First word came from a trusted source that AP investigative reporter Garance Burke had cultivated over several months while reporting on migrant children – Customs and Border Protection was holding 250 migrant infants and children at a Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, without enough food, water or basic sanitation. “Are you available today?” the source asked, and AP swung into action.
El Paso, Texas, correspondent Cedar Attanasio met with attorneys who had just interviewed the children. Investigative reporter Martha Mendoza set to work contacting lawmakers and government officials. Burke, with the help of attorneys, found parents of the young children who were locked inside and inconsolable. The trio worked through the night to write a draft by early Thursday. It focused on the fact that girls as young as 10 were caring for a toddler who had been handed to them by a guard: children caring for children when adults would not.
The story ran with exclusive photographs and video shot by Attanasio of the facility, as well as an interview with one of the attorneys. It had enormous impact almost immediately, with lawmakers including Hillary Clinton tweeting about it, demanding change and a DHS investigation. National outlets scrambling to match the story cited AP extensively. Hundreds of news outlets used the piece, and it got over 200,000 page views on APNews and 774,000 Facebook reads. “Anyone whose heart doesn’t break upon reading that is a monster,” NY Times columnist Charles Blow wrote.
The reporters’ next-day story was about lawmakers’ calls for change, and on Monday Mendoza and Burke again broke news: The Trump administration was moving most of the children out of Clint. Burke spoke on MSNBC, while a bevy of networks reported the development, crediting AP. Sunday talk shows grilled guests including Vice President Mike Pence about the children’s situation. “It’s totally unacceptable,” he said.
A Customs and Border Patrol officer guards the entrance to the Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, June 26, 2019. The U.S. government removed most children from the facility near the border with Mexico, a congresswoman said, following AP’s reporting that more than 300 children were detained there and caring for each other with inadequate food, water and sanitation.
AP Photo / Cedar Attanasio
For a highly significant scoop that dominated the news cycle on multiple days and returned world attention to the border crisis, Mendoza, Burke and Attanasio win AP’s Best of the Week award.