After weeks of stalling, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration will begin allowing reporters into migrant detention facilities, The Hill reported.
Psaki announced the change during an appearance over the weekend on Fox News Sunday with host Chris Wallace.
“We are committed to allowing cameras into Border Patrol facilities,” she told Wallace, and denied his claim that the Biden administration has been “less transparent” than its predecessor.
Biden admin blames COVID
However, Psaki continued to cite the coronavirus as the supposed reason for why media access to immigration holding facilities had to be restricted.
“We want to provide access into the Border Patrol facilities,” she claimed. “We are mindful that we are in the middle of the pandemic, we want to keep the kids safe, we want to keep the staff safe.”
Despite her contentions, The Epoch Times noted that the Biden administration has thus far only allowed a single reporter and camera person into a Texas center.
One group of individuals who have seen the inside an immigration facility is a delegation of Republican senators who went to the border last week.
Republican senators tour facility
The 19 Republican senators who made the trip tweeted out images showing migrants, including children, sleeping on the floor in extremely crowded conditions.
“These are the pictures the Biden administration doesn’t want the American people to see,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) declared. “This is why they won’t allow the press.”
The Republican lawmaker explained that the photographs were taken at a facility in Donna, Texas, and called the situation “a humanitarian crisis.”
These are the pictures the Biden administration doesn’t want the American people to see. This is why they won’t allow the press.
This is the CBP facility in Donna, Texas.
This is a humanitarian and a public health crisis. pic.twitter.com/UlibmvAeGN
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 26, 2021
Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R), who helped lead the trip with Cruz, said the problem at the border comes directly from Washington. “The Border Patrol and Health and Human Services and the nongovernmental organizations that are struggling to deal with this flood of humanity tell us they cannot get ahead of this without policy changes in Washington, D.C.,” Cornyn said.
The post Psaki says Biden will allow reporters into migrant detention facilities first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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