SENATOR JEFF MERKLEY TO THE RESCUE
COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
JUNE 7, 2018


SENATOR MERKLEY IS NOT A BLACK HAT, BUT ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS. SEE THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES ON THE SHOCKING (AND GROWING) NUMBER OF MEXICAN AND OTHER SPANISH-SPEAKING MINORS WHO ARE BEING HELD OUT OF REACH OF THEIR PARENTS.

“...MORE THAN 11,000 UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN AT THE MOMENT, AND IT IS AVERAGING ABOUT 45 DAYS TO PLACE CHILDREN" – WHILE THE BORDER DETENTION CENTERS ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY HOLDING HUNDREDS MORE BEYOND THE LEGAL LIMIT OF 72 HOURS.”

THE PHRASE “CRIMINALIZING ASYLUM” SAYS IT ALL. IF THE PUBLIC VIEW ON ALL THIS IS “NOT MY PROBLEM” OR “NOT IN MY BACKYARD,” THEN THE RESULT WILL BE PREDICTABLY WHAT WE APPARENTLY DO HAVE HERE. SENATOR MERKLEY IS THE UNWANTED SNOOP WHO HAS COME TO CHECK OUT WHAT’S GOING ON AND HAS BEEN MET WITH HOSTILITY. I DON’T EXPECT HOSTILITY UNLESS LAWS ARE BEING BROKEN AND SOUTHWEST KEY’S POSITION IS JEOPARDIZED. THE LIST OF QUESTIONS THAT SENATOR MERKLEY HAS STATED BELOW CERTAINLY BRINGS INSIGHT INTO THE ISSUES HERE AND PREVENTS THE “CONSERVATIVES” FROM CALLING IT JUST ANOTHER LIBERAL FUZZY BRAINED COMPLAINT. TO TRUMP AND UNDOUBTEDLY SOME OTHER REPUBLICANS, MERKLEY IS OVERSTEPPING HIS BOUNDS AS A SENATOR. THERE WILL BE OTHERS, HOWEVER, WHO WILL STAND WITH DEMOCRATS AND LIBERALLY INCLINED INDEPENDENTS AGAINST THE ABUSE OF HUMANITY THAT IS OCCURRING HERE.

“THE U.S. OFFICE OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT (ORR) PROHIBITS ANY FACILITY FROM ALLOWING VISITS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED BY THEM...." THE CLAIM THAT MERKLEY’S SOLE PURPOSE WAS GETTING HEADLINES CAN BE MET BY POINTING OUT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HEADLINES, IN THIS AND IN MOST OTHER CASES OF CONFLICT BETWEEN PEOPLE AND POWER. GOOD FOR YOU, SENATOR, AND I LIKE YOUR LIST OF QUESTIONS.

“THE ACF* DID ADMIT THE NEW POLICY HAS GENERATED A MAJOR HUMAN BACKLOG: ... MORE THAN 11,000 UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN AT THE MOMENT, AND IT IS AVERAGING ABOUT 45 DAYS TO PLACE CHILDREN" – WHILE THE BORDER DETENTION CENTERS ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY HOLDING HUNDREDS MORE BEYOND THE LEGAL LIMIT OF 72 HOURS.” THIS IS ANOTHER OF TRUMP’S INCOMPLETELY CONSIDERED RESTRICTIONS ON HUMANS. REMEMBER THE BAN ON ALL ISLAMIC PEOPLE FROM SOME 8 OR 10 COUNTRIES WHICH WAS ACTIVATED ALMOST OVERNIGHT AND THE CHAOS AT ALL OUR AIRPORTS? DID HE LEARN? NO. THERE’S A REASON FOR USING ADVISORS WHETHER THEY ARE FAMILY MEMBERS OR NOT. TRUSTING A NON-FAMILY MEMBER ISN’T AS BAD ALL IN ALL AS MAKING A SERIES OF SUPER BIG BOO-BOOS.

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2018-06-08/point-austin-suffer-the-little-children/
Point Austin: Suffer the Little Children
Is Southwest Key providing child care at the border, or collaboration?
BY MICHAEL KING, FRI., JUNE 8, 2018

It turns out there is a prominent local connection to the latest wrinkle in the Trump administration's immigration policy, the "zero tolerance" announced in April that has meant a spike in border arrests as well as family separations – seizing minor children and confining them away from their parents, theoretically as a "deterrent" against potential future immigrants. After U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley visited a Brownsville border detention center on Sunday, he followed that with an attempt to visit the Casa Padre shelter operated by Austin-headquartered nonprofit Southwest Key, under a contract with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Merkley was turned away at the shelter – most foolishly, the managers called the cops – and his video of the event (available on his Facebook page) has gone viral. It's produced some confusion – his description of the border detention center (where children are held in "kennel-like" fenced areas for a few days) has been confounded with the Southwest Key shelter, where the children's circumstances are reportedly safe and healthy (as distinct from the question why they are there in the first place).

