The House Oversight Committee held a hearing on Friday to make public the testimony of members of Congress who traveled to the border and saw the humanitarian crisis created by the Trump administration firsthand.
“They took us from our grandmother and now we are all alone,” an 8-yr-old boy told lawyers who visited the Clint border station. @hrw’s analysis of the current practice of family separation, in advance of House Oversight Committee hearings tomorrow. https://t.co/q1iZYXVkvH pic.twitter.com/fMcHYoCwad
— Michael Bochenek (@MichaelBochenek) July 11, 2019
Republicans on the committee were aggrieved by the process, and Jim Jordan (R-OH) spoke out against the suffering of border patrol agents and the poor president, who are constantly under attack by Democrats bent on pointing out the abuse of children. As he criticized the “disparagement” of border officials, he ignored the many former and current border officials who are speaking out against the conditions of these detention centers and the abuses they have witnessed there.
One whistleblower, who is referred to by the pseudonym Mario, spoke to The Intercept about the horrifying treatment of migrants during his time with Customs and Border Patrol. While Republicans insisted that they are the ones supporting law enforcement and Democrats are shaming them, one has to wonder if they understand that they are only supporting the law enforcement agents who agree with them politically.
‘In wide-ranging conversations, Mario discussed assaults and other abuses against migrants, a lack of effective oversight, and a disturbing culture of dehumanization in the agency. He says that he has decided to step forward to tell the American public about conduct he found embarrassing, cruel, and unregulated.’
NEW: Senate Democrats urge oversight hearing on family separation.
"We are deeply troubled by the Trump Administration’s utter lack of preparedness to reunite children that it separated from their parents…and the callous manner in which it is treating this issue." pic.twitter.com/aeiOpPRLiB
— ABC News (@ABC) July 11, 2018
GOP committee members and witnesses allowed to speak during the hearing justified child abuse by mentioning the issue of child abuse in an ongoing, twisted form of logic. Children brought to this country as migrants, they said, are sometimes victims of child sex trafficking, so the obvious solution is to take them from their families with no evidence of sex trafficking to allow them to be sexually abused by border agents. One of those victims has spoken out in recent days, as NBC reports:
‘A 15-year-old girl from Honduras described a large, bearded officer putting his hands inside her bra, pulling down her underwear and groping her as part of what was meant to be a routine pat-down in front of other immigrants and officers.
‘The girl said “she felt embarrassed as the officer was speaking in English to other officers and laughing” during the entire process, according to a report of her account.’
House Oversight Committee is holding a hearing today about family separation at the US-Mexico border. Massive live in Congress to get into the hearing room started hours ago! #FamiliesBelongTogether pic.twitter.com/WodDToybTS
— Alli Jarrar #FreeAlejandra ⚡️🌈 (@AlliJarrar) July 12, 2019
In essence, Republicans accused both Democrats and the migrants held in these detention centers of lying about conditions there despite an inspector general’s report on those horrifying conditions and multiple witnesses to the abuses. Meanwhile, at least seven children have died in U.S. custody, which dispels any notion that these young lives are being properly cared for and protected.
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
