Officials in Texas are calling for formal investigations into the Biden Administration’s detention facilities for unaccompanied minors after repeated allegations of abuse -including sexual assault- at the centers.
“The number of migrant children being detained at a facility in San Antonio, Texas, has nearly tripled in less than two weeks, as state and federal agencies have received complaints of abuse taking place there,” reports Fox News.
“Too many people coming in. Not enough people going out,” Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said. “Right now we are facing a humanitarian crisis and I do use the word crisis,” he added.
“Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on President Biden to shut down the facility after the Department of Health and Human Services and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services received complaints of child abuse taking place there. Abbott said this included allegations of sexual assault, a failure to separate children infected with COVID-19 from others, children not eating, and an insufficient number of staffers,” adds Fox.
“In short, this facility is a health and safety nightmare. The Biden administration is now presiding over the abuse of children,” Abbott told reporters.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
‘CARTEL ENCOUNTER’: Ted Cruz Encounters Drug Traffickers at US-Mexico Border
From Fox News:
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has detailed how a Republican Senate delegation to the border, led by him, encountered human traffickers and cartel members yelling at them and taunting law enforcement — as they saw the crisis at the border up close.
“We have been listening to and seeing cartel members, human traffickers right on the other side of the river, waving flashlights yelling and taunting Americans, taunting the Border Patrol because they know under the current policies of the Biden administration they can flood over here,” Cruz said in a video.
“They’re getting paid $4-5000 a person to smuggle them into the country and… when they smuggle them in, the Biden administration releases them,” he said.
We encountered human traffickers & cartel members tonight, yelling at us across the Rio Grande and preparing to cross. #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/yXl3AyUIPd
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 26, 2021
Republicans have been turning up the heat on the Biden administration over its handling of the surge at the border. They say that rapid reversals of Trump-era policies, such as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), and a narrowing of deportation priorities have encouraged migrants to make the often-dangerous journey north.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered more than 100,000 migrants in February and that number is expected to have risen in March. There are currently more than 5,000 migrants in CBP custody and more than 11,000 in Health and Human Services (HHS) custody, and the administration is seeking to open more facilities in a scramble to house them.
Watch the incredible footage above.
‘KIDS IN CONTAINERS?’ Press Sec Says Only a ‘Couple of Options’ for Unaccompanied Minors at the Border
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended the Biden administration’s decision to re-open facilities for children crossing the US border without their parents Wednesday; saying the policies are vastly different than the Trump administration’s programs.
“You said it’s not ‘Kids in Cages.’ We’ve seen some photos now of containers. Is it ‘Kids in Containers’ instead of ‘Kids in Cages’?” asked reporter Peter Doocy.
“We have a number of unaccompanied children who are coming into the country without their families. What we’re not doing is ripping them from the arms of their parents at the border. We’re not doing that,” said Psaki.
“We can send them back, we can transfer them, or we can put them with families and sponsors without any vetting. We’ve chosen the middle option,” she added.
.@PDoocy: "Is it kids in containers instead of kids in cages?"@PressSec: "What we are not doing, what the last administration did, was separate those kids, rip them from the arms of their parents at the border. We are not doing that." pic.twitter.com/LkJdkRE2xh
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 24, 2021
Watch Psaki’s comments above.