On Monday, a number of House Democrats traveled to Texas to visit Customs and Border Patrol facilities in El Paso and nearby in Clint. This followed press coverage of a disturbing secret Facebook group used by some members of Border Patrol to post racist and misogynistic jokes, including rape threats against New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
These border facilities, in addition to their inherent inhumane nature, have been accused of serious abuse, including of children. Reports of kids who are sick, caring for one another, and without proper food, water, and sanitary conditions have gotten a lot of media attention. As Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, however, women are also facing disgusting conditions, including allegedly being told to drink out of a toilet and going 15 days without a shower.
Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman from Texas and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, tweeted the following short clip backing up Ocasio-Cortez’s comments:
In an interview with CNN, Castro explained, “It's not just about money, it's also about the standards of care. We're going to have put a hell of a lot of pressure on the Trump administration, through appropriations, through investigations, to get them to change what they're doing."
Ocasio-Cortez says CBP agents confiscated her phone:
Rep. Ayanna Pressley was interrupted by pro-Trump protesters:
Their boos didn’t silence Rep. Pressley; in fact, she responded to them, saying, “Keep yelling—this is very appropriate. Vile rhetoric for vile actions … racist words and venom for racist policies. I’m tired of the humanity and the full freedom of black and brown children being negotiated and compromised and moderated.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib was also heckled:
In the above clip, someone yells at Rep. Tlaib to “go back to [her] country” (she was born in Detroit). Also, the “pork” reference is clearly Islamophobic.
The Hill reports that the lawmakers requested that the protesters be removed so they could avoid more interruptions, but that the request was denied. As an alternative, they asked about having a question-and-answer session with the press on federal land (again, to remove the protesters from the equation), but this was also denied.
If this is what happens when facilities know all eyes are on them, what happens when they think no one is looking?