Latest news with #migrantfamilies
New York Times
30-06-2025
- New York Times
Inside the Roosevelt, a Migrant Shelter No More, Echoes of a Crisis
Workers — with no one left to attend — dozed off inside the empty lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel, its chandeliers still pocked with deflated balloons that had welcomed migrants to New York City. The luggage room, once just for tourists, held a few suitcases left behind by migrant families that had cycled through the hotel. The gift shop shelves were bare, except for the diapers that city workers had handed out to new mothers. Upstairs, the grand ballroom was desolate. Gone were the migrants who had slept on cots as they waited for rooms, on the same carpet where New York politicians once campaigned. A map of the United States was all that remained, with small arrows pointing to New York, and a handwritten note in Spanish: 'You are here.' Those were the last traces of New York's migrant crisis inside the Roosevelt before the hotel stopped operating last week as the city's best-known migrant shelter — 767 days after it opened as a city-run shelter in May 2023. Chaos, criticism and conviction had greeted the shelter's arrival. It closed quietly, fading away with little fanfare, much like the migrant crisis, as the city relocated the remaining families to other shelters and housekeepers turned over its thousands of rooms. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fox News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Migrant influx pushing Mass. shelter costs past $1B in FY25: report
Massachusetts taxpayers are on course to spend $1 billion on the state's emergency shelter program for FY25 with migrant families making up a significant share of those receiving assistance, according to a new report. Gov. Maura Healey's administration has already spent $830 million so far in FY25 – which started on July 1 – accommodating more than 4,000 families who have been receiving taxpayer-funded shelter, food, education, legal aid and case management. The costs work out at about $3,496 per week per family, or around $1,000 per person per week for the program, known as the Emergency Assistance (EA) system. The report, a June 16 biweekly update from the Massachusetts Executive Office for Housing and Livable Communities, notes that $679.6 million was spent on direct shelter costs and another $149.7 million on wraparound services, including education aid, work programs, National Guard payroll for security and rental assistance to help individuals exit the system. Around 1,600 of the total 4,088 families currently in the system are migrants, per the report, although that figure is likely much higher as many migrant families are counted as "Massachusetts residents" for the purpose of eligibility. The state was overwhelmed by an influx of migrants under the Biden administration and struggled to accommodate them. Many migrants ended up sleeping at Logan Airport as the Healey administration worked to set up temporary shelters, many of which are at hotels. There are currently 599 hotel rooms being used under the program and the report states that all hotels being used under the program will be shuttered this year. Already, the number of hotels being used as shelters has dropped to 28, down from a peak of more than 100, according to the report. "The administration is on track to reduce [the] caseload to 4,000 families and close all hotel shelters by the end of the calendar year," the report states. It follows Healey, a Democrat, saying last month too that all hotel shelters would be shuttered by the end of the year. She said the number of people in the EA system had dipped below 5,000 last month, as well. "Closing hotel shelters is essential to making sure that families are set up for success and to save our state hundreds of millions of dollars a year," said Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said last month. The report comes as the influx of new migrants has all but ended given border crossings are at historic lows. On Tuesday, Trump administration border czar Tom Homan said Border Patrol encountered just 95 illegal immigrants in a single day and that zero migrants were released into the U.S. last month. Mike Kennealy, a Republican running for governor who previously served as housing and economic development secretary, blasted the report. He said that taxpayers are "being forced to bankroll billions to an unaccountable, broken system that perpetuates the migrant crisis—and we're fed up," per the Boston Herald. Fox News reached out to Healey's office for comment but did not immediately receive a response. "While families are struggling to afford everyday necessities, the state is shelling out $15,166 per family per month. It's not just insane — it's offensive." The report also notes that 1,599 individuals in the EA system are currently employed, and 2,270 migrants have received work authorizations. With the fiscal year ending June 30, Massachusetts is likely to exceed $1.06 billion, the report forecasts.
