A horrifying report from the Government Office of Accountability (@USGAO) on two secretive and abusive DHS programs at the US-Mexico border. Before the analysis, a reminder that neither @POTUS nor DHS secretary nominee @AliMayorkas have agreed to end them.
Very troubling to see the stunning lack of context on the length and conditions of detention from @USGAO. @CBP held asylum seekers in unsanitary, punitive conditions well beyond the 72-hour limit. GAO also takes for granted certain false or misleading assertions by DHS.
Before I dig into those issues, a couple of highlights from the data. CBP placed a total of 5,290 people into either program (HARP for Mexicans, PACR for non-Mexicans), which hold asylum seekers effectively incommunicado while they are rushed through a “credible fear” interview.
Of the total, at least 3,730 people placed in the
programs were removed from the US. There are about 50 people in detention now pending removal (whose cases should be reviewed given the deportation moratorium!). These folks were all denied a meaningful opportunity to seek asylum.
The majority of people placed in the programs were families with children (not single adults). Only 20 percent of those asylum seeking families spent 7 or fewer days in CBP border jails, which is already way too long. 86 percent of people spent "20 days or fewer" in border jails.