Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday requested that Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration grant media access to U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities at the Texas border.
Harris was tapped by President Biden to lead efforts to resolve the issue at the border. Cruz reminded his followers that Harris said in a 2019 tweet that as president, she would release children from cages and get rid of private detention centers.
“Kamala, tomorrow 17 senators are joining me at the TX border. The Biden admin is refusing to allow press to see the CBP facilities,” Cruz wrote. “Since you’ve promised to ‘release children from cages,’ surely your admin will allow media to film the empty cages.”
HUNDREDS OF COVID-POSITIVE MIGRANT CHILDREN IN ISOLATION AFTER CROSSING US BORDER
“If not, what are you hiding?” he continued.
The Biden administration has come under scrutiny for the surge of migrants arriving at the border. Capacity at temporary holding facilities has become stretched after the administration said it would no longer expel unaccompanied minor children last month.
On Tuesday, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released photos of the temporary facilities in Texas that are being used to process migrant children after the White House and CBP were pressed over why the media had not been given access to those facilities.
The photos showed crowded quarters, including children sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder on mats on the floor with aluminum blankets and on benches. Another photo shows dozens of children in a transparent pen similar to a cage.
Temporary processing facilities in Donna, Texas, safely processes family units and unaccompanied alien children (UACs) encountered and in the custody of the U.S. Border Patrol.
(CBP)
BIDEN SAYS MIGRANT SURGE AT SOUTHERN BORDER STARTED UNDER TRUMP
The Biden administration has cited coronavirus protocols as the reason why the press was not allowed in.
“That’s their stated justification. Never mind that they are packing thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants in packed facilities. It is reporters and cameramen that pose the COVID threat. And Harris, that’s obviously absurd. I can tell you, I’ve taken border trips,” Cruz said during an appearance on “The Faulkner Focus.” “I’ve been to those facilities many times in the Obama administration, in the Trump administration, and they’ve always let media in. It is only the Biden administration that is engaged in this blackout…”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and other members of the Republican Conference leave a luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 24, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
(AP)
“But the fact that every news station is not outraged — if Donald Trump had done this and said, ‘No reporters are allowed on the border,’ the media would have rightly lost their minds. And y’all would have been right to,” he added.
On Wednesday, Biden insisted the surge in migrants at the southern border began under the Trump administration.
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White House officials said the Biden administration is “committed to transparency” and will continue to work with the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services to create avenues for media access to the facilities, as well as access for members of Congress.
Fox News’ Tyler Olson and Brooke Singman contributed to this report
