Twitter apologises after it ‘incorrectly’ censors pictures from a Texas migrant centre

Danielle Zoellner
·2 min read
2
(US Customs and Border Protection)
(US Customs and Border Protection)

Twitter has apologised for mistakenly censoring pictures of migrants at a detention centre in Texas following accusations online.

James O'Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas, shared images on Twitter on Monday of migrants at a detention centre that was overcrowded.

"BREAKING: Project Veritas Obtains Horrifying NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN Images From Within Donna, TX Immigrant Detention Center; THOUSANDS of Illegal Immigrants PACKED Into Tight Spaces And Wrapped In Space Blankets On Floor; Insider: '50+ COVID Positive,'" the post said.

But the post was hidden behind a filter that claimed the content was "potentially sensitive" to the viewer, which sparked a backlash.

When approached about the incident, a Twitter spokesperson told Breitbart News that the warning was "incorrectly applied by one of our automated tools and it has since been removed."

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The images of the packed detention centre come as the Biden administration has faced growing calls to address the influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released the first images and videos on Tuesday of detention centres in southern Texas after the Biden administration faced backlash for the poor conditions for the migrants – despite President Joe Biden promising to fix immigration problems under the Trump administration.

The images were likely released partly because of reports from Project Veritas and Axios.

Representative Henry Cuellar of Laredo, Texas, took images inside the detention centre in Donna, Texas, and they were then published in Axios on Monday so the public could see the current conditions.

He told the publication that one of the "pods" seen, which typically would hold about 260 migrants, held an estimated 400 unaccompanied male minors.

"We ought to take care of those kids like they're our own kids," he said about the conditions, imploring the Department of Health and Human Services to move the children to better facilities.

The Biden administration has thus far denied media access to these detention centres amid reports that they were overcrowded with unaccompanied migrant children. Mr Cuellar, a Democrat, said the lack of media access was what encouraged him to share the images of the centre in Donna.

CBP used Covid-19 as a reason for why journalists have been barred from visiting the facilities, stating it was "to protect the health and safety of our workforce and those in our care we continue to discourage external visitors in our facilities."

In conjunction with releasing the images, CBP said in a statement that it "continues to transfer unaccompanied minors to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as quickly and efficiently as possible after they are apprehended on the Southwest Border."