The Biden Administration is not allowing reporters to tour their facility for unaccompanied minors, citing the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason for their lack of transparency. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) replied to a request by the Daily Caller seeking access to the facility, stating that no media tours are being hosted at this time.
“Reporters will not be allowed inside the Carrizo Springs facility for unaccompanied minors that was recently opened under the Biden administration in Texas,” according to a spokesperson from the Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (ACF).
“The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is not hosting media tours of unaccompanied children (UC) facilities currently due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” The spokesperson added, “If media tours resume, we will send a media advisory.”
This denial is in keeping with requests from other media outlets, including ABC News, which the Biden Administration has also rejected. Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, stated on Monday that he would “look into” the claim made by ABC News reporters while stating that the Biden Administration was “open” to providing media scrutiny.
According to the Washington Post, the Biden Administration is tasked with housing thousands of unaccompanied minors at the border, with over 5,000 children arriving in January alone. Although the administration refuses to admit that they are in the midst of a “crisis,” they have stated that the current situation is a “challenge.” While condemning facilities used under the Trump Administration in 2019, President Biden has had to reopen the same facilities to deal with their “challenge.”
Linda Brandmiller, an immigration attorney in San Antonio, told the Washington Post, “It’s unnecessary, it’s costly, and it goes absolutely against everything [President] Biden promised he was going to do. It’s a step backward, is what it is. It’s a huge step backward.”
The Biden Administration has faced mounting criticism as they continue to fail to provide transparency related to the border situation and seem to have swapped out the “kids in cages” battle cry of the progressive left with one of “kids in containers.” As the country seeks clarity at the border, Biden has yet to deliver a State of the Union speech or even hold a press conference 42 days into his presidency, with no conferences scheduled.
Discussion about this post