Dozens of immigrant women moved outdoors during Nielsen visit to detention center: report

The Hill
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 07/04/18 10:20 AM EDT
Dozens of immigrant women moved outdoors during Nielsen visit to detention center: report

Dozens of detained immigrant women who were separated from their children were reportedly moved out to a soccer field during Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s visit to a detention center last week.

Nielsen made several visits in secret to detention centers in Texas on Friday, The Intercept reported.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials confirmed to The Intercept that more than 60 women were moved during Nielsen’s visit to a Los Fresnos facility for recreational purposes.

Four women detained at the Port Isabel facility told The Intercept that guards ordered them to a soccer field at the facility, saying that “important officials” were coming to the center.

The woman said they saw a “tall woman with shoulder-length, blond hair,” apparently Nielsen, and that the group attempted to yell “ayúdenos” to the group of officials, meaning “help us” in Spanish.

A spokesperson for ICE told The Intercept that Nielsen spoke to some detainees while touring the facility and that some of the women were moved outside for recreation. But the detained woman who spoke to The Intercept said that they were kept on the field for two hours in temperatures in the high 90s.

Nielsen, who has faced major scrutiny over the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, did not publicly announce the visits. Reporters who had gotten a tip about the visit told The Intercept that they were not given any information or permitted to speak to the secretary.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told The Intercept that the purpose of Nielsen’s visit was so she could see “first-hand how the men and women of ICE, [Customs and Border Protection] and [the Department of Health and Human Services] are prioritizing the health, safety and welfare of all of those in our care and custody.”

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com