A look inside an immigration holding facility: GOP senators ‘stunned’ by conditions at ‘overwhelmed’ site
‘Heartbreaking’: Republicans slam Biden for migrant influx, while Democrats call on Biden to quickly move children to sponsors
During the visit to the border, a first for Braun, he and the other Republicans were briefed by officials on the situation, toured the facility in Donna and took a boat tour on the Rio Grande in Mission, Texas.
Braun told USA TODAY he was concerned for the hygiene of the children, and the close proximity of the immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said Border Patrol agents told him children were arriving with “phone numbers on their hands, a piece of paper on their foreheads,” of family members already in the U.S.
The Indiana Republican said the senators were told not to take photos or videos of the facility but “that didn’t work” and the visitors captured images of the conditions anyway.
Photos taken Friday, and given to USA TODAY by Braun’s office Saturday, show at least 10 children grouped together near a playpen, sleeping on mats. Another shows families, some with face masks, also on mats in a makeshift tent-area. A TV in the corner plays a news channel.
The Biden administration earlier this week released photos and two videos of the CBP facilities in Donna and El Paso, Texas. Video of the Donna facility, which was filmed the week prior to being released, showed children getting health screenings, lining up to receive food, and lying on mats on the floor with foil blankets.
Lankford said “there’s so many of them, they can’t even lay down,” adding “it’s just crammed.” He said there are bathrooms and sinks there where they saw Border Patrol agents walking children “in and out, one after another to be able to go back in and out.”
He said in an outdoor area that has Astroturf, known as the “recreation area,” there were about 100 children waiting to be/transferred to an HHS facility. He said they were being tested for COVID-19 before the transfer, and that around 15 had tested positive.
“I thought okay, well, we’ve got kids testing positive for COVID that have been in that pod, that closely packed in,” Lankford said. “It was he was just pretty stark to be able to see what’s happening there.”
The Oklahoma senator said he previously visited the Donna facility in 2019, where he said that children were separated by age groups in pods, as well as gender. While children are still separated by gender, Lankford noted that now due to overcrowding, there were children who seemed to be around 11-years-old grouped with older teens. He said very young children were separated from the older ones though.
The Biden administration is turning away a majority of migrants under Title 42 – a policy implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Trump administration – that allows CBP to expel undocumented migrants to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in holding facilities. But unlike former President Donald Trump , Biden is now taking in children, saying that it would be dangerous for them to make the journey on their own.
During a press conference Thursday, however, Biden indicated that he would be willing to deport some unaccompanied children depending on their cases.
The Biden administration has conceded that the CBP facilities are not suitable for children. Officials from Health and Human Services and the Office of Refugee Resettlement are being sent to the CBP facilities to help speed up the process of vetting for potential sponsors or family members of the unaccompanied children.
In addition, HHS is working to open more influx facilities to move children out of CBP custody. A second HHS facility is being built in Carrizo Springs, Texas, where a temporary facility is already located. With the help of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, other sites will also be opened including ones at the Freeman Expo Center in San Antonio and at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego.
Bruan told USA TODAY that during the boat tour on the Rio Grande, “there was a body floating” of someone who had drowned during the dangerous trip, and the senators heard coyotes, people who smuggle immigrants across the border, mocking Border Patrol agents.
Earlier this week, CBP said in a statement that they found a 9-year-old girl from Mexico who apparently drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande into the U.S.
More:For many migrants able to cross US border, there’s often chaos, COVID tests and then relief
In a statement issued Thursday, CBP said they found the child on March 20 stranded and unconscious on an island on the Mexican side of the river. CBP said in the statement that “a mother from Guatemala and her 3-year-old child from Mexico” were also found with the 9-year-old girl. The mother and 3-year-old were initially unresponsive but regained conciseness.
Republicans have criticized Biden’s immigration policies amid the influx of migrants at the border, saying that reversing Trump-era policies led to the increase. Democrats have instead pointed the blame at the Trump administration, saying that Trump’s policies were inhumane.
