EXCLUSIVE: Fresh from a visit to the southern border, Senator Mike Braun said on Saturday that President Biden has the moral imperative to immediately see the “inhuman” and “dangerous” situation of migrants first hand.
The Indiana Republican wrote a letter to Biden on Saturday, obtained first by Fox News, which includes photos that Braun took on Friday during his visit to a US customs and border protection facility in Texas.
The images show migrants huddled in capsules at the processing facility and children sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
GOP SENATORS FIND TRAFFICKING, MEMBERS OF THE CARTEL ON THE BORDER DURING THE TOUR IN RIO GRANDE AT NIGHT
“The crisis surrounding this wave makes it a moral imperative for you to see firsthand what is happening – not the clean version of the border tour by some of my colleagues in Congress,” wrote Braun. “Having gone personally this week, I can testify that this is an inhumane, unsustainable and dangerous situation.
“You must act quickly before the entire system collapses under its own weight.”
Images of migrant children taken on Friday, March 26, 2021, at the Donna US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in Texas. Senator Mike Braun, R-Ind., Took the photos while visiting the facility with other Republican senators.
(Sen. Mike Braun)
As of Thursday, there were more than 18,000 unaccompanied minors in the custody of Border Protection or Health and Human Services on Thursday, according to internal security records.
By law, children must not remain in the processing facility for more than 72 hours before being transferred to HHS shelters specifically designed to care for children. But the increase in migrants at the border has overburdened processing centers and caused delays.
BIDEN SAYS THE MEDIA WILL BE ALLOWED IN BORDER FACILITIES, BUT CANNOT SAY WHON
Biden said earlier that he will visit the border “at some point”, although no formal announcement has taken place when that happens.
He recently commissioned Vice President Kamala Harris to respond to the White House border and to work with Central American countries to tackle the root cause of thousands of people fleeing to the United States. Harris also has no planned trip to the border in the short term, his spokesman told reporters on Friday.
Braun was part of a group of Senate Republicans traveling to the southern Texas border and expressed horror at the growing crisis – seeing crowded border facilities and talking to overburdened border agents.
Border Protection found more than 100,000 migrants in February and these numbers are expected to increase dramatically in the spring and summer months. In the meantime, the government is struggling to open new facilities to deal with the increase in the number of migrant children – while asking federal officials to offer to help what the government admits are “overwhelming” numbers.
Republicans blamed the Biden government for reversing Trump-era policies, such as the Migrant Protection Protocols, and reviving the policy of liberating migrant families into the interior of the United States.
Images of migrants taken on Friday, March 26, 2021, at the Donna US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in Texas. Senator Mike Braun, R-Ind., Took the photos while visiting the facility with other Republican senators.
(Sen. Mike Braun)
“An insecure border is not only a humanitarian crisis, but also a terrible threat to national security,” said Braun in his letter to Biden. “Therefore, respectfully, I ask that you take steps to adapt your schedule so that you can get to the border as soon as possible, and then take steps to stop all incentives to enter our country illegally.”
BIDEN DOES NOT DO “NO APOLOGIES” AT THE NEWS CONFERENCE TO FINISH TRUMP-ERA MIGRANT PROTOCOLS
During his first press conference as president, Biden did not apologize for reversing immigration protocols of the Trump era, such as the “Stay in Mexico” policy.
Biden said the vast majority of individuals found at the border are being sent back.
GOP SENATORS TURN OFF THE TALK ABOUT THE IMMIGRATION BUSINESS UNTIL THE BORDER CRISIS IS SOLVED
“In the first place, all the policies in place were not helping at all, they did not decrease the amount of immigration,” said Biden. “Reverse the separation policies of the children of mothers? Don’t be sorry for that.
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“Revoking the ‘Stay in Mexico’ policies, sitting on the banks of the Rio Grande in a muddy circumstance without enough to eat? I do not apologize for that,” said Biden. “I do not apologize for ending programs that did not exist before Trump became president and that have an incredibly negative impact on the law – international law – as well as on human dignity. Therefore, I do not apologize for that.”
Adam Shaw and Tyler Olson of Fox News contributed to this report.