Colleagues at a government-contracted shelter in Arizona had a specific request for Antar Davidson when three Brazilian migrant children arrived: “Tell them they can’t hug.”
Davidson, 32, is of Brazilian descent and speaks Portuguese. He said the siblings — ages 16, 10 and 6 — were distraught after being separated from their parents at the border. The children were “huddled together, tears streaming down their faces,” he said.
Officials had told them their parents were “lost,” which they interpreted to mean dead. Davidson said he told the children he didn’t know where their parents were, but that they had to be strong.
“The 16-year-old, he looks at me and says, ‘How?’” Davidson said. As he watched the youth cry, he thought, “This is not healthy.”
Davidson quit this week after being a youth care worker at the Tucson shelter, Estrella del Norte, for just a few months. He decided to speak out about his experiences there in hopes of improving a system often shielded from public scrutiny. His comments in a telephone interview offer a rare look into the operation of a migrant shelter.
[…]
The caseload is straining a facility he described as understaffed and unequipped to deal with children experiencing trauma, such as the three Brazilians. During his time at the shelter, children were running away, screaming, throwing furniture and attempting suicide, Davidson said. Several were being monitored this week because they were at risk of running away, self-harm and suicide, records show.
[…]
Davidson saw more and more confused and upset children, most from Latin America. There also were more of what staff call “tender age” children, those under 13. Some were as young as 4, he said.
“What was once a transient facility with a staff that was strained and struggling is now becoming a more permanent facility,” and more “prison-like,” Davidson said.
[…]
“They had no idea where their parents were. The case managers said it’s going to be a week until we even find their parents and another week until we talk to them. I just saw how they were bungling these cases,” he said. “At that point zero tolerance was in full swing and you could see the desperation: kids running down the hall, screaming for their moms.”
These are internment camps. Plain and simple, that’s what they are. Re-education camps too, in come cases, but in every case, these are internment camps. That’s what “internment camp” means.
This is the point at which shit begins to accelerate. This is the point at which we need to fight the fuck back if we want to stop it. I would say burn the fuckers down, but there are kids in there. Cut the fences, smash the locks, and smash the fucking state that allowed this to happen.
What is wrong with us that we have let it get this far
Their address online is
Southwest Key Programs
6002 Jain Lane
Austin, TX 78721
United States
Phone: 1-512-462-2181
Fax: 1-512-462-2028
Web: www.swkey.org
Anyone who thinks that “For Profit Child Prison Camps” are a thing that should ever exist in any country for any reason at any time is not a person who was born with a soul
Employee quits job at for-profit child prison camp after being told to order three siblings not to hug each other.
Published
Death By Catchphrase 