Needless to say, although this is a federal responsibility, Southwest Key has taken a major PR hit for its association with the new Trump policy. The nonprofit (specifically its Southwest Key Programs) issued a boilerplate statement of "regret" for the episode: "The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) prohibits any facility from allowing visits that have not been approved by them," said the press release, "even if it is a U.S. Senator." Merkley claimed he tried to go through official channels, but the agency claimed it had too short notice to provide federal escorts.

Back in D.C., the supervising Administration for Children and Families (under Health and Human Services) was less polite: "No one who arrives unannounced at one of our shelters demanding access to the children in our care will be permitted, even those claiming to be U.S. Senators. ... We would welcome [Merkley] to engage in that [official] process so that he may visit the facility to make headway on this important issue, rather than just headlines."

Criminalizing Asylum

To that sneer Merkley might well respond, "No headlines, no headway." His media stunt was an obvious attempt to call attention to an administration policy to separate families explicitly as a cruel deterrent to people fleeing destitution, or worse. (We certainly can't expect any help from Texas incumbents John Cornyn or Ted Cruz.) While President Trump inevitably lied about the new policy and blamed it on Democrats, Attorney General Jeff Sessions oxymoronically defended it, saying: "If people don't want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them." The ACF* did admit the new policy has generated a major human backlog: As of this week, NBC and The Washington Post reported, the agency "is caring for more than 11,000 unaccompanied children at the moment, and it is averaging about 45 days to place children" – while the border detention centers are simultaneously holding hundreds more beyond the legal limit of 72 hours.

[ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES*]
[DCF – FLORIDA DEPT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES]

I spoke to longtime Texas reporter Debbie Nathan about the situation, and though she hasn't been able to visit the Brownsville shelter directly, she's spoken to enough staff and medical personnel to believe the children are generally well cared for while in residence. "That's not the real issue," she said. "The issue is that children are essentially being placed in 'orphanages' or with foster families, when they should be with their parents." The administration insists those parents have broken U.S. law – in fact most are quite legally claiming political asylum – and instead are being treated as criminals.

Second Thoughts

I tried to ask Southwest Key officials whether they concur with the "zero tolerance" policy, or feel any obligation to push back against these aggressive family separations. All questions were reflexively referred to "our funder, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement." Those funds are indeed nothing to sniff at: Newsweek reports that thus far in FY 2018 alone, ORR has paid the nonprofit $310,824,288, most recently $99.7 million on May 10 – "just days after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration's new policy of separating parents and children at the border." (The report also noted that in 2015, SWKey President and CEO Juan Sanchez was paid $770,860 – make of that what you will.)

Sen. Merkley wonders if Southwest Key is "having second thoughts about being partners in a process of ripping children away from their families under this new policy." I'm wondering that as well, especially since each child newly deposited at Casa Padre represents a living piece of those hundreds of millions in contracts. Maybe CEO Sanchez, or somebody at Southwest Key, will start wondering whether collaborating with Trump administration cruelty is worth the children's weight in gold. Or perhaps, that's what Jesus really meant when he told his disciples (Matthew 19:14), "Suffer the little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

More Point Austin columns

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MERKLEY’S INCISIVE QUESTIONS:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senator-demands-answers-to-19-questions-about-more-than-11000-migrant-kids/
By GRAHAM KATES CBS NEWS June 7, 2018, 3:58 PM
Senator demands answers to 19 questions about more than 11,000 migrant kids

Days after he was denied access to a federal shelter for child migrants, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, is demanding answers from the Office of Refugee Resettlement about the roughly 11,000 children under the care of the federal agency.

"Under U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' 'zero tolerance' policy on immigration prosecutions, children must be forcibly separated from their families, falsely labeled 'unaccompanied alien children,' and transferred to your agency's custody," Merkley said in his letter to Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Scott Lloyd.

"According to press reports, more than 600 children have already been separated from their families since the implementation of this policy at the beginning of May, bringing the total under your care to a staggering 11,200."

