‘Haunting’: Dems Describe Horrific Conditions At Border Facilities After Visit

CLINT, TX - JULY 01: Rep.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) addresses the media after touring the Clint, TX Border Patrol Facility housing  children on July 1, 2019 in Clint, Texas. Reports of inhumane conditions have plagued the facility where migrant children are being held. (Photo by Christ Chavez/Getty Images)
CLINT, TX - JULY 01: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) addresses the media after touring the Clint, TX Border Patrol Facility housing children on July 1, 2019 in Clint, Texas. Reports of inhumane conditions have... CLINT, TX - JULY 01: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) addresses the media after touring the Clint, TX Border Patrol Facility housing children on July 1, 2019 in Clint, Texas. Reports of inhumane conditions have plagued the facility where migrant children are being held. (Photo by Christ Chavez/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA) on Tuesday shared disturbing details of a congressional visit to two migrant detention centers in Texas.

Torres told MSNBC that the 15 visiting Democratic lawmakers weren’t allowed to bring their phones inside the facilities (Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-TX) brought one in anyway) and that the Democrats had to force border officials to let them inside the cells.

The California Democrat said that “if not for pushing our way and insisting on having border agents open up one of the cells” to talk to the migrants, the lawmakers wouldn’t have found out about the detainees being forced to drink out of the cell’s toilet.

“The only running water in the cell was coming out of that toilet,” Torres said.

She also described seeing a supply room “fully stocked with basic necessities” that weren’t being provided to the migrants.

“But what good is it to have a supply room, a fully stocked supply room, if those supplies are not getting to the people that need it?” Torres asked. “And let me ask the country, how is a 2-year-old supposed to ask for soap and water?”

On Monday, Castro posted several photos and videos he took of the facilities in Clint and El Paso showing mold-ridden bathrooms and people crammed in cells while being denied medicine and even showers.

“Our border patrol system is broken. And part of the reason it stays broken is because it’s kept secret,” Castro, who is the chair of the Hispanic Caucus, tweeted. “The American people must see what is being carried out in their name.”

After taking the tour, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) described the conditions as “far worse than we ever could have imagined” and a “human rights crisis.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said some women had been denied showers for 15 days.

“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,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “They all began sobbing – out of fear of being punished, out of sickness, out of desperation, lack of sleep, trauma, despair.”

An unnamed Department of Homeland Security official denied the accounts to the Washington Post, insisting that water was available at the facilities.

Watch Torres below:

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Notable Replies

  1. This is why AOC scares them - she’s not going to apologize for what she said. Most Democrats in the past have caved to pressure from the press and apologized for pointing out uncomfortable truths (e.g. Hillary and the deplorables comment).

  2. Thank you, Dems, for drawing attention to these horrific human rights violations. This should be item #1 in the news every day until it is fixed, reparations are made, and the Trump administration goes down in flames for it.

  3. Hearbreaking and enraging. There are protests today but nothing near me.

    Because the media never point out uncomfortable truths and hate it when others do it. Right.

  4. First thought: Health problem with Trump. Might be an interesting day ahead.

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