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19th Jun 2018

Leaked audio from US detention centre of children crying out for parents is harrowing

This should not be happening

Alan Loughnane

This should not be happening

Audio obtained by the investigative news outlet ProPublica captures the harrowing cries of 10 Central American children when they were taken from their parents at the US border by immigration authorities.

The audio of the 10 children is just a tiny percentage of what is happening at the US border.

So far, 2,000 children have been separated from their families since the US began enforcing a “zero-tolerance” policy at the border.

Immigration authorities are sending every unauthorized border crosser, including those seeking asylum, to jail to face charges while their children are placed into government care.

Video via ProPublica

In the audio, immigration officers can be heard mocking those detained. A young boy can be heard crying, repeatedly crying for his ‘Papa’. A border patrol agent can be heard saying: “Well, we have an orchestra here. What’s missing is a conductor.”

“I don’t want them to stop my father,” another child cries. “I don’t want them to deport him.”

The children in the audio are between four and ten years old according to the person who recorded it.

The audio was recorded inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility and it was given to civil rights lawyer Jennifer Harbury by the whistleblower. She then sent it to ProPublica.