The Trump administration's immigration policy continues to wreak havoc on Hispanic immigrant families seeking refuge in the United States.
While anyone whose morals are intact has lambasted the administration’s recently ended policy of separating children from their families, some agencies are benefiting from the plan and its subsequent devastation. According to The Associated Press, from 2007 to 2017, Health and Human Services (HHS) grants came in at $74.5 million and increased to $958 million as of last year.
Shelters, foster care and other child welfare services, as well as religious and non-governmental organizations, have reaped the reward, including nonprofit and for-profit entities.
The federal government has separated children at alarming rates from their parents by hundreds or even thousands of miles, The New York Times reports, and they were forced to clean the bathroom and prohibited from touching other children, including their siblings.
Leticia, a 12-year-old Guatemalan girl, separated with her 10-year-old brother, Walter, at a South Texas shelter recalled to The Times when she wanted to comfort Walter, but "they told me I couldn’t touch him," she said.
Organizations in Arizona and Texas have seen a significant share of the funds and have received the highest amount of media attention. Casa Padre, a former Walmart Supercenter in Brownsville, Texas, has become home to 1,500 migrant boys while their parents work to reunite with them.
Diego Magalhães is a Brazilian boy who spent 43 days in a Chicago facility, the Times reports. Diego said, "You had to clean the bathroom. I scrubbed the bathroom. We had to remove the trash bag full of dirty toilet paper. Everyone had to do it."
The Washington Post reports the Trump administration announced plans on Friday, July 13, to return up to 200 children per day to their parents following its inability to meet the court-ordered reuniting of children under 5-years-old.
We'll see how that goes.
Now, check these out:
'My Name Is Mirian': Stars Appear In Powerful Video To Impart Story Of Migrant Woman Separated From Her Child At Border
With Only 4 Separated Children Reunited With Their Families By Deadline, Texas Nonprofit Offers $20M To Speed Up Reunifications
DOJ Admits It May Have Forcibly Separated An American Family By Mistake
