Mike Pence said that worsening conditions in overcrowded, underfunded immigrant facilities prove that the border crisis, which Democrats once called “manufactured,” is indeed very real.
The vice president described conditions at a Border Patrol station in Texas as “unacceptable” after a tour with Republican leaders on Friday — but he insisted that the blame lies with Democrats for ignoring the crisis for so long.
“This is tough stuff,” Pence said at a press conference in McAllen, Texas. “That’s the overcrowding president Trump has been talking about. That’s the overwhelming of the system that some in Congress have said was a manufactured crisis.”
“But now I think the American people can see this crisis is real,” Pence said.
Enlightening visit
Pence visited the McAllen Border Patrol station for single adults who were arrested crossing the border illegally as well as the Donna Processing Facility, which houses family units. Pence’s Friday tour attracted criticism over the weekend after images of Pence looking over cages filled with adult male immigrants went viral.
The vice president toured the facilities with Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, reporters, and Republican senators. Journalists described a “horrendous” smell and “sweltering hot” conditions. About 400 men are being held in detention at the facility with no beds and no room to lie down.
Pence was widely criticized on the left for what they said was an insensitive and glib reaction to the overcrowding. Celebrity activist Alyssa Milano tweeted a comparison between Pence and Holocaust architect Heinnrich Himmler.
But the vice president also toured the Donna Processing Center, where he spoke with immigrant children using a translator. The facility was reported to be more spacious, clean, and air-conditioned. Pence said that the conditions at that center would make Americans “proud.”
“Every family I spoke with told me they were being well care for,” he said.
While decrying the conditions at the Border Patrol station, Pence blasted CNN’s “dishonest” coverage for failing to provide a “full picture” of his tour. CNN’s coverage showed only the overcrowding in the Border Patrol station, not the comparatively sanitary conditions in the processing center.
Dems deserve blame
At a press conference following the tour, Pence said that the Democrats can no longer deny that the “crisis is real.” The vice president explained that Trump wanted him to tour the facilities — with cameras — to show what they’re really like.
“And different from the reporting a few weeks ago where we heard about little children that were being denied toothbrushes, we saw — we saw stacks of supplies, we spoke to cheerful children who were watching television, having snacks. They told us that they were being well taken care of — every child and every parent that I asked,” Pence said.
But Pence said that his tour proved something else: while families are being taken care of, there is overcrowding in some facilities because of the crush of illegal immigrants storming the border.
“But we also wanted to come here, to where single adults, illegal immigrants who have been apprehended at our border are brought, just to show the American people that while we have this new facility that’s been established for families, that, here, this facility is overcrowded and overwhelmed. And the other facility had nearly 1,000 people in it,” he said.
In recent days, Democrats have alleged that worsening conditions in border facilities warrant comparison to Nazi-era concentration camps. But Pence blamed Democrats for refusing to acknowledge the crisis for months and called on Democrats to join Trump in seeking asylum reform, which Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who accompanied Pence, said he is co-sponsoring.
“We’ve got a bill to fix this, and we’re going to vote on it,” he said.
No comments: