Reports Indicate CBP May Have Relocated Detainees to Keep Members of Congress from Seeing the Conditions of their Confinement
Representatives Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; Jerrold Nadler, Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary; Zoe Lofgren, Chairwoman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship; Pramila Jayapal, Vice-Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship; and Adriano Espaillat, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, today released the following statement after reports surfaced that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may have misled the Members on their recent trip to El Paso. According to reports, CBP moved asylum seekers who were being held in overcrowded conditions under a bridge to other unfit locations, potentially to hide them from the Members on their tour.
“It is deeply concerning that CBP would spend taxpayer dollars to move families and children from one grossly inadequate outdoor facility to another. If CBP intentionally chose to do this to hide the truth from Congress, it would be of great concern.
“As Members of Congress, we have the responsibility of asking hard questions of any Administration, including to ensure that federal agencies are following the law and working in the best interest of the American people. In this case, part of our duties was to ensure that CBP was enforcing the law consistent with its responsibility to protect the health and safety of individuals coming to our borders.
“The Department of Homeland Security and CBP must immediately respond to us with a full explanation of this possible misuse of resources that misled lawmakers.”
