A Texas congressman defended the conditions of a child detention facility in Texas, asserting that illegal child migrants “are free to leave at any time” if they are not treated well.
Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, appeared on MSNBC on Monday to defend facilities used to house child migrants. The lawmaker said that immigrants at facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services are well taken care of, despite stretched financial resources.
“I’ve been to Casa Padre in Brownsville, Texas. Yes, it’s a restored Walmart. And you know what? There’s not a lock on the door. Any child is free to leave at any time, but they don’t. You know why? Because they are well taken care of,” Burgess said. To stay in the United States, children must leave the facility with a parent or guardian who has passed a background check. If the children want to leave by themselves, they must return back to their home country.
Burgess appeared on the network after the U.S. Border Patrol moved hundreds of children out of a reportedly filthy holding facility in Clint, Texas. A group of lawyers that visited the facility said that children there did not have access to soap, toothbrushes, diapers, and other basic supplies. Some children told the lawyers that they would wake up in the night hungry because they were not given enough to eat.
The lawyers visited a processing facility run by the Border Patrol, not a detention center such as Casa Padre, which is run by HHS.
