U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen, a Democrat representing Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District, this week followed in the footsteps of his Democratic colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and investigated conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso.
This, according to Cohen’s Twitter page.
Exactly 23 of Cohen’s colleagues joined him, including U.S. Congressman Jim Cooper, a Democrat representing Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District, according to Twitter.
Cohen said he made the trip to “investigate the impact of (Donald) Trump’s policies & the conditions in detention centers.”
“The people of #Memphis & #Nashville do not support this administration’s inhumane practices,” Cohen wrote.
According to a press release from Cohen’s office, he said the following before he left:
“We’ve all heard horrific stories about the conditions at some of these facilities and about efforts to modify U.S. asylum policy in ways that violate long-standing American traditions,” Cohen said.
“I want to see it up close to provide better oversight of our efforts to deal with this humanitarian crisis on our border.”
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, Ocasio-Cortez said migrant women held in a Customs and Border Protection facility were told to drink water out of toilets.
An agent, however, directly refuted the allegation.
“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,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted after visiting her first CBP detention center that day.
It was her first accusation that women in the Texas facility were being explicitly told by agents to drink water from toilets.
Ocasio-Cortez later spoke to reporters outside the facility, and her comments suggested she personally saw women drinking out of a toilet.
She did not provide an answer when a reporter asked if she personally witnessed this.
A CBP agent who was reportedly close by as Ocasio-Cortez toured the facility said the congresswoman purposely misconstrued a story she heard.
It was later clarified the toilet in question was connected to a faucet and sink marked “potable water.”
The first-term lawmaker also said she felt threatened and was disrespected by CBP officers when she visited the migrant detention center. However, agents said she was the one behaving in a threatening manner, screaming at officers who were nearby.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo by Steve Cohen.
What is “democratic” about Cortez?
A non human investigating a supposed inhumane situation. Is that even possible? I think not. The inhumanity lies in where you reside in memphis “IT” clown twin.