Launched TUESDAY July 23, 2019. Reportage #706: Border Kids: With the apprehension of 11,500 Central American unaccompanied children at the U.S.-Mexico border in May alone, this fiscal year is on track to far exceed the numbers seen during fiscal 2014, when the surge in arrivals of these minors was viewed as a crisis. The care of these children has provoked growing public outrage, in particular reports of unsafe, filthy conditions that children, including infants, have experienced in overcrowded Border Patrol holding facilities. While the apprehension of ''family units'' (the government's term for family members traveling together) has outpaced the arrival of unaccompanied minors in recent years, the surge in child arrivals has risen to new levels this year. This record flow has overwhelmed government responses, with sometimes deadly consequences. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), that takes custody of the children and is responsible for their care has run acutely short of funds and bed space, and predicts it will exhaust its funding before the end of the month. Amid these challenges, the government has canceled educational and recreational activities for the children, erected tent cities in the desert to hold them, and contemplated housing some on military bases. The lack of beds in ORR facilities has created deplorable conditions at the border, with children subjected to waits of days and weeks at crowded U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities that were never intended to house minors. As CBP grapples with the overcrowding, government lawyers unapologetically argued before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week that the administration had no obligation to provide children with beds, soap, or toothbrushes. During the last year, seven immigrant children have died after or while being detained at CBP facilities.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

Military personnel from the Ejercito Mexicano, Mexico's army, patrol the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexico border with intentions to prevent migrants from illegally crossing into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. According to the Mexican military personnel, they began patrolling the border in Ciudad Juarez on June 16.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

Migrants are released from an immigration holding facility nearby the Sante Fe Bridge in El Paso, Texas. The migrants were sent back to Ciudad Juarez to wait as they battle their court cases as part of the Trump administration's Migrant Persecution Protocols (MPP) program.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

Military personnel from the Ejercito Mexicano Mexicano, Mexico's army, patrol the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexico border with intentions to prevent migrants from illegally crossing into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. According to the Mexican military personnel, they began patrolling the border in Ciudad Juarez on June 16.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

Migrants from Guatemala are detained after turning themselves in to immigration authorities after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border along Paisano Drive east of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

Migrants from Brazil and Guatemala sit on a curb after turning themselves in to immigration authorities after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border along Paisano Drive east of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

Border Patrol agents load migrants into a van after detaining them along the U.S.-Mexico border.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

A Border Patrol agent guides a migrant down a hill before detaining them after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

Migrants from Brazil are loaded into Border Patrol vans after turning themselves in to immigration authorities after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border along Paisano Drive east of the Rio Grande.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

An American flag is tangled on barbed wire along the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent escorts migrants to a facility at a Border Patrol station where migrants are being held.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection station where migrants are being held.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

Democratic presidential candidate and former Rep. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX) is greeted by one of his supporters during a rally outside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection station in Clint, Texas. O'Rourke made the visit to the facility after meeting with asylum seekers in Ciudad Jua¡rez earlier that morning.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol agents occupy the Paso del Norte Bridge as they block traffic from coming into the United States to El Paso, Texas, after protests in the early morning took place in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Agents began letting pedestrians to cross by checking identification one person at a time once the protests subsided.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

Military personnel from the Ejercito Mexicano, Mexico's army, patrol the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexico border with intentions to prevent migrants from illegally crossing into the United States through El Paso, Texas, in Ciudad Juâarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. According to the Mexican military personnel, they began patrolling the border in Ciudad Juarez on June 16.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire

Pedestrians wait in line at the Paso del Norte Bride to cross into the United States to El Paso, Texas, while U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol agents occupied the space blocking traffic after protests in the early morning took place. Agents began letting pedestrians to cross by checking identification one person at a time once the protests subsided.
© Joel Angel Juarez/ZUMA Wire