DALLAS (NewsNation Now) — Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas visited a temporary detention facility in Dallas amid the continued political divide on how to respond to the migrant situation at the southern border.
Cruz called on President Joe Biden to let the media accompany him on his Monday visit to the detention facility.
“This is a humanitarian crisis, it is a national security crisis, and it is a public health crisis,” Cruz said shortly after the tour. “They’re [migrants] not six feet apart and they’re not three feet apart. They are lying on the floor … there are no beds.”
He previously toured the U.S.-Mexico border with a delegation of 19 Republican Senators Thursday. Cruz said media was not allowed on the tour.
The White House said this weekend it was working on getting the media access to the Border Patrol facilities temporarily holding thousands of migrant children.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to provide a specific date for when the media will get access to Border Patrol facilities but said Sunday the Biden administration was committed to transparency and “we’re working to get that done as soon as we can.”
President Biden addressed the crisis during his first news conference last week. He defended his handling of a rise in migrants arriving at the border, saying the vast majority are turned back and that some families had been allowed into the country because Mexico would not accept them.
“If you take a look at the number of people who are coming… the vast majority are being sent back… thousands… tens of thousands,” Biden said. “They should all be going back.”
Biden also said the increase in arrivals was part of a seasonal trend and happened under former President Donald Trump.
“All the policies that were underway were not helping at all,” he said.
More than 16,000 unaccompanied children were in government custody as of Thursday, including about 5,000 in substandard Customs and Border Protection facilities.