The Maui News - Weekender

Dems, Republican­s air warring views on migrants’ conditions Trump’s citizenshi­p plan faces hurdles

- By ALAN FRAM

WASHINGTON — Four House Democratic freshmen who recently toured detention stations for migrants along the Texas border told a House committee Friday of jampacked, fetid holding areas “in front of the American flag” and accused President Donald Trump of intentiona­l cruelty to discourage future arrivals.

Firing back, a quartet of Republican­s from border states told the same panel that Democrats weren’t doing anything to ease the crisis and blamed them for posturing that one said was aimed at “Twitter followers and cynical politics.”

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence was touring detention facilities in Texas. After seeing one site where almost 400 men were being held in cages in the sweltering heat, Pence acknowledg­ed, “This is tough stuff.”

Friday’s House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing offered a microcosm of the nation’s red-blue chasm and, perhaps, a chance for each side to vent. But ultimately, it underscore­d each party’s starkly warring views about Trump’s hardline anti-immigratio­n policies, suggesting they’re destined to be a leading issue for the 2020 presidenti­al and congressio­nal campaigns.

The hearing came as the number of families, children and other migrants entering the U.S. from Mexico has surged above 100,000 monthly since March, overwhelmi­ng federal agencies’ ability to detain them in sanitary conditions or move them quickly to better housing. It also came days before Trump-ordered nationwide raids targeting people in the U.S. illegally are expected to begin,actions that would further inflame the issue.

Before Friday’s session began, panel Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., released a report providing new details on 2,648 of the children the Trump administra­tion separated from their families last year

WASHINGTON (AP) — After failing to get his citizenshi­p question on the census, President Donald Trump now says his fallback plan will provide an even more accurate count — determinin­g the citizenshi­p of 90 percent of the population “or more.” But his plan will likely be limited by logistical hurdles and legal restrictio­ns.

Trump wants to distill a massive trove of data across seven government agencies — and possibly across 50 states. It’s far from clear how such varying systems can be mined, combined and compared.

He directed the Commerce Department, which manages the census, to form a working group.

“The logistical barriers are significan­t, if not insurmount­able,” said Paul Light, a senior fellow of Governance Studies at New York University with a long history of research in government reform. “The federal government does not invest, and hasn’t been investing for a long time, in the kind of data systems and recruitmen­t of experts that this kind of database constructi­on would require.”

Trump says he aims to answer how many people are here illegally, though there already are recent estimates, and possibly use such informatio­n to divvy up congressio­nal seats based on citizenshi­p. It’s also a way for Trump to show his base that he’s not backing down (even as he’s had to back down) from a battle over the question on his signature topic, immigratio­n.

Trump’s plan is aimed at yet-again circumvent­ing legal challenges on an immigratio­n related matter, as courts have barred him from inquiring about citizenshi­p on the 2020 census. But it could spark further legal action, depending on what his administra­tion intends to do with the informatio­n.

before abandoning that policy under widespread pressure. Unknown numbers of others were also separated.

The report found that 18 children under age 2 — half who were just months old — were kept from their parents up to half a year. Hundreds were held longer than previously revealed, including 25 kept over a year, and at least 30 remain apart from their parents.

That reflects “a deliberate, unnecessar­y and cruel choice by President Trump and his administra­tion,” the report said.

Congress approved $4.6 billion last month to help improve conditions. But that measure angered liberals who felt it lacked requiremen­ts forcing better treatment of migrants, prompting internal frictions that have yet to fully play out.

Rep. Alexandria OcasioCort­ez,

D-N.Y., was among the four Democrats — all women — who testified. After being sworn in at her request, a practice the committee generally eschews for fellow lawmakers and seemed a taunt at dubious Republican­s, she described migrant women telling her they had to sleep on the concrete floor and drink from the toilet because their cell’s sink was broken.

“I believe these women,” she said. “What was worst about this was the fact that there were American flags hanging all over these facilities, that children were being separated from their parents in front of the American flag,” she said.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, DMich., was near tears as she displayed a picture she said was of a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl — the same age as her son — who died in U.S. custody. She criticized harsh policies “intentiona­lly and cruelly created by a Trump administra­tion dead set on sending a hate-filled message that those seeking refuge are not welcome in America.”

Departing the White House, Trump told reporters without evidence that Ocasio-Cortez’ account of women being told to drink from a toilet was “a phony story she made it up.”

As if in counterpoi­nt to Democrats’ testimony, Pence and eight GOP lawmakers toured a border station Friday in Donna, Texas, a vast collection of airconditi­oned, interconne­cted tents built in May to temporaril­y handle 1,000 migrants and currently holding 800. Many lay on mats on the floor, covered by foil blankets as children watched TV.

With Sen. Mike Lee, RUtah, and Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan translatin­g, two children told Pence they’d walked two and three months to arrive.

“Every family I spoke to said they were being well cared for,” Pence said, criticizin­g Democrats’ “harsh rhetoric.”

Later Friday, though, Pence visited the McAllen Border Station, where 384 single men were being held in cages with no cots.

“I was not surprised by what I saw,” Pence said. “I knew we’d see a system that was overwhelme­d.”

Back at the House committee, four border state Republican­s blamed Democrats for migrants’ problems.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, mocked Democrats’ border trip, accusing them of posing “next to an empty parking lot while making up hyperbole for clips, Twitter followers and cynical politics.”

Roy said by not toughening immigratio­n laws, Democrats have “created the very magnet” that attracts migrants to the U.S. and said the House “cowardly sits in the corner, doing nothing” to address the problems that result.

 ?? AP photo ?? Vice President Mike Pence toured a U.S. Immigratio­n and Border Enforcemen­t detention center in McAllen, Texas, Friday and saw hundreds of men in cages with no cots amid sweltering heat. Acknowledg­ing “this is tough stuff,” Pence said, “I knew we’d see a system that is overcrowde­d. It’s overwhelme­d and that’s why Congress has to act.”
AP photo Vice President Mike Pence toured a U.S. Immigratio­n and Border Enforcemen­t detention center in McAllen, Texas, Friday and saw hundreds of men in cages with no cots amid sweltering heat. Acknowledg­ing “this is tough stuff,” Pence said, “I knew we’d see a system that is overcrowde­d. It’s overwhelme­d and that’s why Congress has to act.”
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