Sen. Elizabeth Warren Visits Texas Detention Center, Finds The Conditions ‘Disturbing’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) spoke to the press moments after completing a tour of a migrant detention center in McAllen, Texas. Warren described a heartbreaking situation where families were separated, housed in makeshift cages, and made to sleep on floors. This was one of several stops on her tour and she told reporters that her team still had much work to do.

The “processing center” was anything but homey and inviting, according to the Massachusetts Senator. Warren’s voice was shaky and trembling as she described what she experienced. She encountered children sitting alone and even saw a 6-month-old baby inside the facility.

“And they’re all on the concrete floors in cages,” Warren told members of the press. “There’s just no other way to describe it. They’re big, chain link cages on cold concrete floors and metal blankets handed out to people. People are all just waiting and frightened.”

Warren brought with her a translator who is fluent in Spanish. She was able to interview many of the women present and heard stories about the violence, extreme poverty, and danger that they fled their countries to escape. Viewed as a traitor, one woman from El Salvador brought her 4-month-old son to the United States because gangs threatened her life after she gave a police officer a drink of water.

The Senator spoke to a woman from Honduras who said that there was nothing for them there: no jobs, no money, and no means to improve their quality of life. Even in the temporary shelter faced with uncertain futures, the women said that they would come to the United States all over again. What they are facing here is far more humane than their lives back home, Warren shared.

When reporters asked Warren what she thought about Donald Trump’s tweets on Sunday where he expressed a desire to bypass the laws of the land and just send all illegal immigrants back to their countries, she responded that his proposal was not in line with American values.

“That’s not what our country stands for,” Warren replied, according to CNN. “We are a people who believe in the worth of every human being. And we do have a system of laws in this country. And when a woman comes here with her 4-year-old son and says, ‘I am asking for amnesty, I am being threatened by gangs in my home country,’ we should at least give her a hearing.”