Campaign Action
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon traveled to a Brownsville, Texas, facility for detained migrant children to demand answers regarding the administration’s policy separating families at the border. Facility officials from the privately-run, nonprofit Southwest Key Programs called the cops on him instead:
In the video, Merkley said he was going to try to tour the facility after his staff attempted to set up a meeting to do so last week. He can be seen walking up to the building, which he says is a former Walmart with blacked-out windows and locked doors, where he is told that he can’t come in, but that her supervisor would come meet the senator outside.
After nearly 20 minutes of pacing outside, a supervisor does finally come out, but only to brush Merkley aside, saying he’s not allowed to give an official statement despite being the facility’s supervisor.
“I can give you guys a number,” he said, dictating a phone number, and Merkley replied that he’s already been in contact with that office. “We contacted them,” he said, “and they said that no member of Congress had been here yet, so this is your first chance to explain that the new policy, of how you’re a nonprofit—“ The supervisor cuts him off.
“So you guys can just call that number, if you guys need any more information,” he said. “But you’re the supervisor,” Merkley replies. The supervisor cuts him off yet again, saying “okay, thank you, I’ll be with you in just a minute,” before going to speak to the police officers who had arrived moments before.
“I would so much appreciate the chance to be here,” Merkley says, smiling, to one in particular, since the supervisor had already left him in the dust to go complain to a police officer.
Detention facilities for migrant children, operated under the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), have neared capacity since the administration’s announcement that tearing kids from the arms of parents would now be official policy:
“For months, stories have abounded of families separated by immigration authorities at the border: Three children were separated from their mother as they fled a gang in El Salvador; a 7-year-old was taken from her Congolese mother who was seeking asylum; and so on, in reportedly hundreds of cases. In almost every case, the families have described heart-wrenching goodbyes and agonizing uncertainty about whether they would be reunited,” Amy B Wang noted last week.
It’s known that kids already face abuse from the immigration agents who round them up, but conditions in the facilities that hold them remain secretive. You’d think a sitting U.S. senator, in particular, would have the authority and standing to be able to tour these facilities. Instead, he was essentially thrown to police as a nuisance:
One of the cops approached Merkley. “I haven’t been asked to leave the property, but I’m guessing that’s about what’s to happen,” the senator said.
“Yes, sir, I think that’s what they’re going towards,” the officer replied. “What was your name again?”
“Senator Jeff Merkley. U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley,” he said.
“How do you spell that? I don’t want to misspell that,” the cop asked.
“M-e-r-k-l-e-y,” the senator said.
The cop asked for his date of birth.
“It’s October 24, 1956,” Merkley replied. “I’m a U.S. senator.”
Merkley again reiterates that he was told he would be able to have a conversation with the supervisor, who is still in the background speaking to another officer. “No one’s ever asked us to leave,” someone who may be a member of Merkley’s entourage says. “We’re here,” Merkley replies, “the supervisor’s here, if he wants us to leave the property, he can ask, but he hasn’t asked yet.”
This finally gets the supervisor’s attention. “Yes, okay, do you guys mind? ...” Getting ushered away, Merkley politely thanks him for his time.
There it is, folks. A detention center for children calling the cops on and turning away a sitting U.S. senator who was attempting to find out the conditions those children are being held in. It’s not just immigration agents that have been allowed to think they’re above the law and accountability, it’s the whole damn system.
“American citizens are funding this operation,” Merkley said, even as Texas’ U.S. senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, have said nothing, “so every American citizen has a stake in how these children are being treated and how this policy is being enacted.”
