“Unconscionable”, a “betrayal of our values” were some of the words Democratic lawmakers used on Monday to describe the detention centres for migrants along the U.S.’s southern border. Lawmakers said detained women had not been allowed to shower for 15 days, were told to drink out of a toilet bowl, and that the Customs and Border Police’s (CBP) behaviour was “toxic”.
The reactions came after more than a dozen members of the U.S. Congress, including high-profile freshman lawmaker from New York City, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and presidential candidate from Texas, Joaquin Castro, toured two border facilities in El Paso and Clint, Texas, as part of a trip organised by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
On the same day (Monday), ProPublica, a news outlet, carried a report on a Facebook group whose members — current and former border agents — made light of migrant deaths, posted racist messages and sexist memes.
The Facebook group was formed in 2016 has around 9,500 members according to ProPublica. One post about Monday’s congressional visit urged border agents to throw a “burrito at these ******” , referring to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and her colleague, Congresswoman Vernocia Escobar.
One group member speculated that the graphic photograph of Oscar and Valeria Martinez, the father and daughter pair who drowned at the end of June in the Rio Grande, was fake, suggesting that the Democrats and liberal parties were behind it.
“Just left the 1st CBP facility. I see why CBP officers were being so physically & sexually threatening towards me. Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets. This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter.
‘Toxic behaviour’
She said the women were held in tents and moved indoors just prior to the Congressional visit and that they were not allowed to shower for 15 days and “were allowed to start bathing four days ago (when visit was announced).”
“While mgmt was telling us it was a ‘secure facility’ where members of Congress had to check their phones, we caught officers trying to sneak photos, laughing.” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Monday, adding: “CBP’s “good” behavior was toxic. Imagine how they treat the women trapped inside.”
“There was a toilet, but there was no running water, for people to drink. In fact one of the women said that she was told by an agent to drink water out of the toilet. “These are the conditions that have been created by the Trump administration,” Mr. Castro said after the visit. He was heckled as he spoke.
Congresswoman Rashida Talib was also heckled as she spoke about her visit. “We don’t care about sharia law. We care about Jesus Christ,” one heckler said.
“The entire system is broken, rotten, and rife with abuse,” Joseph Kennedy III, a Massachusetts lawmaker and part of the group that toured detention facilities, wrote on Twitter, describing the over-crowing and adding that the CBP was very resistant to Congressional oversight.
On the Facebook group reported by ProPublica, CBP Chief, Carla Provost said that CBP agents would be held accountable for their posts.
“These posts are completely inappropriate and contrary to the honor and integrity I see—and expect—from our agents day in and day out. Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable,” Ms. Provost said in a statement released on Monday.