There is a video here, sorry it only seems to be on Facebook so far, of Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Mark DeSaulnier (CA 11, my rep!) and several other women, members of the Women’s Working Group on Immigration Reform, who have just toured a border patrol processing center and are reporting their impressions of what they saw. If anyone has been easing back into the belief that things are gradually getting better, this will disabuse them of that idea. There are people still separated from older children, even though those children are in the same facility. They can sometimes hear them crying in another room. Children have been told that their parents have voluntarily abandoned them. Parents have left rooms for appearances and found no children upon their return. Women in advanced stages of pregnancy are sleeping on cold, hard concrete floors.
This is the first of several visits they are planning on making. According to The Richmond Standard, they will tour the U.S. Federal Courthouse, Border Patrol Processing Center, a Southwest Key shelter facility and ICE Detention Center. Based on the fact that this first interview was in a tour bus, the Border Patrol Processing Center, at least, is continuing its practice of not allowing videos or photos.
For those of us who live in DeSaulnier’s district, he will be reporting the results of his tour in a town hall meeting in Concord, California on Aug. 4. The town hall will occur at Meadow Homes Elementary School at 1371 Detroit Ave. I will be sure to be there and will report back. I will add a link to a non-Facebook source, and to further videos, once they have become available.