by Debra Heine
Thousands of illegal immigrants are living in overcrowded conditions in a Texas border facility, and leaked photos of the shockingly squalid situation have emerged online.
Monday morning, both Axios, and Project Veritas released photographs from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary overflow facility in Donna, Texas, where an average of 3,000 men, women, and children have been packed like sardines into nightmarish “pods” until the government’s longer-term child shelters and family detention facilities are available.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) provided photos to Axios of the crowded conditions “to raise awareness about the situation.” According to Cueller, “one pod held more than 400 unaccompanied male minors.”
Cuellar, who recently visited a shelter for children, did not tour the Donna facility or take the photos himself. He said the photos were taken over the weekend.
The Democrat told Axios that the facility has “terrible conditions for the children” and said they need to be moved more quickly into the care of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Construction of the 185,000 square foot facility was completed just over a month ago, according to Veritas.
Exclusive photos from inside a temporary overflow facility in Donna, Texas reveal the crowded, makeshift conditions at the border as the government's longer-term child shelters and family detention centers fill up. https://t.co/VFZdnXlBQ8
— Axios (@axios) March 22, 2021
BREAKING: @jack @Twitter is censoring Project Veritas new video showing NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN photos inside the Donna, Texas Immigrant Detention Center as "Sensitive Content" #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/hHK5JXDa0Q
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) March 22, 2021
As American Greatness reported earlier this month, over 100 illegal immigrants who have been released into Texas by Border Patrol since Jan. 21 have tested positive for Covid-19.
Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe described the conditions in a video he posted online, noting that the Biden regime has denied the media any kind of access to border facilities. The administration has even restricted officials who have toured the facilities from sharing information with reporters, Breitbart reported.
“Shocking images showing people wrapped up in what looks like metal foil, laying on the ground, their faces covered,” O’Keefe said. “Why won’t the [Biden] administration be honest about this? Why won’t they show you these images?”
O’Keefe pointed out that during a recent press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki refused to answer a reporter’s question about the conditions on the border.
“Again, we remain committed to sharing with all of you,” Psaki told the White House press. “We remain committed to transparency.”
With 50+ illegal immigrants at the Donna, Texas detention facility currently COVID-19 positive, can you provide comment on the total lack of social distancing as seen in these horrific images? @PressSec @JoeBiden #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/mXQM6YbttJ
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) March 22, 2021
An anonymous source with knowledge of the situation told O’Keefe that migrants have been raped and assaulted while detained at the facility.
“These photos were taken within the last few days. There are eight pods with eight cells each in the facility. At any given moment there are an average of 3,000 people in custody here,” the source said.
“They [illegal immigrants] are separated by age or physical size depending on room. Fifty were COVID positive in these cells over the last few days. There have been multiple sexual assaults, normal assaults and daily medical emergencies,” they said.
According to a shocking new report, Monday, more than 14,000 children who traveled to the U.S. without their families are currently in federal custody.
A Biden administration official said that Health and Human Services (HHS) has more than 9,500 child migrants in its care, while Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has about 4,500 being held in its holding facilities up and down the 2,000-mile southern border.
“There’s no question that the current flows have created challenges for DHS and HHS,” an official said.
The responsibility for the inhumane situation at the border falls squarely on Joe Biden’s shoulders. Mr. Biden promised throughout his campaign to undo all of the policies President Trump put in place to secure the border, and protect American citizens. Indeed, one of his first acts once in office, was to issue an executive order rescinding the Migration Protection Protocols, to which then-President Donald Trump got Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador agreed. The policy kept Central American would-be migrants inside Mexico, which reduced attempted border crossings and stifled human trafficking.
Biden also scrapped a program encouraging Central American asylum seekers to apply from their home countries.
The migrants openly say they would not have made the trip to enter the United States illegally if President Trump was still in office.
In a report from the border over the weekend, ABC News’ Martha Raddatz noted that the surge happened after Biden ended Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy requiring asylum seekers to wait there for their court proceedings.
“Since then, many of those tent cities at the border have emptied out,” ABC reported.
Raddatz asked an illegal alien if he would have “tried to do this when Donald Trump was President.”
“Definitely not,” the migrant answered.
Raddatz pressed the man. “Did you come because Joe Biden was elected President?”
“Basically, basically,” he answered.
https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1373644858775236613?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1373644858775236613%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Famgreatness.com%2F2021%2F03%2F22%2Fleaked-photos-from-texas-border-facility-show-illegal-immigrants-packed-like-sardines-into-pods%2F
President Trump put out a statement on Sunday blasting the Biden regime for turning his border successes “into a national disaster.”
We proudly handed the Biden Administration the most secure border in history. All they had to do was keep this smooth-running system on autopilot. Instead, in the span of a just few weeks, the Biden Administration has turned a national triumph into a national disaster. They are in way over their heads and taking on water fast.
The pathetic, clueless performance of Secretary Mayorkas on the Sunday Shows today was a national disgrace. His self-satisfied presentation—in the middle of the massive crisis he helped engineer—is yet more proof he is incapable of leading DHS. Even someone of Mayorkas’ limited abilities should understand that if you provide Catch-and-Release to the world’s illegal aliens then the whole world will come.
Furthermore, the Mayorkas Gag Order on our Nation’s heroic border agents and ICE officers should be the subject of an immediate congressional investigation. But it’s clear they are engaged in a huge cover-up to hide just how bad things truly are. The only way to end the Biden Border Crisis is for them to admit their total failure and adopt the profoundly effective, proven Trump policies.
They must immediately complete the wall, which can be done in a matter of weeks—they should never have stopped it. They are causing death and human tragedy. In addition to the obvious, drugs are pouring into our country at record levels from the Southern Border, not to mention human and sex trafficking. This Administration’s reckless policies are enabling and encouraging crimes against humanity. Our Country is being destroyed!
Trump reiterated his message on Fox News Monday, saying the Biden regime is “destroying our country.”
FAULKNER: Most ex-presidents do not weigh in at this level. Why did you feel like you needed to?
TRUMP: You called me, in all fairness. I didn't call you. pic.twitter.com/DMfQeb44XB
— August Takala (@RudyTakala) March 22, 2021
Update:
The White House called a lid for Biden at 1:13 pm eastern on Monday afternoon as the photos of the overflowing border facility went viral.
“A photo/ travel lid was called at 1.13pm,”a White House reporter for CBS News tweeted.
https://twitter.com/kathrynw5/status/1374048706203418625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1374048706203418625%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Famgreatness.com%2F2021%2F03%2F22%2Fleaked-photos-from-texas-border-facility-show-illegal-immigrants-packed-like-sardines-into-pods%2F
The lid comes amid media reports that Biden plans to visit the southern border “at some point.”
White House Press Sec.. Jen Psaki fielded questions from Fox News’ Peter Doocy about the Biden regime’s handling of the crisis.
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Debra Heine reports for American Greatness.
Frankly this is no different than the hoards of illegals who pack themselves into houses and apartments. I saw that stuff firsthand in Texas years ago.