medical treatment, personal belongings you could not keep with you?