Merkley drew headlines Sunday when he posted a Facebook live video of his attempt to access a migrant children's shelter in Brownsville, Texas. He was first denied entry, and then ultimately confronted by police. Federal officials said Merkley hadn't given enough notice.

Merkley's letter comes two days after similar demands were made by Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, whose staff were barred from reviewing immigrant processing facilities near San Diego. Menendez called Sessions' immigration policies "cruel and un-American."

Merkley's letter lays out 19 questions and requests a response by June 15. Merkley wants information about the age of the children, the condition of the facilities, and more.

See the letter and all 19 questions.

Similar questions posed by CBS News to the Office of Refugee Resettlement and the United States Department of Homeland Security have not yet been answered. The Administration for Children and Families, the agency that oversees the Office of Refugee Resettlement, said it "does not comment publicly on congressional requests before providing an official response to Congress."

In a statement to CBS News Wednesday, before Merkley's letter was sent, Southwest Key Programs, the non-profit contracted to manage the Brownsville facility, described in broad terms the services it provides to children housed there.

"We provide round-the-clock services including: food, shelter, medical and mental health care, clothing, educational support, supervision, and reunification support," the organization said. "We regret having to turn away Senator Merkley at our Casa Padre shelter. The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement prohibits any facility from allowing visits that have not been approved by them, even if it is a U.S. Senator."

Read Merkley's 19 questions below:

1. Since the "zero tolerance" policy officially went into effect on May 7, 2018, how many children have been transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) or its contracting agencies' custody? How many of these children were separated from their parents and how many entered the United States as unaccompanied minors?

2. How many children in the following age groups is the ORR or its contracting agencies currently holding in detention?
a. Newborns to 1 years old?
b. Between the ages of 2 to 4 years old?
c. Between the ages of 5 and 8 years old?
d. Between the ages of 9 and 13 years old?
e. Between the ages of 14 and 18 years old?

3. What is the average and median length of stay for these children? How does this figure compare with 2017 and 2016?

4. How many ORR facilities are currently operational for children and what is the capacity for each of them?

5. How many organizations and companies contract with ORR to house children separated from their parents and unaccompanied minors? What are their names?

6. What bathroom facilities and accommodations do these shelters have and are the conditions sanitary? For instance, are there bathrooms, showers, and towels? Are there rooms for the children that have beds with bedding? If so, how many beds per room?

7. What are ORR's mandated facility standards for shelter contractors?

8. What are the required staffing ratios, broken down by age groups?

9. What categories of staff require credentials to work in these facilities?
a. Which credential requirements are ORR* imposed and which are state required?

[ORR -- https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/state-programs-annual-overview, ACF Home » Office of Refugee Resettlement.]

10. How many facilities have state monitors? How often are facilities monitored?

11. What is the process for providing education and schooling to children? How many days a week is schooling provided and how many hours per day?

12. Are these children permitted to leave the premise* [sic] to go outside? Is there recreational time available for physical exercise?

[PREMISE AND PREMISES: Some people suppose that since “premises” has a plural form, a single house or other piece of property must be a “premise,” but that word is reserved for use as a term in logic meaning something assumed or taken as given in making an argument. Your lowly one-room shack is still your premises. May 30, 2016. by Professor Paul Bryans of Washington State University]

13. What is the process for providing health care services to children? In order to receive medical care, are health care providers on-site or are ill children transported to hospitals or other health care providers?

14. What services are provided to children for trauma support and mental health care? Are mental health care professionals providers on site?

15. Are children informed, in writing or verbally, that any information they provide to medical professionals or facility staff will be added to their immigration record and can be used against them in immigration court?

16. Please provide a current breakdown by category of children's approved sponsors.
a. Category 1 – Parents
b. Category 2 – Family members
c. Category 3 – Non-relative

17. How do detained children communicate with their parents? How often are they allowed to communicate with their parents, through what method, and for what duration?

18. Are in-person visits between the children and their parents permitted? If so, what are the procedures and policies surrounding visitation and how often do they occur?

19. Are in-person visits between the children and their lawyers permitted? If so, what are the procedures and policies surrounding visitation and how often do they occur? Under what circumstances, if any, would a lawyer be denied entry to visit with a child?

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Graham Kates
Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBSNews.com.


NEWS VIDEO – BORDER BATTLE OVER KIDS

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/4/18
Sen. Merkley denied access to detention center for immigrant kids
Rachel Maddow reports on an effort of the weekend by Senator Jeff Merkley to see inside a former Walmart where he says 1,000 children are being held after being forcibly removed from parents seeking refuge in the United States. Duration: 3:48