Divide deepens on immigration crisis

Immigration in 75 seconds

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Earlier this month in Murrieta, busloads of babies in their mothers’ laps, teens, ‘tweens and toddlers were turned back from a detainee facility.

They were met by screaming protesters waving and wearing American flags and bearing signs that read such things as “Return to Sender.”

And so it goes. Southwest border towns, West Coast suburbs, and middle-America enclaves have become the newest battleground in the vitriolic political debate over immigration.

The showdowns highlight the scope and depth of challenges the Obama administration grapples with as officials try to use immigration-related fixes to resolve what politicians on both sides of the aisle have called “a humanitarian crisis.”

Here’s a snapshot of how things are playing out across the country:

Arizona: In Oracle, a town of roughly 3,700, protesters faced off Tuesday at Sycamore Canyon Academy, a nearby boys ranch that is to be used as a temporary housing facility for the immigrant minors, according to CNN affiliate KOLD.

Protesters representing both sides of the debate screamed and waved signs reading such things as “Send ‘em to Coyote Obama,” according to video from CNN affiliate KPNX. One man trumpeted a Mariachi-version of the “Star-Spangled Banner” as people around him yelled. Protesters even tried to stop a bus of kids from the local YMCA , which they had mistaken as the immigrant children. But the Central American children never arrived, according to media reports.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said accepting the unaccompanied juvenile immigrants only encourages more to come.

“Their very hope was realized when we took them in. Nobody was turned back and what I believe, and I think a lot of Americans would agree, is instead of accepting these 90,000, they should have — the humanitarian way to address this is reunite them with their families and their country of origin because this 90,000 is going to be hundreds of thousands,” he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Wednesday.

“These children should be returned to their home country — not to Oracle, Arizona, paid for by American taxpayers,” Babeu said earlier in a statement on the department’s Facebook page.

California: In sharp contrast to the reception similar children received in Murrieta, Central American immigrant children have been welcomed by the community of Fontana.

Just over 40 immigrants on Homeland Security buses arrived at the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church there on Thursday and were greeted by staff and community donations of food, clothing and toys, according to CNN affiliate KTLA.

And a group of California state lawmakers headed to Central America on Monday to discuss the surge of immigrant children with leaders from that region, according to CNN affiliate KCRA.

Texas: Protestors in Waco, Texas, meanwhile, are demanding better conditions for the 250 men from El Salvador being held at the Jack Harwell Detention Center, according to CNN affiliate KCEN.

And the League City, Texas, City Council approved a proposal banning the housing or detention of undocumented immigrants within the city at a recent meeting, according to KHOU.

New Mexico: In Artesia, New Mexico, hundreds of residents turned out for a contentious town hall meeting to decry the hundreds of women and children being housed at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, a facility that also trains Border Patrol agents, according to CNN affiliate KOAT.

Iowa: Gov. Terry Branstad told CNN affiliate WHO on Monday that he does not want federal officials to send Central American children to his state, adding that by accepting them, the United States is sending “a signal to send kids illegally.”

Some local aid groups are appalled.

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“My God. This is a humanitarian crisis,” said Kathleen McQuillen, the Iowa Program Director of American Friends Service Committee.

McQuillen’s group, a Quaker-based organization, questions how the country could spend trillions on war and not have the pennies on those dollars to spend to take care of children in dire need.

She said, “It’s a simple thing to begin to say, what’s important in this world?”

Nebraska: At a National Governors Association meeting in Nashville earlier this month, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman complained that federal officials did not notify him that they were placing hundreds of immigrant children with family members in his state.

Michigan: Protesters headed to city hall in Vassar earlier this month to oppose a social service agency’s plan to temporarily house 60 immigrant children according to CNN affiliate WNEM.

“It’s about the American government, Democrat or Republican, getting off their lazy butts and passing a decent bill where we can screen our immigrants, make sure they’re not felons, diseased or whatever, and get a program set up to bring them into this country,” Vassar resident Jack Smith told WNEM.

Virginia: Federal officials shelved plans to send the children to an unoccupied, historically black college campus in Lawrenceville, a small community of about 1,400, after nearly the entire town showed up at a meeting and furiously denounced the proposal.

“Our staff will immediately cease any further activities in your community,” Mark Greenberg, the Department of Health and Human Services acting assistant secretary for children and families, wrote the community in June.

Prince William County officials were frustrated to learn second-hand that some children are being housed in shelters in the region.

“HHS did not inform the county. We’re somewhat upset about that,” Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart told CNN affiliate WJLA. “I’m concerned these children may be housed here permanently and of course there is going to be a drain on our educational system and other county services.”

Maryland: Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley told CNN in an interview that he asked the White House to not send the minor immigrants to a site in western Maryland that was under consideration.

