Front Burner

'The place is a jail': How kids are treated at the U.S.-Mexico border

Today on Front Burner, immigration reporter Bob Moore of El Paso, Texas walks us through what migrant children face on their way across the United States-Mexico border, and the conditions some are held in once they arrive.
A man plays gives children rocks to play with inside an enclosure, where they are being held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), after crossing the border between Mexico and the United States illegally and turning themselves in to request asylum, in El Paso, Texas, U.S., March 29, 2019. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

There has been renewed attention on the treatment of migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border over the last two weeks. First, accounts of inadequate food, water and sanitation at U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities where unaccompanied children are held awaiting shelter space sparked outrage. Then, a horrible photograph of the drowned bodies of a father and his young daughter in the Rio Grande offered a stark reminder of the perils of crossing into the United States. Today on Front Burner, Bob Moore of El Paso Matters has reported on immigration and the border from El Paso, Texas for more than 30 years. He walks us through what kids go through on their way to the border and how they're treated once they get into the U.S. "These are human beings who are paying the price of all this political failure," he said.

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