CNN
18-06-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘We didn't see the daylight': Migrant families describe prolonged detention in border facilities
Migrant families with young children, including toddlers, were held for days and sometimes weeks in US Customs and Border Protection facilities, some with jail-like conditions, according to interviews conducted by attorneys tied to immigrant advocacy groups and submitted Tuesday in federal court. The filings reveal details of families being detained this year in border facilities, which are not designed for that purpose, for extended periods of time despite a steep drop in migrant crossings, raising alarm among attorneys who argue CBP detention is not equipped to care for people, especially children. The court filings are part of a decades-old legal agreement governing conditions for migrant children in government custody. Tuesday's motion requests that CBP stop detaining children for prolonged periods of time in poor conditions and requests more precise data from the agency after recent discrepancies. 'During their extended detention, CBP holds children in increasingly harsh conditions, including in ports of entry ('POE'), which are meant to hold individuals for only a few hours, in violation of (the settlement). Children are particularly vulnerable to the trauma caused by the confusion, cruelty, and deprivation endemic to CBP custody,' the motion reads. The 1997 Flores settlement, as it's known, requires the government to release children from government custody without unnecessary delay to sponsors, such as parents or adult relatives, and dictates conditions by which children are held. It applies to children who crossed the US-Mexico border alone, as well as those who arrived with family. Attorneys who represent the Flores settlement class are permitted to meet with children and their family members in government custody to interview them. In one case, a mother and her toddler, separated from her father, were held at a border facility in California for 42 days, according to the family's telling in a court declaration. The officers allowed the father to visit two times. 'Since being separated from her father, (redacted)'s behavior has changed. She used to speak a lot before, and now she's not speaking anymore. She previously used five or six words, like 'mom' 'dad' and 'yes,' now she doesn't talk at all,' the filing states, detailing a room where 23 women and children were held with no windows. 'It was so crowded that we couldn't even step forwards or backwards,' the declaration says. 'We spent all 42 days in that same place. We didn't see the daylight. We only went outside when we went to the different place where the showers are.' CNN has reached out to CBP for comment. The Flores settlement agreement doesn't prohibit the federal government from deporting a child and their family, but it states that children can't be kept in immigration detention for prolonged periods and should be considered for release. According to Tuesday's filings, 'Instead, CBP keeps accompanied children in its custody until it removes them from the United States or transfers them to ICE custody where they can request parole from ICE.' Attorneys found that even though migrant crossings have plummeted at the US southern border, 301 children were detained in CBP custody for more than 72 hours in February. Of those, the majority were detained for more than seven days. In April, when US Border Patrol encounters hovered around 8,300, 213 children were held more than 72 hours and 14 children were held for more than 20 days, including toddlers, according to the filing. The data is based on reports provided by CBP. 'The number of children crossing our borders is the lowest in decades, but the cruelty they are experiencing in government custody is at an all-time high,' said Leecia Welch, deputy litigation director at Children's Rights, who interviewed some of the families and children in custody. 'We are heaping trauma on defenseless children who came here seeking our protection. With this motion, we return to court once again asking for nothing more than government accountability to ensure the humane treatment of children,' she added. Previous administrations, including the Biden administration, wrestled with border surges that strained federal resources and resulted in unaccompanied children, families and adults staying in border custody for days. Border facilities are intended for relatively short stays. CBP generally releases or transfers those in custody within 72 hours as a matter of practice, though that can often be extended in the event of space limitations for transfers to other agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the past, CBP has also paroled people into the United States on a case-by-case basis, depending on the individual or family circumstance. The Trump administration has moved to terminate the Flores settlement, arguing that it has hamstrung the federal government's policymaking and ability to respond to changing conditions along the border, including surges in recent years. 'The Executive has not been able to react fully and meaningfully to these changes because the (Flores settlement agreement) has ossified federal-immigration policy,' the Trump Justice Department said in a recent court filing. 'Successive Administrations have tried unsuccessfully to free themselves from the strictures of the consent decree and this Court's gloss on it. But detention of juvenile aliens continues to be—as it has been for more than a generation—dominated by the strictures of a 1997 agreement.' But the combination of low border numbers and extended stays in CBP facilities has raised questions for attorneys, including whether some people are coming into CBP facilities from interior enforcement actions. 'The lengths in detention are lengthening despite the requirements of Flores and CBP policies and practices themselves. We're seeing a broader variety of troubling sites being put into play,' said Sergio Perez, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and part of the Flores legal team. A family with a 5-year-old son was taken into custody after a traffic stop in Ohio. The parent and child were taken to an office building in the state where they stayed in a room for five days, according to a court declaration. 'The room had no windows to the outside. We couldn't tell whether it was day or night. There was a large window that looked out on the office space and agents working on their computers. All the agents were men,' the declaration states. 'The room had a toilet that was completely visible to anyone walking by the room. We could only go pee because it was so uncomfortable to go to the bathroom within the view of all those men,' it continues, adding that lights were left on at night. In another case, an 11-year-old and their mother were apprehended when they landed in the United States. They were held at O'Hare International Airport for five days, according to a court declaration. The filings include descriptions from migrants of border facilities with cold rooms, limited access to sanitary items, thin mattresses on the floor, mylar blankets, and limited or no access to the outdoors. The filings also include allegations that CBP officers used profanity, and in one case, told children to 'go home' when they asked for food. One family with two sons, including a 1-year-old and an infant who's only a 'few months,' was detained in a border facility for a month. 'It was extremely cold. My sons both got sick there because it was so cold. They did not allow us extra clothes for the kids. We had only aluminum blankets,' the declaration reads, adding: 'The lights were on all night, they never turned off. We spent these days inside without even seeing the sun.'
