Federal inspectors also found that families were held in Border Patrol custody for longer than a week, well beyond the 72-hour standard for detention.
Two controversial pilot programs that sought to quickly deport Mexican and Central American asylum-seekers at the southern border were rife with issues, including migrant families forced to remain in custody longer than what was appropriate, juvenile girls stuck in the same detention space with unrelated adult men, and toilets in facilities that had limited privacy.
The details come from a draft report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General that was obtained by BuzzFeed News. The two pilot programs instituted last fall — the Humanitarian Asylum Review Process (HARP) and Prompt Asylum Claim Review (PACR) — were part of the Trump administration’s efforts to quickly screen and potentially remove asylum-seekers at the border.
Under HARP, Mexican asylum-seekers detained by Border Patrol agents were given an initial screening called a credible fear interview by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers within 48 hours, and the decision on the screening was expected to go quicker than usual. The other program, PACR, was similarly organized but aimed at Central Americans who traveled through Mexico to arrive at the US border. Continue reading.