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Mississippi senator travels to southern border for firsthand look inside CBP facilities
NEWS
DONNA, Texas. (WJTV) – Twenty Republican Senators traveled down to the U.S/Mexico border in Texas hoping to get a firsthand glimpse of what many call a crisis.
Among them was Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, she joined her colleagues in calling on the Biden Administration to reform its immigration approach.
Since President Joe Biden took office there’s been a severe uptick in families and minors attempting to cross the border hoping the new administration will be more tolerable to their situations. Conservatives on the other hand want more aggressive actions.
After taking boat rides by day and night with border patrol on the Rio Grande, Sen. Hyde-Smith joined 19 other senators touring the Donna, Texas Customs Border Patrol Facilities.
“I have a daughter and after visiting and seeing these places where these kids are kept around my daughter’s age”, Sen. Hyde-Smith stated outside the center. “The stories we are hearing are beyond horrifying that’s happening to these young girls.”
The amount of unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody has jumped to more than 18,000 this week.
By law, minors can’t be in CBP custody for more than 72 hours, but high capacity is slowing officials down.
“We have a job to do, we have to go back to D.C”, Sen. Hyde-Smith continued. “And not only do we have to save this border we’ve got to save this country.”
“The Donna facility is a giant tent city built with a capacity of 250, it has nearly 4,000 people in it”, Sen. Ted Cruz claimed. “Cages of little girls and little boys lying side by side.”
Senators blamed the influx on repealing Trump-era policies like “Remain in Mexico” for asylum seekers awaiting immigration court hearings or sending unaccompanied children back home.
President Biden has defended this approach calling it keeping families together and expanding routes to seek asylum or send kids to families already in the United States. Since the influx began, he’s ordered FEMA plus Health and Human Services to assist CBP at border facilities.