The White House is defending the reopening of a Trump-era migrant facility in Texas, charging that this “middle option” is the best available solution for children apprehended at the border.
Asked about Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism that detaining children will “never will be okay — no matter the administration,” press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that she had not seen the “full context” of the tweet.
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In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez called for a “bold reimagination” of the country’s immigration system that would abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
“DHS shouldn’t exist, agencies should be reorganized, ICE gotta go, ban for-profit detention, create climate refugee status & more,” she wrote.
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Democrats sharply criticized former President Donald Trump for detaining unaccompanied child migrants in this and other facilities.
Psaki said the new administration had reviewed several options for entering the country illegally, deciding to “quickly transfer” them from border facilities to sites operated by the Department of Health and Human Services.
“What we are not doing, that the last administration did, was separate those kids, rip them from the arms of their parents at the border, we are not doing that, that is immoral, and that is not the approach of this administration,” she said.
The administration also decided against placing children with families or sponsors immediately, before any vetting had occurred. “There were some problems that that process ran into as well.”
“We’ve chosen the middle option,” she said, referring to a plan to move children from Customs and Border Patrol detention to facilities such as the Carrizo Springs site.
“This facility in Texas, which has been reopened, has been revamped. There are teachers, there is medical facilities, and our objective is to move these kids quickly from there to vetted sponsored families and to places where they can safely be,” Psaki said. “This is a difficult situation, it’s a difficult choice, that’s the choice we’ve made.”
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Another facility in Homestead, Florida, will also reopen, according to a report Tuesday.
