Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said he released photographs showing a packed U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary overflow facility because it was important to show the public what was happening.
"It was the same reason I did it in 2014, when I released photos of very packed facilities," Cuellar told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "They are not equipped to handle young people and families. They were set up to handle adults, and I think under the pandemic, it makes it even more important to understand why this is important to understand what's happening at this facility."
The Biden administration, he added, must move migrants to Health and Human Services facilities instead.
On Monday, Axios published photos, shared by Cuellar, that show the extreme crowding at the facility in Donna, Texas. He said that each of the "pods" in the soft-sided center has a 260-person occupancy, but as of Sunday, one of the pods alone was holding more than 400 unaccompanied male minors.
He said he didn't tour the Donna facility or take the pictures himself, and told Axios that although Border Patrol agents are doing the best they can, they are not equipped to care for children, and need help from the Biden administration.
Cuellar told Fox News that Border Patrol facilities are only meant to hold people for up to 72 hours. But if Health and Human Services doesn't take the unaccompanied children out of them, the Border Patrol must stay with the children longer.
In addition, 150 people were released last weekend without notice to appear for a hearing, and that is "unprecedented," Cuellar said.
"How do you release somebody to the country without a notice to appear?" he said, adding that those who were released were family units, not unaccompanied children, and that he doesn't expect them to appear in court.
"Even with the ones that have the notice to appear don't show up," Cuellar said. "I mean, a lot of them do, but there is a good amount [who don't]."
He also responded to news that Vice President Kamala Harris laughed Monday when a reporter asked if she were going to visit the border. He said he was with her last fall to visit the border, but he also wanted to point out to lawmakers on both sides that spending a few hours there is not a substitute for a lifetime of experience from people who live there.
"It's very important to get the input from the men and women on the ground on the border instead of letting somebody 1,000 miles away make a decision for the border," Cuellar said. "I wouldn't make a decision for the northern border of Canada. I think the people up there know it better than I do."
He added that he called his White House contact within a week of the inauguration to warn that attention must be paid to the growing situation
"Certainly in February the numbers increased and, remember, March, April, May, June are the peak months traditionally,' Cuellar said. "We are about to hit the peak point. I would tell you this that if we have a large month this month we look at the numbers, then we are going to have a very hot summer."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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