CNN
18-06-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘We didn't see the daylight': Migrant families describe prolonged detention in border facilities
Migrant families with young children, including toddlers, were held for days and sometimes weeks in US Customs and Border Protection facilities, some with jail-like conditions, according to interviews conducted by attorneys tied to immigrant advocacy groups and submitted Tuesday in federal court. The filings reveal details of families being detained this year in border facilities, which are not designed for that purpose, for extended periods of time despite a steep drop in migrant crossings, raising alarm among attorneys who argue CBP detention is not equipped to care for people, especially children. The court filings are part of a decades-old legal agreement governing conditions for migrant children in government custody. Tuesday's motion requests that CBP stop detaining children for prolonged periods of time in poor conditions and requests more precise data from the agency after recent discrepancies. 'During their extended detention, CBP holds children in increasingly harsh conditions, including in ports of entry ('POE'), which are meant to hold individuals for only a few hours, in violation of (the settlement). Children are particularly vulnerable to the trauma caused by the confusion, cruelty, and deprivation endemic to CBP custody,' the motion reads. The 1997 Flores settlement, as it's known, requires the government to release children from government custody without unnecessary delay to sponsors, such as parents or adult relatives, and dictates conditions by which children are held. It applies to children who crossed the US-Mexico border alone, as well as those who arrived with family. Attorneys who represent the Flores settlement class are permitted to meet with children and their family members in government custody to interview them. In one case, a mother and her toddler, separated from her father, were held at a border facility in California for 42 days, according to the family's telling in a court declaration. The officers allowed the father to visit two times. 'Since being separated from her father, (redacted)'s behavior has changed. She used to speak a lot before, and now she's not speaking anymore. She previously used five or six words, like 'mom' 'dad' and 'yes,' now she doesn't talk at all,' the filing states, detailing a room where 23 women and children were held with no windows. 'It was so crowded that we couldn't even step forwards or backwards,' the declaration says. 'We spent all 42 days in that same place. We didn't see the daylight. We only went outside when we went to the different place where the showers are.' CNN has reached out to CBP for comment. The Flores settlement agreement doesn't prohibit the federal government from deporting a child and their family, but it states that children can't be kept in immigration detention for prolonged periods and should be considered for release. According to Tuesday's filings, 'Instead, CBP keeps accompanied children in its custody until it removes them from the United States or transfers them to ICE custody where they can request parole from ICE.' Attorneys found that even though migrant crossings have plummeted at the US southern border, 301 children were detained in CBP custody for more than 72 hours in February. Of those, the majority were detained for more than seven days. In April, when US Border Patrol encounters hovered around 8,300, 213 children were held more than 72 hours and 14 children were held for more than 20 days, including toddlers, according to the filing. The data is based on reports provided by CBP. 'The number of children crossing our borders is the lowest in decades, but the cruelty they are experiencing in government custody is at an all-time high,' said Leecia Welch, deputy litigation director at Children's Rights, who interviewed some of the families and children in custody. 'We are heaping trauma on defenseless children who came here seeking our protection. With this motion, we return to court once again asking for nothing more than government accountability to ensure the humane treatment of children,' she added. Previous administrations, including the Biden administration, wrestled with border surges that strained federal resources and resulted in unaccompanied children, families and adults staying in border custody for days. Border facilities are intended for relatively short stays. CBP generally releases or transfers those in custody within 72 hours as a matter of practice, though that can often be extended in the event of space limitations for transfers to other agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the past, CBP has also paroled people into the United States on a case-by-case basis, depending on the individual or family circumstance. The Trump administration has moved to terminate the Flores settlement, arguing that it has hamstrung the federal government's policymaking and ability to respond to changing conditions along the border, including surges in recent years. 