Commentary: The housing of unaccompanied youth from Central America at the Holloman Air Force Base is of great interest to me and the members of CIVIC (Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement) and the Social Action Committee of my church. We wanted to collect Spanish-language books, clothing, and supplies for art and writing activities to donate to the young people. We also wanted to visit the children to provide both educational and fun activities to make them feel more welcome and unafraid while they wait to be processed to safe homes.
Our attempt to be helpful and to provide hospitality has been rebuffed by the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and by Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). They offered me an opportunity to tour the facility, but I would be prevented from interacting with the children in any way. Their reasoning was that they didn't want to disrupt the routines for the children.
Recently, I participated in a nearly 3-hour tour of the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral that houses adult migrants about to be deported to Mexico. The warden led the tour and pointed out how wonderful the facilities and services were for the detainees. Afterward, however, we were able to speak one-on-one with 43 of the men who gave us a very different picture of the facility citing a lack of health services, uncomfortably cold temperatures, poor food offerings, and inadequate recreational opportunities.
The stark contrast between what the warden of the OCPC told us and the reality for the people housed there leads me to believe that a tour of Holloman without the possibility of interacting with the young people would be a waste of my time. Of course I will be told that everything wonderful is being done for the youth and that they are having a great time living there. Will that be true?
While CIVIC tries to end the isolation of immigrants and refugees, HHS and ICE seem to be doing everything possible to preserve it. This causes me to question other aspects of the program at Holloman including the care given to insuring that the children will be safe in the homes to which they are eventually released.
It is still my hope that HHS and ICE will review their policy and decide to allow concerned volunteers such as myself to interact with the refugee children if only to convince us that the new arrivals are, indeed, receiving adequate services.