Federal watchdog investigating Fort Bliss Army base housing migrant children
CBSN
The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) internal watchdog on Monday announced an investigation into federal employees' concerns about a tent camp in Texas housing unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. government custody.
Led by investigators at the department's Office of Inspector General, the probe is the first public government investigation into the emergency HHS housing site at Fort Bliss, the largest U.S. facility ever established to hold migrant children. The tent camp inside the Army base has come under withering criticism from advocates amid reports of subpar conditions, limited services, prolonged stays and mental health issues among boys and girls housed there.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.