Jun 21, 2018 - Politics & Policy

Kids in border shelter get 20 minutes a week to speak with family

A pile of children's shoes.

Shoes left outside a point of entry in El Paso, Texas, during a protest rally. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

The program director at the border shelter visited by First Lady Melania Trump on Thursday said children in the shelter get 20 minutes a week to speak with their families on the phone, according to pool reports of the roundtable.

The details: Director Rogelio De La Cerda Jr. told her the kids get two 10-minute phone calls a week, after "a process" to ensure that "the persons that they're communicating with are indeed their family. And that could be through verification — a birth certificate, photo identification."

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