{"id":33654,"date":"2019-07-19T11:51:58","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T03:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=33654"},"modified":"2019-07-19T11:52:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T03:52:00","slug":"us-homeland-security-chief-says-migrant-conditions-improved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=33654","title":{"rendered":"US homeland security chief says migrant conditions improved"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

WASHINGTON, July 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Homeland Security chief drew the wrath of Democrats when he said conditions for detained
migrant children on the southern border had improved after reports of squalor and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a hearing before the House Oversight Committee, acting Homeland
Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said there is a \u201cmuch better situation for children at the border now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said emergency border funding approved by Congress at the end of June
has reduced the number of people detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from a 20,000-person average in June to its current level of less than 10,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also paid for the opening of new tent camps, and allowed for the
reduction of unaccompanied minors in CBP custody from 2,700 last month to 350 on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But committee chair Elijah Cummings, a Democrat, reacted with disbelief to
his testimony, accusing McAleenan of a \u201ctendency to sugarcoat\u201d what he said was an appalling situation at the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can tell you that I am at a point when I began to wonder if there is an
empathy deficit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McAleenan responded by saying officers working under his department were doing \u201ctheir absolute best to help these children,\u201d prompting an emotional response from Cummings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat does that mean when the child is sitting in his own feces, without
(a) shower? Come on, man\u2026 they are human beings,\u201d the congressman said,
referencing the most dire reports from migrant detention centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McAleenan said \u201cthere is no one defecating in their own blanket,\u201d and said
agents allowed children to shower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrests of migrants at the US-Mexico border has topped 100,000 each month
since March, including families and children traveling alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However the Department of Homeland Security expects the number to drop by 25 percent in June, after Mexico enacted measures to prevent migrants \u2014 most from impoverished and crime-ridden Central American countries \u2014 from reaching the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Detention centers have struggled with overcrowding and numerous reports
have emerged of migrants being crammed into makeshift cells and forced to sleep on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has made curbing undocumented arrivals a priority, causing tension
with Democrats upset over alleged violations of migrants\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president has in turn blamed Democrats for blocking his proposals to
overhaul the US immigration system. — NNN-AGENCIES
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, July 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US Homeland Security chief drew the wrath of Democrats when he said conditions for detainedmigrant children on the southern border had improved after reports of squalor and abuse. During a hearing before the House Oversight Committee, acting HomelandSecurity Secretary Kevin McAleenan said there is a \u201cmuch better situation for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33654"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}