Aura Bogado heard about a girl who had spent the last six years detained in U.S. shelters

For Doña Amalia, thoughts about her grandchildren have been constant and all-consuming since they disappeared into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. (CREDIT: Devyn Galindo for Reveal)

A few months ago, my colleague Aura Bogado heard about a girl who had spent the last six years detained in the U.S. government’s network of shelters for unaccompanied migrant children. In Aura’s decadelong experience as an immigration reporter, she had never heard of a child being detained for so long.

Aura had few clues – just the girl’s name and the first name of an aunt. She ended up unraveling a shocking story that shows how, in the immigration system, the government basically can do whatever it wants, including keeping a family separated for a major period of a child’s life.

Read the full story here to get all the twists and turns. ([link removed])

Or listen to the Reveal show ([link removed]) to hear the story.
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** ANOTHER CITY CONSIDERS VISIONQUEST
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By our count, at least six cities or states have blocked VisionQuest’s effort to open shelters in their communities. They include Waco, San Antonio and Universal City in Texas, as well as the state of New Mexico and the city of Philadelphia.

Last month, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to temporarily ban immigrant detention centers and shelters for unaccompanied children within the city. That decision came just two months after we broke the story ([link removed]) about VisionQuest’s plan to open a shelter there.

Throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, scandals plagued the company, which repeatedly was investigated for violent handling of children. CEO Mark Contento previously told us in a statement that the firm has matured over the years and has “expanded and improved its method of service delivery by incorporating several evidence-based models into its programs.”

Now VisionQuest is looking to operate a shelter in Kansas City, Missouri, where officials are expected to discuss the proposal this week ([link removed]) .

VisionQuest is among dozens of providers that were awarded federal funding – totaling nearly $800 million – in the past year as the Trump administration expands its network of shelters for unaccompanied children.

Read our VisionQuest story here ([link removed]) .

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** 3 THINGS WE’RE READING
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1. A Guatemalan mother and her 6-year-old daughter were separated at the border in 2017. Nearly three years later, they’re still apart. (The Washington Post ([link removed]) )

Adelaida Reynoso, now 9, is among more than 1,500 children who were separated from parents a year before the Trump administration acknowledged it was splitting up families during its “zero tolerance” crackdown in the summer of 2018. Hundreds of families have been reunited, but Adelaida and her mother, Maria, remain apart. Maria was deported to Guatemala, and her daughter is living with family in Florida. The girl now has spent a third of her life without her mother.

The kicker: Adelaida wore a red polo shirt and a ponytail. She waved her books in front of the phone. She showed her mother her bus stop, a stretch of sidewalk outside the two-bedroom apartment she shared with 11 people, including two aunts and an uncle. “Do you have any homework?” María asked. “No, they didn’t give us any today,” Adelaida said. María summoned her most maternal voice. “When you get home, you need to wash your hair,” she said. They stared at each other and said nothing. Adelaida moved her finger over the image of her mother’s face, caressing the screen. “You’re always in my heart,” Adelaida said.

2. A Customs and Border Protection officer spent two decades enforcing immigration laws. Now he’s at risk of being deported himself. (The Atlantic) ([link removed])

Raul Rodriguez joined the border agency in 2000 and was involved in the deportation of thousands of people throughout his career. But in 2018, agency investigators took his gun and badge. Unbeknownst to Rodriguez, his U.S. citizenship was based on a fraudulent birth certificate. Officials had unearthed his real birth certificate, which showed Rodriguez was born in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico.

The kicker: Still, he doesn’t regret his service, and distinguishes himself from other unauthorized immigrants. “There are a lot of people trying to do it the easier way,” he told me. “I just found out, and I’m trying to do it correctly.” If deported, he would live on family property in Tamaulipas. The State Department’s “Do not travel” warning to U.S. citizens says of the area: “Murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, extortion, and sexual assault (are) common along the northern border.” As an agent, Rodriguez had put traffickers in jail, and his face is widely recognizable from his years on the bridge. “I don’t know how long I can survive,” he told me.

3. At the largest tent camp along the U.S.-Mexico border, asylum seekers organized a cooking cooperative to feed their families. (Bon Appétit ([link removed]) )

At the Matamoros camp, migrants have few resources. They bathe and wash their clothes in the Rio Grande and run the risk of violence from local gangs. But many find comfort through food. A small group has joined forces to cook Central American staples for themselves and other families.

The kicker: A skinny teenage girl walks up and asks about the day’s dish. Chicken soup for 50 pesos ($2.50 USD), Melissa says, shaking out a bundle of cilantro. “As a father, the most important thing is my children’s diet,” Jose says. He uses the word “alimentar,” which can mean diet, but its literal translation in these horrific conditions is even more meaningful: “to nourish.”

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