Border Detainees Are Fed ‘Appalling’ Menu of Slimy Sandwiches and Unhealthy Ramen

(Bloomberg) -- Immigrants housed in a federal detention center in Texas were fed frozen sandwiches, cold burritos and potato chips, and detained children and young mothers have complained of hunger to visiting attorneys.

Details gleaned from government procurement data reflect what a nutritionist and two doctors described as a highly processed, unhealthy menu for families held in five detention centers operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Texas. Breakfasts consist mostly of cereal bars, lunches of ramen noodles or bologna sandwiches and dinners of microwaveable burritos and chimichangas. Some healthier items, like oatmeal, applesauce and peanut butter, are also listed – but in much lower quantities.

The choice of foods is “appalling,” said Rafael Perez-Escamilla, a professor of epidemiology and public health at the Yale School of Public Health who has served on advisory panels related to the U.S. Federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Not only does the menu not meet those guidelines, but it also represents exactly the sort of diet that “has been associated with obesity, poor dental health and chronic diseases such as diabetes,’’ he said.

Concerns about the treatment of immigrants in detention have flared repeatedly during President Donald Trump’s administration – driven in part by the administration’s “zero tolerance’’ policy that included separating immigrant parents and children at the border. Even though Trump declared an end to that practice last year, immigrant advocates say officials are still separating children.

Declarations from detainees made news this week as descriptions of their difficult living conditions surfaced in a federal lawsuit that seeks to force immediate inspections of Texas-based detention centers. On Thursday, the U.S. House passed a $4.6 billion emergency border-funding bill that will allot $1.1 billion to immigrant processing centers run by U.S. CBP – some of which will flow to contractors for the facilities, including food and beverage providers.

Unspecific Guidelines

For detention centers operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement -- which can hold detainees for long stays -- federal guidelines say meals must be “nutritious and appetizing’’ and should accommodate “age, activity, physical condition, gender, religious preference and medical considerations’’ as well as ethnic diversity. But even the ICE guidelines set no specific nutritional standards.

Bloomberg News sought comment from the Department of Homeland Security, and from U.S. CBP, the DHS agency that operates processing centers for detainees before they get longer term placements elsewhere. A DHS spokesman didn’t respond to specific questions about the processing centers’ food and beverage services.

Menu options at the McAllen Texas Central Processing Center were severely limited on June 10, 11 and 12, when Toby Elizabeth Gialluca, a lawyer who volunteers for the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, visited it. Her organization monitors conditions at immigrant detention centers, like the CBP’s at McAllen.

Gialluca, who interviewed seven mother-daughter pairs and one teenage boy, found people in poor condition – many of whom complained they’d lost weight. “They were vomiting and had diarrhea – whether from the flu or the food or a combination thereof, I can’t say,’’ she said. “Mothers would say, ‘my child can’t drink the water or eat the food, it makes them sick.’’

Toddlers’ Chips

The food was often inedible, Gialluca said. Detainees complained they were served frozen, “slimy’’ sandwiches that had been partially thawed but not heated, she said.

“A lot of times they would have to take the sandwiches apart so they could eat parts that were thawed,’’ Gialluca said. “Or if the meat seemed ‘off,’ they would take the meat off and eat the bread.’’ Burritos that were served while she was with the detainees were warmed, but Gialluca said detainees told her they were usually served cold, with undercooked rice. “They were all very excited they had warm food when they were with us.’’

Young mothers told her they fed their toddlers mostly formula and potato chips, though the formula was limited to three bottles a day. Gialluca said she saw formula for infants and toddlers. But the mothers were confused by the differentiation and it’s unlikely their children were consistently getting age-appropriate formula, she said.

Children were given applesauce only after Gialluca and her colleagues demanded it, she said. She also said the detainees were given apples when they met with her, but the fruit was unwashed, and there was no running water to wash it.

No fresh fruit or vegetables were listed as specifications in a solicitation for bids to provide detainees’ food and beverages that the Homeland Security Department published in September 2018. The resulting contract covers food for five detention centers in Texas, including the one Gialluca visited, and was awarded to Del Rio, Texas-based Jose Ernesto Salazar LLC, which does business as Jesco.

Jesco executives didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.

Federal Lawsuit

Complaints of hungry children at other detention facilities were detailed in a May 31 filing in a federal lawsuit challenging detention policies and separation of immigrant children. A 13-year-old from El Salvador said detainees were given 15 minutes to eat and were not allowed to take any food back to their bunks, according to court records. The children were visited by a team of lawyers and doctors led by Hope M. Frye, an immigration attorney who serves as the executive director of Project Lifeline, an advocacy group for children in detention.

Medical professionals see more risk than just short-term hunger. Yale’s Perez-Escamilla raised concerns of “food insecurity,” a powerful stressor that can be especially damaging in early childhood, harming development and contributing to a lifetime of unhealthy eating. He also expressed concern about giving toddlers formulas, which said are ‘absolutely not needed and contain added sugars.’’

A bad diet may make detainees more susceptible to other illnesses as well, said Bruce Lee, an associate professor of international health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Bad nutrition can affect your immune system, and your immune system is what will protect you against different types of pathogens,’’ said Lee, who is also executive director of the Global Obesity Prevention Center. (Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, is the public health school’s primary donor.)

The food listed in the government’s bid solicitation “looks like a monotonous, unhealthy and disrespectful diet,’’ said Margo Wootan, vice president for nutrition at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit advocacy group that regularly reviews public procurement contracts for schools, prisons and hospitals.

“This list does not look as if it was drawn up by anyone with experience in nutrition or a nutritionist,’’ Wootan said. “This is a list of convenience foods that are cheap and easy to prep and serve.’’

200,000 Sandwiches

Wootan and her colleagues calculated that in the contract awarded to Jesco, the government describes enough daily food for about 850 people for a year: about 200,000 bologna sandwiches, 300,000 burritos and between 48,000 and 96,000 ramen cups. (“Ramen soup cups are on our list of the most unhealthy foods you could eat,’’ she said.) But it’s unclear how many people are being held at the five centers supplied by the contract on any given day.

Processing centers like the one at McAllen are supposed to hold detainees for no longer than 72 hours. Yet Gialluca said she spoke with detainees who’d been there for about two weeks. “Children aren’t supposed to spend any significant time in these processing facilities,’’ she said.

Contractors that serve the centers are seeing increased revenue this year. Jesco, which provides other services in addition to food and beverages, has done 26 transactions worth $5.1 million thus far in 2019, including janitorial services, preventive maintenance and fencing construction. Last year, the company had $4.2 million in government contracts; in 2017, it was $3.9 million.

Another company, Deployed Resources, of Rome, New York, has 2019 contracts worth $52 million, up from $3.8 million last year and $26.3 million in 2017. In addition to feeding detainees, the company provides such services as equipment leasing, building installation and temporary housing. A co-owner of Deployed Resources hung up on a Bloomberg News reporter when reached by phone.

To contact the reporters on this story: Deena Shanker in New York at dshanker@bloomberg.net;Polly Mosendz in New York at pmosendz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Voskuhl at jvoskuhl@bloomberg.net, David S. Joachim

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