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For months, lawyers searched for thousands of migrant kids expelled under a US order against COVID. They found three dozen. Kids vanish into a secretive system, not issued a main tracking number for migrants. They’re quickly returned-'no one can find them' https://www.propublica.org/article/her-rapist-threatened-to-make-her-disappear-instead-of-asylum-ice-put-her-in-a-hotel-and-sent-her-back
Detaining children in clandestine hotels is an 'integral component' of the expulsions, a lawyer noted. It was first reported by the formidable @NomaanMerchant who found + 169 children had been held, some for weeks, in @HiltonHotels. That has grown to +240 https://apnews.com/c9b671b206060f2e9654f0a4eaeb6388
An 8-month-old was held in a Hampton Inn for 12 days before being expelled -without a hearing or access to lawyers-along with a 9-year-old sibling. ‘The government is playing cowboy with regards to children’s safety,’ a former ICE official said. https://www.propublica.org/article/her-rapist-threatened-to-make-her-disappear-instead-of-asylum-ice-put-her-in-a-hotel-and-sent-her-back
This follows on other great reporting on expulsions, including @ReynaldoLeanos & more who in a very important series looked at the broader program, including how it turns back all adults - many to Mexico City.
https://twitter.com/ReynaldoLeanos/status/1288608313337360387?s=20
https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/migrants-expelled-under-covid-19-rules-land-in-mexico-city/
https://twitter.com/ReynaldoLeanos/status/1288608313337360387?s=20
https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/migrants-expelled-under-covid-19-rules-land-in-mexico-city/
If the contractor, MVM, detaining children in hotels sounds familiar, @aurabogado and @reveal reported on the company holding migrant children overnight in office spaces in Phoenix in 2018 even though it was only supposed to be for ‘same-day’ transport https://www.revealnews.org/article/defense-contractor-detained-migrant-kids-in-vacant-phoenix-office-building/
Of course @dlind broke the story of the memo allowing @CBP agents to almost immediately expel all migrants in one of the most significant about-faces in years of established law.
https://www.propublica.org/article/leaked-border-patrol-memo-tells-agents-to-send-migrants-back-immediately-ignoring-asylum-lawhttps://www.propublica.org/article/leaked-border-patrol-memo-tells-agents-to-send-migrants-back-immediately-ignoring-asylum-law
https://www.propublica.org/article/leaked-border-patrol-memo-tells-agents-to-send-migrants-back-immediately-ignoring-asylum-lawhttps://www.propublica.org/article/leaked-border-patrol-memo-tells-agents-to-send-migrants-back-immediately-ignoring-asylum-law
It's hard to find out anything about the expulsions. CBP and ICE mostly refused comment, citing @ACLU lawsuits & stopped giving data. Central American countries said they are limited in tracking it - 'We are only reaching a tiny fraction of these kids' https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/04/border-migrant-children-hotels/
