PHOTOS: Biden Allows Reporters in Migrant Child Detention Site at 1700% Capacity

DONNA, TEXAS - MARCH 30: Young children look out from inside a pod at the Department of Ho
File Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills - Pool/Getty Images
Bob Price

The Biden Administration finally allowed two journalists and a film crew to enter the Border Patrol migrant child detention center in Donna, Texas. The resulting photos and video show the conditions where more than 4,100 children are held in a facility with a capacity of 250 — 1,700 percent above capacity.

After leaked photos and videos of the overcrowded housing of unaccompanied migrant children in Border Patrol facilities along the Texas border, CBP officials allowed two Associated Press reporters and a CBS News camera crew to enter the Donna facility on March 30. Officials allowed the journalists to photograph and observe the processing of the children and the facilities where they were being held well beyond the 27-hour legal limit.

Due to the surge of children crossing the border without a parent, Border Patrol officials packed more than 4,100 unaccompanied minors into the Donna facility designed to temporarily hold no more than 250, CBSDFW reported on Tuesday afternoon.

Oscar Escamilla, the acting senior officer in the region, told the reporters that 250 to 300 children are entering the facility on a daily basis. Far fewer leave, he said. “That number is so lopsided,” Escamilla expressed.

During processing, journalists observed the children being inspected for lice, scabies, fever, and other health conditions. The processes fingerprint and photograph the children who are 14 and older, the CBS report states.

A migrant and her daughter have their biometric data entered at the intake area of the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley in Donna, Texas on March 30, 2021. (Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A migrant and her daughter have their biometric data entered at the intake area of the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley in Donna, Texas on March 30, 2021. (Photo by DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The children are provided bracelets with barcodes to track their showering and medical conditions.

Young children lie inside a pod at the Department of Homeland Security holding facility run by the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) on March 30, 2021 in Donna, Texas. The Donna location is the main detention center for unaccompanied children coming across the U.S. border in the Rio Grande Valley. The children are housed by the hundreds in eight pods that are about 3,200 square feet in size. Many of the pods had more than 500 children in them. The youngest of the unaccompanied minors are kept separate from the rest of the detainees. The Biden administration has just allowed journalists inside its main detention facility at the border for migrant children. It is an overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,000 kids and families are kept in pods, with the youngest kept in a large play pen with mats on the floor for sleeping. (Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills - Pool/Getty Images)

Young children lie inside a pod at the Department of Homeland Security holding facility run by the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) on March 30, 2021 in Donna, Texas.  It is an overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,000 kids and families are kept in pods. (Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills – Pool/Getty Images)

DONNA, TEXAS - MARCH 30: Young unaccompanied migrants, wait for their turn at the secondary processing station in the Department of Homeland Security holding facility on March 30, 2021 in Donna, Texas. The Donna location is the main detention center for unaccompanied children coming across the U.S. border in the Rio Grande Valley. The youngest of the unaccompanied minors are kept separate from the rest of the detainees. The Biden administration has just allowed journalists inside its main detention facility at the border for migrant children. It is an overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,000 kids and families are kept in pods, with the youngest kept in a large play pen with mats on the floor for sleeping. (Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills - Pool/Getty Images)

Young unaccompanied migrants, wait for their turn at the secondary processing station in the Department of Homeland Security holding facility on March 30, 2021 in Donna, Texas.  (Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills – Pool/Getty Images)

Newly migrants wait to enter the intake area at the Donna Processing Center, run by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool)

Newly migrants wait to enter the intake area at the Donna Processing Center, run by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool)

Monitored by a caretaker, young unaccompanied migrants, aged from 3 to 9, watch television inside a playpen at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. The youngest of the unaccompanied minors are kept separate from the rest of the detainees. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool)

Monitored by a caretaker, young unaccompanied migrants, aged from 3 to 9, watch television inside a playpen at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. The youngest of the unaccompanied minors are kept separate from the rest of the detainees. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool)

Young migrants wait to be tested for Covid-19 at the Department of Homeland Security holding facility on March 30, 2021 in Donna, Texas. The Donna location is the main detention center for unaccompanied children coming across the U.S. border in the Rio Grande Valley. (Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills - Pool/Getty Images)

Young migrants wait to be tested for Covid-19 at the Department of Homeland Security holding facility on March 30, 2021 in Donna, Texas.  (Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills – Pool/Getty Images)

Minor children are housed inside a pod at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. The minors are housed by the hundreds in eight pods that are about 3,200 square feet in size. Many of the pods had more than 500 children in them. The Biden administration on Tuesday for the first time allowed journalists inside its main detention facility at the border for migrant children, revealing a severely overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,000 kids and families were crammed into pods and the youngest kept in a large play pen with mats on the floor for sleeping.(AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool)

Minor children are housed inside a pod at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. The minors are housed by the hundreds in eight pods that are about 3,200 square feet in size. Many of the pods had more than 500 children in them.(AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool)

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.

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