Overcrowding reduced at largest border facility for migrant children, but challenges remain
CBSN
Donna, Texas — Conditions inside U.S. Border Patrol's largest holding facility for migrant children have changed dramatically over the past several weeks.
In March and early April, the Donna complex was acutely overcrowded, at one point surpassing 1,600% of its pandemic-era capacity. On April 2, for example, there were about 4,300 migrants held there, including 3,700 unaccompanied minors, the Border Patrol chief in Texas' Rio Grande Valley told reporters Thursday. On Thursday, when a small group of journalists were allowed to tour the Donna tents, the facility was holding about 800 migrants, including 330 unaccompanied children — an 80% drop, according to Brian Hastings, the Border Patrol chief.Rodeo star Spencer Wright and his wife are making end-of-life preparations for their 3-year-old son after he was found unconscious in a creek, a close family friend said in updates posted on social media and confirmed to CBS affiliate KUTV. The boy had been playing on his tractor before he ended up in the water and a mile downstream.
The launch of Boeing's star-crossed Starliner spacecraft on its first piloted test flight is slipping to at least June 1 to give engineers more time to assess a small-but-persistent helium leak in the capsule's propulsion system, and its potential impact across all phases of flight, NASA announced Wednesday.
Washington — As former President Donald Trump's "hush money" criminal trial in New York proceeds to closing arguments next week, the legal focus is moving south. His attorneys and longtime aide Walt Nauta appeared before Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon, where they sparred with prosecutors during two contentious, day-long hearings on Wednesday.