Tag: Trump border crisis

President Trump’s misleading spin on the border crisis

Washington Post logoBorder facilities “are much better than they were under President Obama by far. … But, I am very concerned. It’s in much better shape than it ever was. A lot of these young children come from places that you don’t even want to know about. The way they’ve lived, the way they’ve been, the poverty that they’ve grown up in.”

— President Trump, in remarks at the White House, June 25

In 2014, President Barack Obama faced criticism for the way he handled an influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. Border Patrol holding facilities became dangerously overcrowded. That led to concerning conditions for children waiting to be transferred to longer-term shelters run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement requires a basic standard of care for children in federal immigration custody, including “safe and sanitary” conditions and a 72-hour limit on stays in Border Patrol holding facilities.

Children were spending longer than 72 hours in facilities, due to the backup in the system, and the American Civil Liberties Union ultimately filed a lawsuit in 2015, alleging Border Patrol facilities held migrants in “inhumane and punitive conditions,” violating U.S. law.

View the complete November 13 article by Elyse Samuels on The Washington Post website here.

Rep. Phillips Statement On Humanitarian Crisis At The Border

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) released the following statement today on the humanitarian crisis at the southern border:

“Earlier this month, I visited McAllen, TX on a bipartisan mission to see conditions at our southern border with my own eyes. What I saw was a very real and urgent humanitarian crisis. I witnessed children and families kept in overcrowded fenced cages, sleeping on concrete floors and with limited access to restrooms. I witnessed mothers with infants in outdoor fenced pens gathered under water misters that provided little relief from 107 degree heat. I witnessed young people fighting the flu and chicken pox held in overcrowded cells that all but guaranteed the rapid spread of both diseases. As a parent, I’ve seen little in my life that has horrified me more than the conditions on our southern border. As an American, I am appalled by the lack of leadership and action. Instead of taking accountability and working to fix these shocking problems, the Administration is arguing in court that children don’t need toothbrushes or soap to live in sanitary conditions. It is wrong, it is un-American, and it cannot be tolerated any longer.

 Nobody I spoke with at the border wants this to be the norm. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol treated the migrants they received with compassion. They simply do not have the resources, or oftentimes the training, to adequately handle the number of migrants entering the country. Our existing facilities were not designed to accommodate the number of people being processed. That’s why it is vital that the House pass this necessary emergency funding to provide relief. When people are suffering in inhumane conditions, we have a responsibility to act. Thus, I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support today’s funding package in the House and begin the hard work of addressing our broken immigration system — so such human tragedy never occurs again.”