There Is A Crisis Along The Southern U.S. Border. It's Not The One The President Describes
With Meghna Chakrabarti
There is growing chaos at the southern border, as some officials say the Trump administration’s focus on deterrence at the border has left them unable to handle and properly house thousands of families. We’ll get a reality check on the ground.
Guests
John Burnett, NPR’s Southwest correspondent covering immigration, border affairs and Texas news. He was embedded with Border Patrol Wednesday, and recently reported from Tijuana, where he talked to migrants waiting to seek asylum. (@radiobigtex)
Rep. Henry Cuellar, Democratic representative for Texas’s 28th Congressional District, an area South of San Antonio that ends at the U.S.-Mexico border. He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee. (@RepCuellar)
Mary Jo Pitzl, state government and child welfare reporter for the Arizona Republic who covers the state capitol, and has also written about migrant shelters. She reported on a video that showed migrant children being dragged, pushed and slapped at the Hacienda Del Sol shelter in Youngstown, Arizona. (@maryjpitzl)
From The Reading List
NPR: “Thousands Of Central American Migrants Stuck In Tijuana, Waiting To Seek Asylum” — “Thousands of Central American migrants are living in shelters in Tijuana, waiting their turn to ask for asylum. Some are getting jobs, planning on a long stay, while others are growing more desperate.
“President Trump says there’s a humanitarian and national security crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border. This idea of a border emergency can be traced back to the reports that began a few months ago of a caravan of Central American migrants traveling up through Mexico to the U.S. Many of those migrants are now stuck in Tijuana, Mexico, just south of the border from San Diego”
Arizona Republic: “Penzone takes blame for failing to refer shelter abuse; vows changes” — “Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone took responsibility Monday for his office initially deciding no criminal review was needed of incidents in which children at a migrant shelter were pushed, shoved and dragged by Southwest Key employees.
“Penzone and his senior staff reversed that decision after viewing late last month videos of the incidents published by The Arizona Republic.
“The case, involving three children at a shelter in Youngtown, is now under review by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. A decision on whether criminal charges are warranted could be issued within a month.
“‘It all falls on me,’ Penzone said at a Monday news conference on the case, which has again focused national attention on the treatment of migrant children in federally contracted shelters.
“He said the biggest failure was poor communication, saying decisions on a case such as this should have come to his office.”
Madeleine D’Angelo and Allison Pohle produced this show for broadcast. [Copyright 2019 NPR]
