Biden Administration Continues To Ban Media From Seeing CBP Facilities

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) sent a letter to President Joe Biden over the weekend blasting him and his administration for banning the media from seeing what conditions really are like at the U.S. southern border, where thousands of migrants are being detained and housed.

Immigrants from Mexico and Central America continue to pour across the border, and officials predict that the situation will only get worse.

In the letter, Cruz called out Biden for intentionally preventing Americans from seeing his administration’s “failures” on the border. He said:

“This past Thursday and Friday, eighteen of my Senate colleagues and I visited the border and witnessed firsthand the staggering public health and humanitarian crisis caused by your policies.

We understand the heartbreaking tragedy unfolding at the border because we were there. We saw it. But the American people are unable to see it because you remain intent on keeping the media from shining a light on your administration’s failures.”

Here’s the full letter from Senator Cruz:

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The Real Conditions At The Border

Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) was one of 19 Senators, including Cruz, who made the trip to the border on Friday.

Braun claims that an official from the Biden administration, “asked that he delete his photos.” Braun and the others in the delegation had taken photos while touring the facility. Braun says he did not delete his photos.

Fox News reports that the delegation was led by Cruz, and fellow Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). They got a first hand look at conditions that have been described as “inhumane” at facilities where migrants crossing the border are being housed while awaiting processing.

The group saw a facility that is designed to hold 250 people, but is holding nearly 4000.

Some of the photos the group took were released, including a photo of babies that had been handed over to Border officials by child smugglers.

Another member of the Senate delegation, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), also released photos of the same facility in Donna, Texas, where “pods” designed to hold 80 children were packed with more than 700.

Lankford said that people were spilling into the hallway. 

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What Does The Biden Administration Not Want Americans To See?

Sen. Cruz says that reporters from across the nation accompanied the group of Senators to the border. Once they arrived, Biden administration officials blocked the media from going inside the facilities. 

Cruz also described a scene in which a Biden administration official jumped in front of Cruz’s camera. She allegedly threatened another Senator, possibly Braun, that if his photos were not deleted, the whole delegation would be kicked out and “prevented from conducting our constitutional oversight role.”

Cruz then said that the media was not allowed to travel with the Senate delegation to an area where there was a large number of immigrants being kept under a bridge. 

In his letter to Biden, Cruz went on to say, “This is outrageous. The Trump administration allowed media into DHS facilities. So did the Obama administration, the Bush administration, and the Clinton administration. But you want to hide what is going on.” 

The letter stated that Biden should “stop denying reality” and to “confront the consequences of your policies.” Cruz said he plans on going to some other facilities on Monday.

Senator Braun has written a letter to Biden describing conditions and urging the president to go to the border to see things for himself. In his letter, Braun said:

“The crisis surrounding this surge makes it a moral imperative for you to see firsthand what is happening—and not the sanitized version of the border tour taken by some of my congressional colleagues. Having personally gone this week, I can testify to this being an inhumane, unsustainable, and dangerous situation.”

Solender tweeted a video of it as well: pic.twitter.com/59bT3NEFzC

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) March 28, 2021

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Other Things The Biden Administration Is Hiding From The Media

In addition to the horrific human conditions at the border, Senator Cruz says that, Border Patrol Agents told the delegation, “Their job got a lot harder on Jan. 20. when Joe Biden became President of the United States.”

Cruz saidthat according to the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the Donna Texas facility has a 10% COVID-19 positivity rate, which is much higher then the national average.

Sen. Braun described meeting with Border Agents along the edge of the Rio Grande. There was a group of “coyotes” and smugglers, who escort people across the border, heckling their group in Spanish.

Braun said the group on the other side yelled at Border Patrol Agents that no matter what they did, the group would cross the river into the U.S. Human smuggling and coyotes charge between $4,000 and $20,000 to bring people into the U.S. illegally. Traffickers can bring in up to $14 million per day.

Sen. Lankford said very plainly what the entire delegation no doubt agrees with, “I know why President Biden doesn’t want the media to be here – because we do have an open border.”