Texas Republican Rep. Michael Burgess, a piece of work who has gotten into heated exchanges with constituents before over his defense of Trump's new and pointedly cruel border policies, made an unusual claim in defending the sometimes horrific conditions inside the overcrowded detention centers in which the Trump administration is stuffing asylum-seeking and migrant children. In an MSNBC interview he belligerently gaslighted his way through a defense of the facilities with an assertion that, while they may be strained, he visited one of the more notorious ones, and it would let those kids leave anytime they wanted to: “You know what? There’s not a lock on the door. Any child is free to leave at any time, but they don’t, and you know why? Because they’re well taken care of and yes, at some point they are going to live with family, generally not the mother or father but some family member, that’s a good thing.”
All right: Prove it, motherfucker. Show us a child walking through the gates of any one of these facilities and just leaving.
This is an easily tested claim. When lawmakers, reporters, and lawyers show up at the internment centers to verify the conditions inside, but are barred from entering, have any of those persons witnessed a child simply walking out the same gate? A child leaving to play outside, but then coming back?
Through the unlocked doors?
Prove it.