Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he was told by a Biden administration staffer that he could not record a video at a Border Patrol facility along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The staffer then told him: “Please don’t treat the people as such,” to which Cruz responded that “your policies are unfortunately trying to hide them.”
“I understand that you were instructed,” Cruz said. “I respect them, and I want to fix this situation, and the administration that you work for is responsible for these conditions.”
Cruz and more than a dozen Republican senators went to the border last week, with many describing overcrowded and severe conditions in facilities used to hold unaccompanied minors—children who unlawfully enter the country without an adult.
In recent weeks, Republicans have blamed President Joe Biden’s administration for the surge in illegal immigration, although Biden in a press conference said such surges are routine and blamed the previous administration for the humanitarian conditions on the border.
The senator also posted photos that the “Biden administration doesn’t want the American people to see,” according to a tweet that included images of a crowded illegal immigrant facility in Donna, Texas—near the border.
Journalists will be eventually allowed to go to the border to film Border Patrol facilities after they have been largely denied access, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki in a Sunday interview.
Some Democrats whose districts lie on the border have said Biden needs to take action immediately to deal with the situation.
“They’re supposed to appear, show up, maybe in 60 days, report to an ICE office,” he said. “This is unprecedented.”
