Satellite reveals! This is how the United States treats minors who enter the country illegally!

Every day, hundreds of remote sensing satellites pass over the United States from an altitude of about 500 kilometers above the ground. They come from Europe, the United States, Japan, China or Russia, India, South Africa...

Using publicly available imagery from commercial satellite companies, we were able to complete a core part of our investigation - how the world's only superpower detains minors who enter the country illegally.

Children under the age of two or teenagers are forcibly separated from their parents, detained in tents with only mats and tinfoil, and fed bloody chicken - to borrow a common expression used by Western media, "it involves one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time."

Tent in the farmland

Dona, a small town in southeastern Texas with perhaps just over 10,000 residents, is only 11 kilometers from the U.S.-Mexico border when measured on the map.

After President Biden vowed to free the United States from Trump's disastrous immigration policies, satellite images showed a large area of ​​tents appearing in the southwest of the town, near farmland - a detention center for minors who entered the country illegally.

Satellite images show that the entire detention center reached its current size in less than eight months - the map measures about 200,000 square meters, equivalent to the area of ​​New York's Grand Central Station. This is a special case for the United States, which is known for its slow infrastructure construction.

Less than four months after February 19, 2021, the number of large white tents accommodating illegal immigrant minors increased from four to 11.

The United States claims to have a free press, but it is difficult for the media to enter these detention centers. In March 2021, under pressure from outsiders, three media personnel were able to enter the facility in Dona. They reported that more than 4,100 people were detained there, most of them unaccompanied children, and the planned capacity of this facility was only 250 people.

At that time, there were already five large tents, each accommodating an average of about 800 people. Based on this estimate, the facility may currently accommodate nearly 10,000 minors at most.

Another piece of evidence of the detention center’s surge in population is that the number of vehicles in the facility — most of which are likely staff members’ personal cars — has increased from about 148 to more than 545, a 2.7-fold increase.

Because of the different construction periods, the 11 large tents are divided into two areas, and the west side of each area has two areas of about 1,600 square meters controlled by walls. The total area is less than the size of a football field, which is the entire outdoor activity space for thousands of minors.

Inside the tent, the children were separated by plastic sheets in a crowded space, with no living facilities except mattresses and tin foil for warmth.

(Photo source: Reuters)

There aren't many large buses seen in satellite images from various periods, which means that the detained minors may not move in large numbers or frequently - once the children are brought in, there is no plan to pick them up soon.

About 1,000 kilometers away from Dona, in Fort Bliss, located at the western end of the Texas section of the U.S.-Mexico border, is the largest detention center for minors who entered the country illegally in the United States. It was also established in March 2021 after President Biden took office. By July, there were already 19 large tents here.

By measuring the area of ​​these large tents and comparing them with the area and number of people accommodated in Dona's tents, it is estimated that this area can accommodate up to 15,000 minors. The two satellite images also show that the number of vehicles in the parking lot has increased more than six times, from less than 100 to more than 700.

According to foreign media reports, the detention center is located in a military base and is difficult for outsiders to enter. However, there are reports that sexual assaults have occurred here, involving both girls and boys. Staff who must sign a confidentiality agreement with the detention center revealed that many children have become severely depressed and have suffered multiple self-harm incidents.

Pictures from the detention center show that the bunk beds for children are only as high as a table. COVID-19, influenza and other diseases have broken out in this facility, and special tents need to be built to accommodate sick children. Children who have left here said that the chicken provided to them was still bloody.

(Image source: BBC)

Unable to confirm the number of people

How many detention centers for minors who enter the country illegally are actually operating in the United States? The information is confusing.

In February 2021, Mark Weber, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said that the department had built about 80 permanent facilities for immigrant children, providing more than 13,000 beds, but some facilities were unusable due to the epidemic.

In May 2021, the Associated Press reported that there were 200 opaque detention facilities in more than 20 states.

There is no exact information on how many illegal immigrant minors who have been separated from their parents are detained in these places.

