Trump tries to defuse immig-site ‘time bomb’
President Trump offered a full-throated defense of his beleaguered Border Patrol agency Wednesday, saying agents are doing “a great job” despite widespread outrage over squalid conditions at the administration’s migrant detention facilities.
In a string of tweets, the president suggested migrants in federal custody are better off than they were in their home countries and claimed Democrats are overreacting.
“Our Border Patrol people are not hospital workers, doctors or nurses,” Trump posted. “The Democrats [sic] bad Immigration Laws, which could be easily fixed, are the problem. Great job by Border Patrol, above and beyond. Many of these illegal aliens are living better now than where they came from, and in far safer conditions.”
Trump’s blanket defense of the Border Patrol came a day after Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Jennifer Costello released a damning report detailing “dangerous” overcrowding at five migrant detention centers near the U.S. southern border.
Costello said hundreds of migrant children have been kept in custody at the facilities for way longer than the 72 hours permitted by federal law while adults have not been given hot meals in weeks or the chance to shower.
Costello urged the administration to take “immediate” action to address the issue, which an unnamed senior U.S. official quoted in the report described as a “ticking time bomb.”
In addition to Costello’s report, Trump’s proBorder Patrol missive comes amid a public furor over revelations that 9,500 former and current agency officials are members of a secret Facebook forum where racist and sexist vitriol has been posted about migrants and Democratic members of Congress.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, on the other hand, fired a warning shot earlier Wednesday, saying an investigation has been opened into the social media group and that Border Patrol employees “will be held accountable” if they’re found to have played a part in it.
“These statements are completely unacceptable, especially if made by those sworn to uphold the DHS mission, our values and standards of conduct,” McAleenan tweeted from his official account.