Sen. Cruz: Biden trying to cover up overcrowding at Texas border facility
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, describes seeing children packed in cages at the Donna migrant facility during a press conference from the southern border.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the Biden administration is attempting to cover up the poor conditions in Texas migrant holding facilities.
Cruz and fellow Republican lawmakers Reps. Chip Roy, of Texas, and Nancy Mace, of South Carolina, held a press conference after spending time with the Border Patrol in Laredo, Texas.
The lawmakers answered questions after speaking about their experiences traveling with Border Patrol agents and seeing the crisis firsthand.
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While answering a question from the media, Cruz brought up a previous trip he took with 19 senators to the Donna, Texas, facility, describing it as a "giant tent city" with children packed in without regard for COVID restrictions.
"You had children packed in there. They weren't six feet apart, as you would expect during a panic. They weren't three feet apart. They weren't three inches apart. They're literally packed so close together that they're side by side. There were no beds. There were no cots. There were no mats. They're sleeping on the floor, children, wrapped up in reflective emergency blankets. They're packed so tightly there's no room to move. As I said at the time we were there, the rate of COVID positivity was over 10%," said Cruz.
Cruz then accused the Biden administration of trying to conceal the poor conditions at the Donna migrant holding facility by not allowing press inside.
"Because the reason the administration didn't want press there was they didn't want anyone to know what was happening," Cruz said. "Their hope was to cover it up. Their hope is that no one would see the disaster they were creating."
During the press conference, Cruz said Border Patrol agents are "frustrated" with the Biden administration’s lacking response to the border crisis and he didn’t know "how these guys don't just say 'to hell with all of it' and leave."
"Morale has never been lower than right now because the Biden administration won't let ICE do its job," Cruz said.
Roy highlighted the toll the crisis has taken on the City Under Seven Flags. "The state of Texas is under siege and the good people of Laredo are on the front lines of that attack." Roy said.
"Where is the president? Where is the president's administration?" he asked. "We're here."
Mace weighed in, expressing that she was "shocked" at what she saw at the border.
Laredo marked the next stop on Cruz and Roy’s trip around Texas to learn more from local officials and stakeholders about how the border crisis is affecting them.
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At a Tuesday roundtable in Bourne, Texas, Cruz said the "maddening" thing about the crisis is that it is the result of calculated choices by the president and vice president.
"What's so maddening is this crisis is man-made," Cruz said. "It was caused by deliberate political decisions by this administration, by [President] Joe Biden and by [Vice President] Kamala Harris."
A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told Fox News that the "current number of non-citizen unaccompanied children in CBP’s care is less than 1,000."
"Thanks to a whole-of-government approach, we have dramatically reduced the number of children in CBP custody and the length of time before they are transferred to HHS," the spokesperson said.
"When a child presents themselves at the border, CBP puts the child at the front of the line for processing – in front of single adults, in front of family units. The women and men of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection do everything they can to take care of unaccompanied children before the children can be transferred to other agencies. Agents, officers and medical staff provide safety, security, and basic medical care for the children consistent with CDC guidelines."
A CBP official told Fox News that Cruz visited the Donna facility in March when the number of children under CBP care was at its peak at over 5,500 and the senator was asked not to film in order to protect the privacy of children unaccompanied by a parent.
The White House did not provide a comment to Fox News.
Houston Keene is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find him on Twitter at @HoustonKeene.
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