WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th July, 2019) A group of US senators have joined Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan on a tour of the southwestern border to assess the challenges immigration enforcement faces to deal with the influx of migrants coming into the United States, the Department of Homeland Security said in a press release.
"Today, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin K. McAleenan is traveling to McAllen, [Texas] to meet with a congressional delegation from the US Senate on border security issues," the release said onFriday. "He will be joined by 15 Senators as he highlights the operational challenges faced in the Rio Grande Valley Sector as a result of the overwhelming surge of migrants to the US border."
The congressional delegation visited several Federal immigration facilities where migrants are processed and held.
After the tour on Friday, US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said during a press conference that the conditions migrants are placed in are awful. He noted that the one decent facility for migrants was run by a local catholic charity organization.
US Senator Bob Menendez said he heard common stories from migrants about fleeing killings, kidnappings, rape and other forms of violence.
Menendez added that they pressed US Customs and Border Patrol today to admit that more than 98 percent of these asylum-seeking migrants are not criminals.
The release noted that the number of migrants crossing into the United States declined in June, but the number of migrant families and children coming in the United States illegally remains high.
The Department of Defense said in a press release on Thursday that Acting Secretary of Defense Richard Spencer is also touring the border in McAllen today as he oversees Defense Department operations assisting immigration enforcement with its border security mission.
Spencer is also expected to discuss the announcement of the deployment of some 2,100 troops to the border.
US lawmakers have been visiting detention facilities on the US border with Mexico after reports emerged that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents had failed to provide detainees with adequate food, water and sanitary supplies, and migrants were sleeping on cold concrete floors.
