WASHINGTON -- The acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection said he's stepping down amid outrage over his agency's treatment of detained migrant children.
- Set to resign July 5
- 6 children have died since late last year after being detained by CBP
- Facilities located in Clint, Texas
John Sanders said in a message to U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees Tuesday that he would resign on July 5.
Customs and Border Protection is the agency that apprehends and first detains migrant parents and children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Lawyers who visited CBP facilities in Clint, Texas last week described squalid conditions: inadequate food, lack of medical care, and children trying to care for toddlers.
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Some had been locked for three weeks inside the facility, where 15 children were sick with the flu and another 10 were in medical quarantine. Six children have died since late last year after being detained by CBP.
Sanders pushed Congress to pass $4.5 billion in humanitarian funding. In an interview last week with The Associated Press, Sanders talked about how the deaths “impacted him profoundly.”