House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings ripped into the acting head of Homeland Security, upbraiding Kevin McAleenan over the conditions of detention facilities for migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border
House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings ripped into the acting head of Homeland Security Thursday, upbraiding Kevin McAleenan over the conditions of detention facilities for migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Two government watchdogs have since found that the administration was unprepared to carry out the policy or to mitigate its effects. Outlining additional areas where McAleenan has offered a different account than government watchdogs, Cummings said he was troubled to hear DHS painting a rosier picture of its work at the border.
“They are human beings,” he said, beginning to raise his voice. He added that he didn’t think Democrats’ complaints were being taken seriously. “I get tired of folks saying, ‘Oh they’re just beating up on the Border Patrol. Oh, they’re just beating up on Homeland Security.’ All I’m saying is I want to concentrate on these children, and I want to make sure that they're okay. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: It’s not the deed you do to a child. It’s the memory. It’s the memory.
He said he wanted Cummings to be able to see “our men and women and how hard they’re working to care for children. Border patrol agents holding children that are not their own, that were brought across by smugglers, putting formula and baby bottles together.” Oversight ranking member Jim Jordan also came to McAleenan’s defense, asking the secretary if any of the ongoing issues at detention facilities could have been addressed sooner had Congress been able to come to an agreement on the emergency funding months ago, when it was initially requested.
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