“What I said was that would not be the most inviting site in Maryland. There are already hundreds of kids already located throughout Maryland,” O’Malley said. The plan was scuttled.

O’Malley officials pointed to graffiti that was found spray painted on the shelter site in Westminster, Maryland, last weekend as an indication of hostility the migrant housing plan was generating.

“No illeagles here. No undocumented Democrats,” the graffiti read.

A Maryland law enforcement official told the Washington Post the message would be investigated as a hate crime.

Washington: Roughly 600 unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America may soon be heading to Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Tacoma, according to CNN affiliate KING.

Representatives with HHS are slated to meet Wednesday with Lakewood city leaders and staffers from the office of Democratic Rep. Denny Heck to discuss the matter.

“The biggest concern we have here in DuPont is the security,” DuPont City Administrator Ted Danek told the station. “You’ve got a lot of people coming here (with) no known backgrounds.”

And on Monday, the U.S. government deported the first group of what authorities promise will be many more — about 40 mothers and children. They flew to Honduras on a charter flight.

Despite the perils of their journey to the United States and their failed attempt to stay, one woman plans to make the trek again. There is nothing left for them at home, she said.

(CNN) — Women detained at an immigrant holding facility in southern Texas allege workers there have sexually abused them, including by removing them from their cells at night for sex as well as fondling them in front of others, lawyers wrote in a letter to federal officials this week.

Some guards or other workers at the Karnes County Residential Center also asked sexual favors of female detainees in exchange for money or promises of assistance — including help with their immigration cases or shelter if they are released — the lawyers allege in the letter.

The allegations were detailed in a Tuesday letter from several immigrant advocacy groups to officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, which had hired one of America’s for-profit prison operators to run the facility.

“We call for an immediate investigation into these serious allegations of sexual abuse and the immediate protection of all women and children forced to reside in the facility,” the letter, sent by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) on behalf of all the advocacy groups, reads.

Company denies claims, says center is ‘family-friendly‘

Geo Group Inc., the company that runs the facility, told CNN it strongly refutes the allegations.

“The Karnes County Residential Center provides a safe, clean, and family-friendly environment for mothers and children awaiting required processing by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency,” the Geo Group’s vice president of corporate relations, Pablo Paez, said. “The center provides high quality care, and our company strongly denies any allegations to the contrary.”

ICE told CNN it couldn’t discuss specifics about this case. But it said it “has a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of sexual abuse or assault and our facilities are maintained in accordance with applicable laws and policies.”

“Accusations of alleged unlawful conduct are investigated thoroughly and if substantiated, appropriate action is taken,” the agency said in a written statement.

The center is one of many in the country that hold undocumented immigrants — many apprehended as they crossed into the United States — as they await hearings on whether they will be deported. ICE detained 440,557 people across the nation in fiscal 2013.

The Karnes County facility can hold up to 532 detainees, and transitioned this summer from a center that housed adults to one that holds adults and children.

The sexual abuse is alleged to have happened since August, the lawyers’ letter says.

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“Numerous” women made the allegations to lawyers representing them, and at least three center employees committed the abuse, the letter said.

The letter came five days after one of the advocacy groups made other allegations about the center’s treatment of women and children.

In a September 25 letter, the immigration clinic at the University of Texas School of Law asked federal immigration officials to investigate numerous complaints from detainees, including that children didn’t have access to a variety of nutritious snacks between meals, that messages from attorneys weren’t getting to their clients in a timely manner, and that — although they had access to a nurse — no doctor was on staff to handle significant medical issues such as respiratory infections and chronic illnesses.

Geo Group said it refutes those allegations, as well, and that ICE personnel are at the site to ensure compliance with the agency’s family residential standards.

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‘Removing female detainees from their cells’ for sex

MALDEF’s letter from Tuesday accuses facility workers of “removing female detainees from their cells late in the evening and during early morning hours for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts in various parts of the facility.”

Also, workers called detainees “their ‘novias,’ or ‘girlfriends,’ ” and requested “sexual favors from female detainees in exchange for money, promises of assistance with their pending immigration cases, and shelter when and if the women are released,” the advocates alleged.

Workers also kissed, fondled and groped detainees in front of other detainees, including children, the advocates alleged.

The women reported the allegations to center personnel, but “to date, no action has been taken to stop or prevent this abuse,” the letter reads.

The advocates further argue that the center “provides an environment that facilitates the abuse,” in part by having a guard roster that is predominantly male, and by allowing the guards 24-hour access to the detainees’ rooms.

The letter warns the alleged harassment and “unsafe environment” likely violates several federal laws and regulations, and asks for a response detailing what ICE and the center will do to address the matter.