Through limited media information, we found eight clear locations of detention centers for minors who entered the country illegally that had not announced their closure. In the spring of 2021, Western media paid attention to detention centers for minors who entered the country illegally, but since then, it has been difficult for people to learn more about this, either from official channels or the media.

The detention centers currently known are spread across a vast area from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast, including Dallas, about 530 kilometers from the border.

These facilities are located in military bases, conference centers, stadiums, oil workers' camps and other areas. Except for some newly built tents, most of them are permanent buildings.

Although the appearance of buildings in some places has not changed significantly, other changes caused by the detention of a large number of minors can be observed using satellites - the increase of ancillary facilities, the gathering of vehicles, the accumulation of materials...

Children may also live in small wooden houses or other buildings, and in places with better conditions, large tents may be used as activity areas.

These children, who mostly come from Central America - a vast area from El Salvador to Mexico, may be detained in these temporary detention facilities for up to 70 or 80 days before being transferred to places farther away from the border for continued detention.

In 1997, a public interest lawsuit caused by law enforcement agencies' abuse of illegal immigrant minors (such as strip searches and handcuffing of 15-year-old girls) was settled. The settlement plan, the Flores Settlement Agreement, stipulated that unaccompanied children should be released after 20 days of detention and clarified the minimum living security for these minors.

For example, "appropriate accommodation, food, suitable clothing and personal grooming items", "appropriate daily medical and dental care... a comprehensive physical examination within 48 hours of admission (including infectious disease screening)... vaccinations... supervision of special diets and prescription drugs... appropriate psychological intervention when necessary", and "some private space should be reserved for personal items."

These are clearly not present in the detention centres.

In 2019, Justice Department lawyers argued in a federal appeals court that the safeguards set out in the Flores settlement did not include providing the children with soap or toothbrushes.

Strange reason

Why are minors who enter the country illegally separated from their parents and then detained? The reason is difficult for most people on this planet to understand and agree with.

Although Biden claimed to reverse the tough immigration policies of the Trump era, he has continued to use a rule: parents in illegal immigrant families are expelled from the United States, but the children are detained.

White House spokeswoman Psaki defended this by saying that expelling children and letting them embark on a "dangerous journey" was not the right choice.

Therefore, the American view is that it is better to detain minors alone in the United States and let them live in detention centers for a long time with almost no living facilities - many people can only cover themselves with tinfoil to keep warm at night - than to let them return to their homeland with their parents.

There has never been any official report as to whether there have been any deaths of minors in these facilities.

If the above situation occurred outside the United States, it would likely become an excuse for military intervention.

However, considering that the United States, including the government, media and NGOs, has always used double standards to evaluate similar incidents occurring inside and outside the United States, it is not difficult to understand why such behavior that blatantly violates human ethics, deprives individuals of their basic rights and endangers the lives and safety of minors occurs.

(Photo source: Reuters)

The spread of aerospace technology means that the use of this technology to conduct news reporting is no longer monopolized by the media in developed countries, and provides a powerful means for third world countries to destigmatize and defend their own rights. It also enables people outside the North American continent to observe humanitarian crises, human rights issues, racial discrimination and unimaginable bad things happening in the United States.

The above report provides further evidence that the US detention of illegal immigrant children is a violation of the human rights of thousands of foreign minors and a threat to their life safety under the pretext of morality.

This is despite the United States' continued claims that it will address these issues.

The narrative style commonly used by Western media can also be used as the ending of this article: "Where such projects will end, there are many disturbing precedents in history."

Executive Producer: Liu Siyang Yan Wenbin

Producer: Ni Siyi Xu Shanna

Planning: Zhong Haoxi

Producer: Cheng Ying, Zhang Zhengfu

Chief Writer: Shan Xu

Data/Video: Fu Yiming, Zhang Xiaoxue, Feng Chun

Visual: Guo Chao, Wang Jiadong, Li Dongze

Production

State Key Laboratory of Media Convergence Production Technology and System

Production

Xinhua News Agency Satellite News Laboratory

Co-production

Xinhua News Agency International Communication Integration Platform

Xinhua News Agency New Media Center

Where are the human rights of children?