Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) spent her weekend visiting detention centers along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas, which she repeatedly described as “prison camps.”
Smith, fresh off her first election victory in Minnesota, posted videos and images throughout her trip, describing one detention center in a lengthy Facebook post as “soulless, cold, and depressing.”
“Today the United States has about 15,000 migrant children locked up. Every one of these children will bear the invisible injuries of these life experiences. It goes against the most basic human norms to put innocent children in these prisons, but that is what we are doing,” Smith wrote.
On Friday, Smith visited a detention center in Dilley, which is the largest in the nation and has been the subject of numerous news reports. She later visited a center in Karnes, and then continued her visit with a stop in Tornillo Saturday morning.
Smith wrote of her experiences visiting with some of the children housed in the facilities, saying of one that she wonders “what this little boy has seen.”
“We talked to one mother, Patricia, who has been held with her daughter Christy, almost 15, since the beginning of the summer. They were picked up by ICE in San Antonio, where they had been living for two years. Her daughter had been happy in school and looking forward to her 15th birthday before her life was torn apart. Her daughter is deeply depressed and suicidal,” Smith wrote of another encounter.
On Saturday, Smith shared a video of her discussing the “conditions of these kids” in a Tornillo facility.
I was told not to talk to any of the 2,700 children being held at Tornillo detention center because it would disrupt them.
The *real* disruption going on here is the detention of these kids. This is not how we should be treating children. pic.twitter.com/Y663AT0kW9
— Senator Tina Smith (@SenTinaSmith) December 15, 2018
“They are being held while they are awaiting word on what’s going to happen with their seeking asylum. This is no way for a great country to be treating children,” she said.
In another video, Smith described the facility as a “prison camp,” saying the U.S. is “imprisoning” children who “should be with their families.”
This morning I was at the border of Texas and Mexico at the Tornillo detention center. The kids in this center should be with their families, but instead we're holding them in detention in the Texas desert. I'll be sharing more later. These stories need to be heard. pic.twitter.com/EFo6fqZy8e
— Senator Tina Smith (@SenTinaSmith) December 15, 2018
Smith posted several tweets about her experiences, and claimed that some of the immigrants told her that “if they request medical care multiple times, they will be deported.”
I think no matter what you think about immigration policy, we can all agree this level of human suffering is unconscionable. Please keep sharing these stories.
— Senator Tina Smith (@SenTinaSmith) December 14, 2018
“I think no matter what you think about immigration policy, we can all agree this level of human suffering is unconscionable,” she said. “Please keep sharing these stories.”
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tina Smith” by Tina Smith.
