Mike Pence Turns His Back On Migrant Men In Overcrowded Detention Center
The Vice President did not speak to a single migrant man being held at the detention center
Vice President Mike Pence visited an overcrowded federal detention center on Friday in Texas, and got to see first-hand the abysmal conditions the men imprisoned were living in. Unfortunately, he didn’t bother even speaking to any of the men there before leaving.
During his visit, border agents wore face masks to help combat the “horrendous” smell, as described by reporters who were also in attendance. A group of migrant men held behind a chainlink fence kept shouting “No shower, no shower!” to Pence and the cameras.
Pence was accompanied by Sen. Lindsey Graham and officials from the Department of Homeland Security. Pence made a statement about the crisis at the border, but he didn’t mean the inhumane conditions of detention centers or the abysmal immigration and asylum process the U.S. government is currently mandating.
He says the “crisis is real,” but his version of “crisis” is not migrants being forced to drink toilet water and infants kept in cages wearing filthy, weeks-old diapers. He means it’s a “crisis” that anyone should come here to seek asylum and cross the border here at all.
“But what’s not real,” he said, “is the slanderous allegations of heartless mistreatment by Customs and Border Protection. I can see it in your eyes, I can hear it in your voice, about the care and concern.”
Perhaps by “slanderous,” he means “well documented by physicians, lawyers, and members of Congress who have seen and inspected those kept in these detention centers firsthand? Because every one of these people has seen the same thing, and he’s the only one pretending his administration isn’t perpetuating a concentration camp system.
Which, given his high rank and responsibility within the Trump administration, is altogether not surprising. But his words are still impactful on everyone who’s heard them, and people on social media aren’t hesitating to call him out.
The horrifying conditions that have broken hearts all over the country (for those who actually have them) didn’t appear to phase Pence. “I couldn’t be more impressed with the compassionate work that our Customs and Border Protection are doing here at this border facility,” he said.
This goes entirely against reports from others who have seen the facilities firsthand, including one doctor, Dolly Lucio Sevier, who described the conditions last month. She said the youngest child there was two and a half months old and of the 39 children she assessed, all showed signs of trauma. Some teenagers even told her that they hadn’t been given access to wash their hands once since entering the facility and teen mothers weren’t able to wash their children’s bottles. There was reportedly no developmentally appropriate pureed food for infants either.
The conditions and treatment of border agents have been directly responsible for the deaths of children and toddlers.
“The conditions within which they are held could be compared to torture facilities,” Sevier wrote in the declaration.
Pence says he was sent to the facilities by Donald Trump so “the American people could see what’s happening here.” Reporters were not allowed to speak to children or adults being held. He stands by his statement that those being kept in custody are being “well cared for,” according to NBC News.
If the conditions are so pleasant, perhaps Pence — or any member of his administration stay there — should pull up a foil blanket on a slab of cement for a while and be treated the same way migrants are, so they can really refute the rhetoric of literally everyone else who has entered these detention centers.
He and his boss might be able to forget what they’ve seen behind these chainlink fences, but history will not.
