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U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-Rhinebeck) traveled to McAllen, Texas Friday along with members of Congress on a bipartisan Congressional delegation trip to facilities at the southern border.
“Yesterday’s trip to facilities at the border was extremely informative and impactful,” said Delgado. “I saw children, adults, and families who have come to the United States in search of a better life, and a system overloaded and underprepared for the gravity and complexity of this immigration crisis. We must act to better enable our system to process asylum seekers and migrants in a humane way that preserves their dignity as they flee horrible circumstances in their home countries.”
Delgado continued, “These are human beings suffering in the care of the U.S. government, and we cannot allow the politicization of the border to obscure the need for coherent and comprehensive immigration policy. What is critical now is to work together to get resources to these facilities, ensure basic needs are being met and adequate care is provided, while ensuring critical oversight so that resources are used appropriately. As Congress continues to address the urgent situation at our border, we must use facts, not dehumanizing rhetoric, to respond to the reality at hand.”
Rep. Delgado traveled to the border along with members of the House Homeland Security Committee. The trip was led by Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY), Chairwoman of the Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations Subcommittee, and included Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), Ranking Member of the Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations Subcommittee, Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL), Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM), Rep. Max Rose (D-NY), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA), and Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC).
I wish Mr. Delgado would spend more time caring for the needy, homeless citizens and the children of his Hudson Valley constituency that elected him to Congress than illegal migrants rightfully held in detention at the border. Three billion in emergency funds went to address this situation that could have well been avoided if the Democrat Congress had addressed the asylum loopholes rather than the nonsensical hubris surrounding impeachment hearings, etc. , etc..
Republican talking points are becoming not only one sided and one dimensional but outright un-American in tone and content against human rights fought for in 2 World Wars and then some!. Locally, the Republicans have been in power here in the Hudson Valley and they are responsible for the false promises every election time for jobs and prosperity that are abject failures over and over again. In fact, they are responsible for the “needy, homeless citizens and the children of his Hudson Valley constituency…” that elected them time and again into office. These homeless etc., did not happen over ning, they were neglected over the years and left behind by republican conservative policies. In terms of asylum, I doubt that Mr. Frank knows the difference
between a loophole and a…well, let’s just say it rhymes with the word in question. He copied that from Fox News I would gather as a guess? But to throw in the unsolicited ‘impeachment hearings’ on the back of
Representative Delgado’s fact finding trip to test the horrific reports in the news from the border, speaks to the fact that Mr. Frank knows that atrocity exists on that border and would rather it be covered up and ignored by our elected leadership. The world is watching Mr. Frank, and what they see is a crime against humanity in real time. And its in our name, If you can stand by and cry wolf, so be it. That’s on your dime. Not ours.
Thank you U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado for doing the right thing by us. We look forward to your report on this serious “hubris” that has taken hold of the Nation and held us hostage to cruelty.
The more U.S. representatives and senators who visit detention centers at the border, the better. As a constituent, I’m grateful Representative Delgado and the others bore witness to the shameful and inhumane conditions the Administration is perpetrating at the border. Providing better resources to these camps, however, should only be an emergency stopgap. To restore the rights rights and dignity of these immigrants and to keep their families intact, courts and legislators must apply the same sense of urgency that Trump put into creating his unspeakable policies.