Dem, GOP lawmakers visit U.S.-Mexico border
Republicans, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, accused Biden of the crisis unfolding and the use of "cages."
Republicans, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz blamed Biden for the unfolding crisis.
Ted Cruz, Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham experienced border patrol operations first-hand with a boat tour on the Rio Grande on Friday -- one of two delegations of U.S. lawmakers in Texas with divergent messages about the humanitarian and political crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Senate Republicans blamed U.S. President Joe Biden for the surge at the border that has led to overcrowded conditions at facilities for unaccompanied minors.
They say Biden encouraged more migrants to cross illegally when he rolled back some of Trump's restrictive policies.
SENATOR TED CRUZ: "The Donna facility is a giant tent city built with a capacity of 250, it has nearly 4,000 people in it. We saw cages after cages after cages of little girls, little boys, laying side by side touching each other, covered with emergency blankets."
The delegation of Democratic lawmakers said they had traveled to Carizzo Springs, Texas to hear from migrant children.
Somali-born Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said she could relate to the migrants, as many come to the U.S. from Central America fleeing poverty, crime, unemployment and natural disaster.
"When my father was making a decision for me at the age of eight to flee conflict, he was making a decision for me to live."
Those sentiments were echoed by her colleague, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
"Today a young boy from Guatemala just looked at me and I said, 'What is it that you want me to know? What do you want the president to know? And he said, 'That I'm a human being.' And it was that simple for him."
Biden said on Thursday that the "vast majority" of families are being sent back to Mexico under the Trump-era health order known as Title 42, although U.S. government data suggests that more than half of the 19,000 family members detained at the border in February were not expelled.
The White House clarified on Friday that he was referring to a majority of adults. But Biden has vowed not to deport minors who arrive at the border alone.
"No previous administration did that either. Except Trump. I'm not going to do it."
