Ed MarkeyVerified account

I visited two Customs and Border Patrol facilities on the southern border and what I witnessed was shameful. THREAD:

The Weslaco Border Patrol Station is 5 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. It is known as the “infirmary” because migrants in the Rio Grande Valley Sector are sent there when they have contagious diseases – flu, chicken pox, impetigo, etc.

There are no beds in the cells. Migrants, including young children, sleep on the floor or on concrete slabs. CBP says they lean against one another to get comfortable. They are given only Mylar blankets.

The lights are on 24 hours a day, so families often wrap themselves in layers of the Mylar blankets to block out the light so they can sleep.

There are no clean clothes in these facilities. There are no toothbrushes or toothpaste. There are no showers. This is the facility where sick people are sent and they have little access to proper hygiene as they try to recover.

CBP staff confirmed stories we heard of women making the trip begging for birth control, condoms, and morning-after pills for themselves + their daughters because they know they may be raped at some point during the journey or while waiting at the border.