Pete Buttigieg suggested President Trump should sleep in a detention center to get a better grasp of the public outrage growing over the treatment of migrants being held in these facilities.
CNN asked the 2020 presidential candidate to respond to Trump’s tweet that claimed migrants face better conditions in the detention centers than they do in their home countries.
“Yea, maybe he ought to go sleep in one of those detention centers and then tell us about how great the conditions are,” Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said during a visit to Iowa on Wednesday.
In a trio of tweets, Trump defended the conduct of the Border Patrol and argued Democrats are at fault after some members, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, visited a facility in Texas and complained about the conditions they witnessed.
“Our Border Patrol people are not hospital workers, doctors or nurses. The Democrats bad Immigration Laws, which could be easily fixed, are the problem,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “Great job by Border Patrol, above and beyond. Many of these illegals aliens are living far better now than where they came from, and in far safer conditions. No matter how good things actually look, even if perfect, the Democrat visitors will act shocked & aghast at how terrible things are. Just Pols. If they really want to fix them, change the Immigration Laws and Loopholes. So easy to do!”
The president also offered his take on how to resolve the issue.
“Now, if you really want to fix the Crisis at the Southern Border, both humanitarian and otherwise, tell migrants not to come into our country unless they are willing to do so legally, and hopefully through a system based on Merit. This way we have no problems at all!” he said.
