Detained migrants describe being deprived of food, water and sleep in lawsuit

Immigrant parents and children alleged in interviews filed in federal court this week that they faced mistreatment while being held in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities, saying they were often deprived of food, water and sleep.

In the interviews, which included some redactions and were filed as part of a lawsuit against the government’s detention of minors, the immigrants described not being allowed to shower for days and being given rotten food and dirty drinking water.

One woman described as Lidia, 22, said during her interview that she and her 4-year-old son “went hungry the entire time” they were detained in McAllen, Texas.

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“The only food we were given were sandwiches that were frozen and not able to be eaten,” the El-Salvador citizen said.

Sergio, 17, said that he and his father were separated after they arrived at the border from their home country of Guatemala. He said his father is now facing deportation.

“I do not want to be here anymore, especially since I know how much my father is suffering. The way I have been treated makes me feel like I don’t matter, like I am trash,” Sergio said.

A 10-year-old girl from Honduras, Dixiana, said through a translator that she was given a frozen ham sandwich but that “the ham was black,” adding that she “took one bite but did not eat the rest.”

Mayra, 29, said during her interview that her 9-year-old son is “badly traumatized” after being held in a detention center. She said her son began wetting the bed and that she wasn’t allowed to feed her 2-year-old daughter formula.

“He saw someone bound with chains and asked me whether I would be chained in the same way…He wonders when we will get to the United States. I do not tell him that we are already here. He wouldn’t believe that the United States would treat us this way,” Mayra said in the interview.

The statements were taken during June and July of this year. Attorneys for the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, which represents the immigrants in the case, allege that the interviews prove the government is violating the Flores settlement.

The settlement, established in 1997, blocks the federal government from detaining immigrant children for more than 20 days and dictates the treatment of the children.

CPB spokesperson Daniel Hetlage told BuzzFeed News that the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

“However, lack of comment should not be construed as agreement or stipulation with any of the allegations. CBP takes all allegations seriously, and investigates all formal complaints,” he said.