McKeone in McAllen

As the world looks on in outrage, US correspondent Marion McKeone reports from the Texan border, where the immigration processing scandal paints America in its darkest light

Migrants detained by US Border Patrol agents are held in a jail at the Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas
A group of migrants and asylum seekers from Honduras who have been diverted from the criminal to the civil system make their way to the bus station

McAllen is a thriving Texas border town about seven miles from the wretched border crossing hamlet of Hidalgo. It is, for the most part, comfortably bi-cultural – even if it is deeply divided on how best to approach the thorny issue of immigration control.

Everywhere, Hispanics and Anglos ...