Since last July, the Trump administration has been sending all pregnant, unaccompanied minors apprehended by immigration enforcement to a single group shelter in South Texas.

Some of the administration's own child welfare officials object to this policy, saying the facility lacks specialized care the girls need.

I spoke yesterday to Mark Betancourt, a journalist who spent

six months reporting to break this story for both the California Newsroom and the Texas

newsroom, which are collaborations of public media news outlets. Mark, welcome. Thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me on there. Let's start with the girls. Tell us a little bit about who

we're talking about, how old are they, where are they

from, and how do they come into the U.S. government custody?

So most of the time, what happens is that when kids cross the border unaccompanied, which

means they're not with a parent or guardian, they are transferred from Customs and Border

Protection to ORR care, which is the Office of Refugee Resettlement,

under the Department of Health and Human Services. They basically then distribute them among shelters

throughout the country to hold them until they can be released to their sponsors, which are often family members.

So the goal is to actually hold them for as little time as possible

so that they can then be released while the sponsors are vetted.

So when pregnant girls are brought in, these are kids who are under 18,

so they're all minors.

They would normally be placed in places that have medical facilities nearby and trained staff who can

handle what are often complicated pregnancies. So that's what is normally supposed to happen under

this process. Some of the girls you reported are as young as 13, is that right? Many of them have

been assaulted, raped on the journey that they're making to the U.S.

That's right. So these girls are between 13 and 17.

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