They described horrific circumstances
Some House Democrats went to inspect two border prisons yesterday. The news is not good.
They described horrific circumstances at facilities on the same day the investigative news organization ProPublica revealed a closed Facebook group in which current and former Border Patrol agents reportedly share jokes about migrant deaths, derogatory comments about Latina lawmakers and a lewd meme involving at least one of them. The posts have been turned over to the Department of Homeland Security inspector general, said US Border Patrol Chief of Operations Brian Hastings.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among the Democratic lawmakers who toured a facility here Monday following reports of squalid conditions for detained migrants at the border, overcrowded facilities and thinly stretched resources. She claimed she saw migrants drinking out of toilets, which a Border Patrol official flatly denied, and that she felt unsafe during the visit.
“People (are) drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a series of tweets. “I brought it up to their superiors,” she said in one tweet. “They said ‘officers are under stress & act out sometimes.’ No accountability.”
This is after the Pro Publica story came out, so Ocasio-Cortez was having to deal with officers who could well have been members of that creepy Facebook group, the one that singled her out as a target for misogynist “jokes.” They had guns; the members of Congress were forced to hand over their phones.
Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania tweeted “conditions are far worse than we ever could have imagined” and that “this is a human rights crisis.”
“(Fifteen) women in their 50s- 60s sleeping in a small concrete cell, no running water. Weeks without showers. All of them separated from their families,” Dean wrote on Twitter.
It sounds much too familiar.
Forced to hand over their phones – because phones have cameras now.
I really feel like some of the Germans did near the concentration camps: I know they’re there and I hate it but feel utterly powerless to do anything about it.
And that’s what goes on when members of Congress come to visit. Imagine how bad it is when the officers are not on their best behaviour.
What happened to the days when Government Departments were terrified of Congressional oversight?
Rob, that was back when Congressional oversight meant something. Congress appears to be toothless these days, like that old cat that rests under the porch and occasionally shows up for a feeding of soft food and a petting.
#5 From my distant perspective, it still retains a lot of power but is led by cowards too timid to make use of it. USA will be able to recover fairly rapidly once the old guard are primaried and reduced in number.
Holms, that’s true, but having some teeth left and refusing to bite is no more effective than having no teeth at all.