" While in these cells, the children do not have 'specialized legal or social services.' In fact they often lack basic necessities like blankets (leading to the holding cells receiving the nickname 'las hieleras' or 'the freezers'); they are fed less than three times a day; and they lack access to drinking water or medical attention. Officials who work at these centers often do not speak Spanish, resulting in confusion and fear when officials yell in English at the children. Worse, 'a significant proportion of children reported being threatened with death, beaten, and sexually assaulted by CBP agents.' . . . Whether or not immigration detention is punishment under American law, it is clear that immigration detention as practiced in the United States is punishment under the terms of Article 31 of the 1951 Convention."
U.S. Treatment of Undocumented Immigrant Children in Light of Article 31 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees