Customs and Border Protection told members of Congress they couldn’t have cell phones or cameras inside the detention centers they visited on Monday—but Rep. Joaquin Castro found a way. And that’s necessary, because, as Castro tweeted, “Our border patrol system is broken. And part of the reason it stays broken is because it’s kept secret. The American people must see what is being carried out in their name.”
The members of Congress made no effort to record the children they saw—“We understand protecting kids,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar—but Castro released photos and video of women in a crowded cell. While the members of Congress were prohibited from having cameras, they repeatedly saw Border Patrol agents trying to photograph them, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez targeted by one officer for a “stealth selfie.”
The right-wing media has been abuzz that Ocasio-Cortez was “threatening” toward border officers. Both she and Rep. Veronica Escobar have said that they did press CBP officials on what they would and would not be allowed to do. Escobar raised her voice. Ocasio-Cortez “spoke sternly” and demanded to be allowed to see the detained women in Castro’s recording. And you know what? They’re members of Congress. Oversight is their job, and if CBP tries to get in the way of that, they should push back. And the amount of courage it took for Ocasio-Cortez to go in there at all, after the revelations of a secret Border Patrol Facebook group inciting violence against her, cannot be overstated. As she tweeted, “And to these CBP officers saying they felt ‘threatened’ by me -They were literally discussing making a GoFundMe for an officer who attacked my on my tour. They confiscated my phone, and they were all armed. I’m 5’4”. They’re just upset I exposed their inhumane behavior.”
The level of secrecy here is not for the benefit of the migrants being detained—very clearly, the Trump administration is doing nothing for their benefit—and it’s not just about photos. CBP has worked hard to keep members of Congress from even seeing what’s going on in these detention centers, except on carefully prearranged tours with tight restrictions as occurred on Monday. “It is absolutely absurd that members of Congress cannot conduct ongoing unannounced visits to facilities in their district,” ACLU Border Rights Center policy counsel Shaw Drake said. “Members of Congress have every right to inspect these facilities, and that is their duty as a coequal branch of government.” The Trump administration wants to keep that shut down, and it’s all too obvious why.