Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-San Jose) joined more than 20 other members of Congress on a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border to visit immigration detention centers where thousands of children are being jailed and isolated from their families.
Two weeks ago, the group toured the Texas lockup lined with the infamous rows of cages that sparked public nationwide outrage after news photos of them went viral. The detention center reportedly holds more separated immigrant families than any other facility in the country.
Anna Eshoo (right) being briefed by Border patrol.
Eshoo said she was troubled by how ill-prepared the agencies are to deal with the influx of families—and especially children. At the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-run Port Isabel Detention Center in Los Fresnos, Texas, Eshoo spoke with detained mothers who were in the dark on whether they’ll be able to see their children again.
“The nation has risen and said we have zero tolerance for what we’ve just witnessed,” she told reporters after a walk-through.
Under the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which was finally lifted by executive order on June 20, thousands of people were arrested and isolated from their children while they await prosecution or an asylum hearing. Though Trump formally ended family separation, he did not indicate steps taken to handle the children who have already been separated.
Following her trip to the border, Eshoo wrote a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Axar asking about the children placed in the department’s case since the implementation of Trump’s zero-tolerance policy. In her letter, the congresswoman asked whether any of the separated children have been transported to or housed in the South Bay by the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
If any children are in the South Bay, Eshoo said, she would like to know where they are being housed and wants to make sure that those facilities undergo proper vetting to make sure they are suitable to care for children. She also urged the department to providing pro bono legal assistance for children to claim legal asylum or reunite with their parents.
“As the representative of California’s 18th Congressional District, I have an obligation to represent all my constituents, including separated children who may now be living there,” she wrote.
Eshoo’s office has yet to hear back from HHS about whether children are indeed being housed in the South Bay. It will be a few weeks if they even answer at all, her communications staff told San Jose Inside.
According to recent news reports, at least two young girls who were separated from their parents at the border were transported to a shelter in the East Bay, where the community has been protesting plans by the Trump administration to build an immigrant detention camp at the Concord Naval Weapons Station to hold up to 47,000 detainees.
> Rep. Anna Eshoo Travels to U.S.-Mexico Border to Witness Immigration Detention Firsthand
Mammoth, raging hypocrisy on steroids.
This is just the commie’s political strategy playing out, with accompanying false narrative provided by the Democrat Party and the fake news media.
The whole corrupt, stinking circus began when “liberal” activists sued to terminate detention of children with their ILLEGALLY border crossing parents:
Flores v. Reno
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reno_v._Flores
A “settlement agreement” REQUIRED releasing the children after twenty days.
In other words, LIBERAL ACTIVISTS demanded that the courts REQUIRE separation of children from their parents.
Prior immigration policy simply allowed parents crossing the border ILLEGALLY with their children to be sent back to where they came from.
DEMOCRATS gave illegal immigrants CROSSING THE BORDER ILLEGALLY the “right” to claim asylum and receive a court hearing. Pending their court hearing the CRIMINAL SUSPECTS were placed in detention WITH THEIR CHILDREN.
This situation would be easily avoided if:
A.) the “immigrants” went to a U.S. Port of Entry and LAWFULLY requested asylum, or
B.) the “immigrants” entering illegally withdraw their asylum claim and returned to where they came from WITH THEIR CHILDREN.
The “separation of children from their parents” is entirely caused by irresponsible, illegal behavior on the part of the “parents”.
The irony is that Trump is doing what “progressives” are demanding: he issued an executive order to “end family separation” knowing full well that the “progressives” will sue again to have the “settlement agreement” requiring separation be adhered to.
The bottom line is that “progressives” CYNICALLY created a system whereby illegal immigrants could throw a child over the border and then claim to be the child’s parent, claim asylum, demand a court hearing, and be released into the American interior never to be seen again (so-called “catch and release”.
So-called “progressives'” exploitation of immigrant children is immoral and disgusting. And those who participated in the so-called “family separation rallies” are aiding and abetting the immoral and disgusting charade.
Not to mention these “visits” are sucking away resources at the boarder from an organization that is already being stretched beyond it’s funding level
Mexico once turned back illegal immigrants at its southern border. Now the Mexican government lets them march all the way to our border, where they have “rights” as soon as the enter the USA. President Trump needs to tell El Pesidente de Mexico to return to its former practice.