In the eyes of North Carolina Fourth District Congressman David Price, the situation on our nation’s southern border is “much worse” than even just a year ago.
“It’s not just that there are more people, although there are more people,” Price said in an interview with WCHL after publishing an article about his visit on Medium. “It’s also that the accommodations that those people need and the policy changes to deal with especially the asylum claims; those processes are just broken.”
Migrants in a facility in Texas. Photo via Office of Congressman Price.
Price recently visited camps in border towns of Brownsville and McCallen in Texas to see what is happening first-hand as the flow of migrants crossing over the United States border with Mexico has been intensifying.
“Cells maybe built for five or six people with 40 people in there; cells for which the maximum stay is supposed to be 72 hours where they’re there for days, even weeks; the minimal personal hygiene conditions.
“It’s just unacceptable.”
Price said that policy choices made by the administration of President Donald Trump are causing conditions to worsen along the nation’s border, including a perceived “slow-walking” of applications being processed.
“I just don’t trust this administration to address [the issue] without a great deal – a great deal – of Congressional pressure and certainly oversight, so that we know what’s going on,” Price said.
Republicans have largely backed the administration’s policies on immigration issues, but Price said there are areas he sees as having potential for some progress to be made regarding needs for facilities and additional judges and legal counsel for those seeking asylum. The congressman also argued that decisions by the president to cut aid to organizations in certain Central American countries is only exacerbating the issue.
“This is worse than any administration I’ve ever served under,” Price said. “So, it does call on Congress – and I suppose it’s especially Democrats in Congress – who are going to have to be the eyes and ears of the nation here in terms of knowing what’s going on and also overseeing every dollar we send down there. Because the trust level with this administration is extremely low.”
Adding to the tension on the border is recent events drawing concerns about the personnel working along the border. Recent news reports have highlighted a secret Facebook group where Border Patrol agents joked about the deaths of migrants and other offensive material. Price spoke with WCHL following a hearing where Border Patrol chief Carla Provost appeared before a Congressional committee on which Price sits. Provost was a member of the Facebook group, although Price said he does not believe she was involved in what he described as the “distasteful” posts. He added Provost acknowledged that there is a culture among at least a subset of agents that needs to be “rooted out.”
“She knows that she’s got a problem, and it’s a question of the agency’s credibility and culture. She has to get on top of it.”
The hearing with Provost occurred on the same day that former special counsel Robert Mueller was on Capitol Hill testifying before other House committees.
“I was following it the best I could,” Price said of the Mueller hearings, noting his other committee work that was happening simultaneously. His staff was keeping closer track of Mueller’s hearings and the congressman said he would review the material as he did the Mueller report submitted earlier this year, which Price said was “very, very damning.”
“Reading the report or listening to Robert Mueller is not going to maybe tell you too much that’s new,” Price said. “What it is going to do, though, is underscore the extent of the president’s bad behavior and the extent of the efforts by him and others to lie about it and cover it up.”
Congressman David Price meets with migrants in Texas facility. Photo via Office of Congressman Price.
The Mueller report and subsequent testimony before Congress have pushed more Democrats – and one House Republican – to advocate moving forward with an impeachment inquiry in the House of Representatives, which is controlled by Democrats following the 2018 election. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has held off those calls to this point.
“That may be where we’re heading,” Price said of impeachment hearings, stopping short of a full-throated endorsement of that process.
“There’s nothing that’s going on right now that an impeachment inquiry would add to; the investigations that are going on now are exactly what they would be under an impeachment inquiry.”
That could change if it becomes apparent that certain documents will be obtained only through the impeachment process, “especially with the administration’s stonewalling,” the congressman added.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler announced last week his committee would file a lawsuit to obtain secret grand jury material not provided in the redacted version of the Mueller report that was released publicly. That information could help persuade the House to move forward with pursuing impeachment, Nadler said.
“There’s no question about [the president’s] misdeeds,” Price said. “And actually, before the Mueller report, I think we pretty much knew that; that this is a uniquely shameless and untrustworthy and unfit president.
“But the question of whether you go down that impeachment road is one that I think is a pretty tough call.”
Cover image file photo via Office of Congressman Price
You can listen to the full interview with Price below:
Well, hell, the damn liberal Dems said there was no crisis. That it was manufactured. Hypocrite much?