This week, I went to Texas and toured the Tornillo detention facility outside of El Paso. This is the site of the tent city holding unaccompanied immigrant children and children who have been separated from their parents.
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Seeing these minors alone without any idea what will happen next was disturbing. No child should have to live in these conditions.
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These children are being held in dusty tents. They are in an unfamiliar place and far from their families and friends. Their showers and bathrooms are outside in trailers. They’re given damp rags to protect their faces from the heat and dust.
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The tent city looks more like a military installation in a foreign country than a place where children are cared for in the U.S.
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In El Paso, I also toured a Customs and Border Protection processing center and holding facility where families seeking asylum and unaccompanied migrant children are held.
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At CBP, we saw immigrant families held in what looked very much like jail cells. Unaccompanied children are held in a bare, open space for days. This is where they eat, sleep, and wait to hear where they will be sent next. They are anxious and hopeless.
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These children are not criminals. They're fleeing unimaginable violence in their home countries and looking for safety.
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Their families come to the U.S. out of desperation. We need to address this humanitarian crisis head on. That means reuniting families immediately and passing a bipartisan, comprehensive solution to fix our broken immigration system. We need action now.
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