'The Executive has not been able to react fully and meaningfully to these changes because the (Flores settlement agreement) has ossified federal-immigration policy,' the Trump Justice Department said in a recent court filing. 'Successive Administrations have tried unsuccessfully to free themselves from the strictures of the consent decree and this Court's gloss on it. But detention of juvenile aliens continues to be—as it has been for more than a generation—dominated by the strictures of a 1997 agreement.' But the combination of low border numbers and extended stays in CBP facilities has raised questions for attorneys, including whether some people are coming into CBP facilities from interior enforcement actions. 'The lengths in detention are lengthening despite the requirements of Flores and CBP policies and practices themselves. We're seeing a broader variety of troubling sites being put into play,' said Sergio Perez, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and part of the Flores legal team. A family with a 5-year-old son was taken into custody after a traffic stop in Ohio. The parent and child were taken to an office building in the state where they stayed in a room for five days, according to a court declaration. 'The room had no windows to the outside. We couldn't tell whether it was day or night. There was a large window that looked out on the office space and agents working on their computers. All the agents were men,' the declaration states. 'The room had a toilet that was completely visible to anyone walking by the room. We could only go pee because it was so uncomfortable to go to the bathroom within the view of all those men,' it continues, adding that lights were left on at night. In another case, an 11-year-old and their mother were apprehended when they landed in the United States. They were held at O'Hare International Airport for five days, according to a court declaration. The filings include descriptions from migrants of border facilities with cold rooms, limited access to sanitary items, thin mattresses on the floor, mylar blankets, and limited or no access to the outdoors. The filings also include allegations that CBP officers used profanity, and in one case, told children to 'go home' when they asked for food. One family with two sons, including a 1-year-old and an infant who's only a 'few months,' was detained in a border facility for a month. 'It was extremely cold. My sons both got sick there because it was so cold. They did not allow us extra clothes for the kids. We had only aluminum blankets,' the declaration reads, adding: 'The lights were on all night, they never turned off. We spent these days inside without even seeing the sun.'
CNN
18-06-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘We didn't see the daylight': Migrant families describe prolonged detention in border facilities
Migrant families with young children, including toddlers, were held for days and sometimes weeks in US Customs and Border Protection facilities, some with jail-like conditions, according to interviews conducted by attorneys tied to immigrant advocacy groups and submitted Tuesday in federal court. The filings reveal details of families being detained this year in border facilities, which are not designed for that purpose, for extended periods of time despite a steep drop in migrant crossings, raising alarm among attorneys who argue CBP detention is not equipped to care for people, especially children. The court filings are part of a decades-old legal agreement governing conditions for migrant children in government custody. Tuesday's motion requests that CBP stop detaining children for prolonged periods of time in poor conditions and requests more precise data from the agency after recent discrepancies. 'During their extended detention, CBP holds children in increasingly harsh conditions, including in ports of entry ('POE'), which are meant to hold individuals for only a few hours, in violation of (the settlement). Children are particularly vulnerable to the trauma caused by the confusion, cruelty, and deprivation endemic to CBP custody,' the motion reads. The 1997 Flores settlement, as it's known, requires the government to release children from government custody without unnecessary delay to sponsors, such as parents or adult relatives, and dictates conditions by which children are held. It applies to children who crossed the US-Mexico border alone, as well as those who arrived with family. Attorneys who represent the Flores settlement class are permitted to meet with children and their family members in government custody to interview them. In one case, a mother and her toddler, separated from her father, were held at a border facility in California for 42 days, according to the family's telling in a court declaration. The officers allowed the father to visit two times. 'Since being separated from her father, (redacted)'s behavior has changed. She used to speak a lot before, and now she's not speaking anymore. She previously used five or six words, like 'mom' 'dad' and 'yes,' now she doesn't talk at all,' the filing states, detailing a room where 23 women and children were held with no windows. 'It was so crowded that we couldn't even step forwards or backwards,' the declaration says. 