“Incredibly disturbing:” Immigration advocate reacts to Tornillo facility’s growth

An El Paso immigration advocate told ABC-7 she is “disturbed” by the growing number of migrant children housed in a Tornillo facility, detailed in a report by the Associated Press.

“Again, what this administration has done is created a crisis,” said Linda Rivas, the executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. “The victim of the crisis are the children.”​

On Tuesday morning, ABC-7 observed seven migrant children escorted from the Richard C. White Federal Building in Downtown El Paso. In recent years, Rivas said the number of immigration hearings has grown tremendously.

“Now we’re in this situation where we’ve seen this rise in numbers of migrant children,” Rivas said. “We ask ourselves, ‘Was this because the resources were misused?'”

She told ABC-7 she has not been allowed in the Tornillo facility, but she did tour a similar emergency shelter in 2016 near Chaparral, New Mexico.

Rivas said the difference between the two shelters is evident.

“What is happening?” Rivas asked. Why is Tornillo expanding? Why are children staying longer amounts of time in Tornillo?”​

According to the Associated Press, the number of migrant children housed in Tornillo has grown by almost seven times: from 360 children in June to almost 2,400 children in late November.

The AP investigation also states that the FBI does not require background checks of the 2,100 staffers at the facility.

“The hypocrisy of it all,” Rivas said. “They’re not able to conduct background checks on the workers that have the closest contact with these children. It just doesn’t line up and it makes this whole situation incredibly disturbing.”