Veep visits border cage
Finds jam-packed, stench-filled area
Vice President Mike Pence toured a sweltering, foul-smelling and overcrowded Border Patrol station in Texas on Friday night — and left calling for more funds to meet the growing migrant crisis.
“I was not surprised by what I saw,” at the McAllen Border Patrol Station, Pence told reporters afterward.
“I knew we’d see a system that was overwhelmed.”
According to The Washington Post, which served as the pool press for the visit, some 400 men who were alleged to have crossed the border illegally were crowded into a standing-room-only chainlink-fenced cage.
“The stench was horrendous,” the pool report said. “The cages were so crowded that it would have been impossible for all of the men to lie on the concrete.
“There were no mats or pillows — some of the men were sleeping on concrete.”
It was sweltering inside, and border patrol agents who guarded the cages wore face masks.
“When the men saw the press arrive, they began shouting and wanted to tell us they’d been in there 40 days or longer,” the report said. “The men said they were hungry and wanted to brush their teeth.”
The press was removed from the room after 90 seconds.
“The president drove hard to get a bipartisan humanitarian aid bill through the Congress — $4.6 billion,” Pence told reporters after the tour.
“We’re deploying those resources as we speak.”
Asked by reporters about the conditions inside, Pence said, “I wouldn’t take the word of people that are being detained here in McAllen for how they’re being treated, but I’m very confident thatt they’re being provided withh shelter and water and food and access to health care and access to hygiene.”