Rep. Joaquin Castro, the Texas Democrat who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, posted a surreptitiously recorded video showing crowded conditions at the migrant detention center in Clint, Texas, that has gone viral.
"This moment captures what it’s like for women in CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) custody to share a cramped cell—some held for 50 days — for them to be denied showers for up to 15 days and life-saving medication," Castro said in a tweet on Monday. "For some, it also means being separated from their children."
The choppy 1-minute and 10-second clip recorded on a smartphone that has been retweeted more than 21,500 times shows migrants wrapped in blue blankets sitting on a concrete floor at the center near El Paso where Castro led a congressional delegation on Monday that included U.S. Reps. Veronica Escobar, D-Tex., and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., on a fact-finding tour.
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The conditions he describes in that tweet and several other social media posts were echoed a day later by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, which said in a "Management Alert" the crowded conditions and lack of basic human services has created "a ticking time bomb" at several detention centers along the Rio Grande.
Castro is calling for improved conditions and greater transparency into how the migrants and asylum seekers are treated while in federal custody.
"Our border patrol system is broken," he said in another tweet. "And part of the reason it stays broken is because it’s kept secret. The American people must see what is being carried out in their name."
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John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.
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