'We spent all 42 days in that same place. We didn't see the daylight. We only went outside when we went to the different place where the showers are.' CNN has reached out to CBP for comment. The Flores settlement agreement doesn't prohibit the federal government from deporting a child and their family, but it states that children can't be kept in immigration detention for prolonged periods and should be considered for release. According to Tuesday's filings, 'Instead, CBP keeps accompanied children in its custody until it removes them from the United States or transfers them to ICE custody where they can request parole from ICE.' Attorneys found that even though migrant crossings have plummeted at the US southern border, 301 children were detained in CBP custody for more than 72 hours in February. Of those, the majority were detained for more than seven days. In April, when US Border Patrol encounters hovered around 8,300, 213 children were held more than 72 hours and 14 children were held for more than 20 days, including toddlers, according to the filing. The data is based on reports provided by CBP. 'The number of children crossing our borders is the lowest in decades, but the cruelty they are experiencing in government custody is at an all-time high,' said Leecia Welch, deputy litigation director at Children's Rights, who interviewed some of the families and children in custody. 'We are heaping trauma on defenseless children who came here seeking our protection. With this motion, we return to court once again asking for nothing more than government accountability to ensure the humane treatment of children,' she added. Previous administrations, including the Biden administration, wrestled with border surges that strained federal resources and resulted in unaccompanied children, families and adults staying in border custody for days. Border facilities are intended for relatively short stays. CBP generally releases or transfers those in custody within 72 hours as a matter of practice, though that can often be extended in the event of space limitations for transfers to other agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In the past, CBP has also paroled people into the United States on a case-by-case basis, depending on the individual or family circumstance. The Trump administration has moved to terminate the Flores settlement, arguing that it has hamstrung the federal government's policymaking and ability to respond to changing conditions along the border, including surges in recent years. 'The Executive has not been able to react fully and meaningfully to these changes because the (Flores settlement agreement) has ossified federal-immigration policy,' the Trump Justice Department said in a recent court filing. 'Successive Administrations have tried unsuccessfully to free themselves from the strictures of the consent decree and this Court's gloss on it. But detention of juvenile aliens continues to be—as it has been for more than a generation—dominated by the strictures of a 1997 agreement.' But the combination of low border numbers and extended stays in CBP facilities has raised questions for attorneys, including whether some people are coming into CBP facilities from interior enforcement actions. 'The lengths in detention are lengthening despite the requirements of Flores and CBP policies and practices themselves. We're seeing a broader variety of troubling sites being put into play,' said Sergio Perez, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and part of the Flores legal team. A family with a 5-year-old son was taken into custody after a traffic stop in Ohio. The parent and child were taken to an office building in the state where they stayed in a room for five days, according to a court declaration. 'The room had no windows to the outside. We couldn't tell whether it was day or night. There was a large window that looked out on the office space and agents working on their computers. All the agents were men,' the declaration states. 'The room had a toilet that was completely visible to anyone walking by the room. We could only go pee because it was so uncomfortable to go to the bathroom within the view of all those men,' it continues, adding that lights were left on at night. In another case, an 11-year-old and their mother were apprehended when they landed in the United States. They were held at O'Hare International Airport for five days, according to a court declaration. The filings include descriptions from migrants of border facilities with cold rooms, limited access to sanitary items, thin mattresses on the floor, mylar blankets, and limited or no access to the outdoors. The filings also include allegations that CBP officers used profanity, and in one case, told children to 'go home' when they asked for food. One family with two sons, including a 1-year-old and an infant who's only a 'few months,' was detained in a border facility for a month. 'It was extremely cold. My sons both got sick there because it was so cold. They did not allow us extra clothes for the kids. We had only aluminum blankets,' the declaration reads, adding: 'The lights were on all night, they never turned off. We spent these days inside without even seeing the sun.'
