Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the conditions at two federally controlled migrant facilities a “humanitarian disaster.”
The governor was informed that there was no proven clean, running water at a facility in Midland, Texas, that houses unaccompanied minors and that there was a significant number of COVID-19 cases at the Midland facility and one in Carrizo Springs, Texas, he said Saturday.
“We’ve known this is a crisis,” Abbott said. “What I learned in just the past hour shows that we are now dealing with a humanitarian disaster.”
AUSTIN MAYOR SAYS BUSINESSES PREFER HAVING MASK MANDATE
“Any time we’re dealing with the massive amount of influx of people coming across the border, that would be a humanitarian crisis and a big challenge,” the governor added on Fox News.
Abbott characterized the COVID-19 cases at one of the facilities as an “outbreak” in a statement Friday.
BCFS Health and Human Services, the organization tasked with running the facility in Carrizo Springs, objected to the cases of coronavirus at the facility being labeled an “outbreak,” saying that about 1 in 10 migrants had tested positive for the virus upon arrival at the facility, according to the Hill.
There has been no community spread within the facility, the agency added.
Abbott will be directing the Texas Department of State Health Services’s resources and personnel to “investigate, identify, and combat” the possible spread of the virus at the facility, his office announced Friday.
About 4,500 children are being held in Border Patrol facilities, while 9,500 are in HHS custody, the Associated Press reported.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“The Biden administration has been an abject failure when it comes to ensuring the safety of unaccompanied minors who cross our border,” Abbott said in a statement Friday. “The conditions unaccompanied minors face in these federally run facilities is unacceptable and inhumane.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services for comment.
