Day 10: Discharge
Below are the notices that I received yesterday while on shift. We get texts periodically so we can know who and what type of guest to expect (I've blanked their names for privacy reasons).
ORR/ICE AGE-OUTS REFUGEE RELEASE
The Ft Bliss ORR facility is releasing 3 teens who age out today. They are:
- Guatemalan ______ & Guatemalan ______. They are COVID Negative. Their ETA is this morning between 10:30 & 11:30.
DEL SOL HOSPITAL REFUGEE DISCHARGE
Del Sol Hospital is releasing a 34 yr old man from Mexico, _______. He fell off the wall & fractured both ankles. He is non-weight bearing and will arrive with a wheelchair and sliding board to help him transition from the wheelchair to a bed, etc. He is COVID negative. He will arrive by taxi.
CONSORTIUM REFUGEES
Today there will be @ 50 Consortium refugees, all COVID tested & negative. Their ETA will be this afternoon.
OFO/YSLETA/POE T42 ACLU REFUGEE RELEASES
The YSLETA POE will release a family of 6 refugees. They are T42 ACLU refugees. These refugees have not been COVID screened or tested. They will be tested and if they are Negative they will stay.
ICE/ENDEAVORS TRANSFER
Endeavors will transfer 2 families, 8 individuals, who have reached their 72 hour limit at an Endeavors Hotel. They have been COVID cleared and are Negative.
UMC HOSPITAL REFUGEE DISCHARGE
UMC Hospital is releasing a 31 yr old woman from Mexico, _______. She fell off the wall & fractured her leg. She will arrive with a walker. She is COVID negative.
Some explanations:
ORR (The Office of Refugee Resettlement) "provides new populations with the opportunity to achieve their full potential in the United States." The Unaccompanied Refugee Minors program under ORR serves vulnerable minors who had to flee persecution, violence, or abuse in their home countries. On an unaccompanied minor's 18th birthday, if they have been staying at ORR, they are released into the United States and we take them into our shelters. (What a way to begin adulthood!)
Migrants are allowed into the United States if they need serious medical attention. It's heartbreaking that it takes a fractured bone to get across the border, but this is where our folks from hospitals come.
The Biden Administration is working with a consortium of non-governmental organizations to identify the most vulnerable migrants so they can be released into the U.S. These migrants are scanned in Mexico before they present themselves to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It's unclear what the criteria to make them "vulnerable" is, but everyone who comes here has clearly been through a fair amount of trauma.
OFO/YSLETA/POE are various Ports of Entry in different neighborhoods in the city of El Paso. U.S. Customs and Border Protection controls who does and doesn't get into the United States at these various ports.
This year, ICE signed a short-term $86.9 million dollar contract with Endeavors (a San Antonio-based non-profit) to provide shelter and processing for migrant families. The contract provides 1,239 beds and other necessary services, but is a very temporary solution. We receive the individuals that have reached their time limit in these facilities.
What you see everyday must be heartbreaking. I love this public art. Very appropriate and poignant!
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