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US news
A group of Democratic representatives visited various detainment centers at the US-Mexico border to take in the conditions. Their accounts describe a "humanitarian crisis."
- Joined the @HispanicCaucus and @HouseDemocrats in Texas today. We are preparing to visit several @CBP and @HHSGov facilities to observe the conditions families are being detained. We must deal directly with this humanitarian crisis -- we must not turn away. #DemsAtTheBorder
- There is no doubt that Congress must do something. But in order to create smart and humane immigration and border policies, we must understand as much as possible about the border. Today my @HouseDemocrats colleagues will have that opportunity. #DemsAtTheBorder
- Just left the first CBP facility. The conditions are far worse than we ever could have imagined. 15 women in their 50s- 60s sleeping in a small concrete cell, no running water. Weeks without showers. All of them separated from their families. This is a human rights crisis.
- We were met with hostility from the guards, but this is nothing compared to their treatment of the people being held. The detainees are constantly abused and verbally harassed with no cause. Deprived physically and dehumanized mentally - everyday. This is a human rights issue.
- Every single word of this is true. I am horrified by what I just saw. This should not be a partisan issue — it’s a human rights issue.
- The conditions we saw today at CBP facilities in Texas were heartbreaking and abhorrent. From cells that are too crowded to lie down in, to women being told by Border Patrol agents to drink water from the toilet, the situation at the border is unacceptable. #DemsAtTheBorder
- "If you want water, just drink from a toilet." That's what border patrol told one thirsty woman we met on today's #DemsAtTheBorder trip. These are the same CBP personnel who threatened to throw burritos at members of Congress. Changes must be made. #DontLookAway
- Another woman detained by CBP has epilepsy but cannot even get the medication she needs. The humanitarian crisis is the one our government is creating. #DemsAtTheBorder
- Now I’ve seen the inside of these facilities. It’s not just the kids. It’s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress. I brought it up to their superiors. They said “officers are under stress & act out sometimes.” No accountability.
- The children at these detention centers will have suffered significant harm and trauma after being in these facilities for months at a time. I am horrified by the treatment of migrant children I just witnessed. They are not equipped for this. #DemsAtTheBorder #DontLookAway
- We can't just focus on the children anymore. I met grandmothers, mothers and fathers who are suffering. This is devastating. The look in one father's eyes broke me. I can't look away. #CloseTheCamps
- A little boy not more than 4 years old asked me where his Papa was through a glass door. An Abuela hasn't seen her grandson in 40 days & has no idea where he is. A woman, pregnant w/ her first child, just wants to be w/ her family in FL. #CloseTheCamps
- A father teared up telling me that his wife, 8 yr old daughter & 14 yr old son have been sleeping on concrete floors in a tent for 4 days. They haven't been able to shower, no real food (chips & juice boxes) & so scared of being separated. #CloseTheCamps
- 2) Facilities are wholly inadequate. Cells maxed to capacity, concrete floors...It felt jail-like. No way to keep a child or innocent human being. Group of 13 women from Cuba were in tears when we spoke with them.
- 3) The entire system is broken, rotten and rife with abuse. And Trump doubles down on it despite the growing horror -- child detention, metering, Remain in Mexico, threatened ICE raids. Every action he takes exacerbates and entrenches the humanitarian crisis at our nation's feet.
- Congressman @JoaquinCastrotx to reporters describes part of his tour of the CBP facility in Clinton, TX: “There was a toilet but there was no running water to drink. In fact, one of the woman was told by an agent to drink water out of the toilet.”
- After I forced myself into a cell w/ women&began speaking to them, one of them described their treatment at the hands of officers as “psychological warfare” - waking them at odd hours for no reason, calling them wh*res, etc. Tell me what about that is due to a “lack of funding?”
- CBP made us check our phones. But one woman slipped me this packet to take with me. It says “shampoo,” but she told me that this is all they give women to wash their entire body. Nothing else. Some women’s hair was falling out. Others had gone 15 days without taking a shower.
- Now I’m on my way to Clint, where the Trump admin was denying children toothpaste and soap. This has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals.
- As a former agent, I can tell you that cruelty is the point. They have the ability to treat families humanely but choose not to bc Border Patrol does not value the lives of immigrants. This is taught in the academy & reinforced by management.
- What’s haunting is that the women I met with today told me in no uncertain terms that they would experience retribution for telling us what they shared. They all began sobbing - out of fear of being punished, out of sickness, out of desperation, lack of sleep, trauma, despair.
- A report from @propublica captured screenshots of exchanges between Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents using sexist and racist language and imagery to mock and degrade people being held in border detention camps.
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