Thomas Moore
The HillFri, 19 Mar 2021 12:15 UTC
© APCongresswoman Linda Sanchez
Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) on Thursday said she didn't think journalists should be granted access to federal facilities where migrant children are being held near the southern border.
"I don't necessarily think that it's appropriate for journalists to be inside centers that are not permanent places for children," Sanchez said when asked during a
CNN interview about the
Biden administration's lack of transparency concerning Customs and Border Protection activity.Journalists and refugee advocates have been pressing the Biden administration to provide access to facilities where immigrant children are being housed. Reporters have also complained of border agencies no longer offering ride-alongs, which were common during most of the Trump administration.Sanchez's remarks on Thursday came in response to CNN anchor Poppy Harlow's question about whether she was concerned that the Biden administration wasn't giving reporters access to facilities that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said were not meant for children.
Sanchez initially replied that former President Trump had denied members of Congress access. The anchor asked:
"But that doesn't mean anything now, respectfully, congresswoman. I mean, clearly you were upset about that lack of transparency. Are you concerned about this lack of transparency?"
In response, Sanchez defended the Biden administration's response to the migrant surge and said
it was not appropriate for reporters to visit facilities that are only meant to be temporary holding centers for unaccompanied child migrants.
"[The] children are not placed there permanently. They're processed out of those facilities as quickly as possible and as quickly as the facilities will allow."
Her comments came a day before the Department of Homeland Security said reporters would not be allowed to accompany Mayorkas on Friday as he tours facilities at the southern border.On Friday, Sanchez further explained her position, saying
media should not have access to the facilities until the administration can address concerns over the pandemic and the privacy of the migrant children.
"The Biden Administration has been clear. Border facilities are not adequate for the care of children, and they are doing everything they can to transfer children to HHS for safe processing. And right now, the Administration has not been hosting media tours of unaccompanied children facilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I am committed to transparency and finding ways for [the] press to fully report the process at the border. But the safety and privacy of the children must be protected, especially during a pandemic. I look forward to seeing how the Administration makes that possible."
Immigration has quickly become one of the biggest challenges facing the Biden administration. Apprehensions at the border rose 28 percent from January to February, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. And earlier this week, the
Department of Homeland Security said the U.S. is "on pace to encounter more individuals on the Southwest border than we have in the last 20 years."
Comment: Is Covid an excuse to keep the press from reporting conditions at the border?
The
Texas Governor had a few biting words for Biden's care of migrant kids:
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has opened a probe into conditions at detention centers for underage migrants, one of which faces a Covid-19 outbreak, blasting President Biden for his handling of a "humanitarian crisis" at the border. Abbott said in a statement on Friday, calling conditions at the federally-run detention facilities
"'unacceptable and inhumane'. The Biden Administration has been an abject failure when it comes to ensuring the safety of unaccompanied minors who cross our border. From a lack of safe drinking water in one location to a Covid-19 outbreak in another, the Biden Administration has no excuse for subjecting these children to these kinds of conditions."
The governor's office said Texas health officials were deployed to a holding center in Carrizo Springs to "investigate, identify and combat" a coronavirus outbreak at the facility, used to house minors who cross the US-Mexico border unaccompanied. Abbott offered few details about the reported Covid flare-up, including how many underage migrants had been infected.
Originally open for just a month in 2019 before it was shuttered by ex-President Donald Trump, the Carrizo Springs facility was reactivated in February to hold up to 700 children aged between 13 and 17, according to the Washington Post.
Abbott also decried conditions at a federal holding center in Midland, saying the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality had notified staff of the need to address "serious water issues" there.
"President Biden's refusal to address the border crisis is not only enabling criminal actors like human traffickers and smugglers, but it is exposing innocent unaccompanied children to illness and potentially unsafe living conditions. The administration must act now to keep these children safe, secure our border, and end this humanitarian crisis."
The president maintains that federal agencies are acting as quickly as possible to transfer detained children out of the custody of the US Border Patrol into "safe facilities" run by the Department of Health and Human Services. However, both the Carrizo Springs and Midland locations are overseen by the HHS, the latter of which faced safety concerns almost immediately after opening.
According to the Associated Press, more than 10% of the Midland camp's population tested positive for the coronavirus, with at least one child hospitalized, just four days after the center began operating.
More than 14,000 migrant youths are currently held in US custody, with around 4,500 in Border Patrol facilities and another 9,500 at the HHS-run centers. A large percentage of them, nearly 3,000, have been held beyond the three-day limit set out under federal guidelines.
FEBRUARY 18, 2021 Senator Menendez and Representative Sánchez
News Conference on Immigration Legislation:
Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Bob Menendez (NJ) and Rep. Linda Sanchez (CA), held a virtual news conference to introduce the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, the Biden administration's immigration plan. The comprehensive immigration reform package provides a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, raises the caps on the number of visas granted, and includes funding for border security and screening measures, among other provisions.
Children have proven to be the least susceptible to COVID.
See also:
And the dumb ass masses repeat it's not appropriate.