UNITED STATES. According to many, including President Barack Obama, a humanitarian crisis is occurring at the border between the US and Mexico due to a large influx of children-mainly from Central America-who have put their lives at risk to escape violence and despair in their home countries in order to travel North.

But the Union that represents the Customs and Border Protection and Customs and Border Patrol seem to be more concerned about their workers who now have to take care of children, change diapers, or "roll burritos", according to Vox.com.

The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), in a recent Twitter post to their @BPUnion account seemed to sarcastically poke fun at the humanitarian crisis with the hashtag #lowmorale. This isn't the first comment of this type from the NBPC, and Union President Shawn Moran has appeared many times on Fox News to complain about the agency strain during this crisis, comparing these responsibilities to that of a housekeeper.

The Tweet was quickly deleted after many denounced it as racist, to which the agency responded that these agents are the federal employees with lowest morale because they are being treated like preschoolers, unable to make decisions of their own and micro-managed. We live in one of these towns that have been abandoned at the Southeast border and we don't have the morale needed to do our jobs effectively, according to Moran.

Since last October, more than forty-seven thousand children have crossed the border alone, crossing primarily over the Rio Grande and mainly originating from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. By law, children can only remain in Border Patrol Custody for 72 hours, but this has not been the case for many who have been held in custody for longer periods because of the Border Patrol's inability to process the recent influx.

Last week, images depicting poor conditions in which many of these children and other immigrants are held, in conjunction with reports of abuse by the very same Agency charged with safe housing these children. Amongst these reports is the allegation of a 16 year old girl who was forced to open her legs and had her genitalia forcefully touched causing her to scream. A 17 year old also reports being held in a icebox with wet clothing with nothing to drink other than refuse water.

U.S. Federal authorities continue to relocate minors to special shelters while they coordinate amongst ambassadors and consulates in the home countries of these children, while others have been deemed to qualify for special refugee visas according to some organizations due to the fact that they are escaping violence in their home countries.

Do you think the Border Patrol's Union comment was justified? Is it appropriate for low moral to be of great concern in the midst of a humanitarian crisis?

Via The Huffington Post.

Jose.Sanchez@sandiegored.com

borderzonie@gmail.com