10 July 2019, Senator Schumer discusses immigration policy enforcement as it pertains to the US-Mexico border Full title quote: “it is abundantly clear that there is a toxic culture at Border Patrol that can only be changed—only be changed—by the immediate firing and replacing of top leadership at the Agency. CBP needs to clean house. The top people at CBP ought to be fired now.”
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“Mr. President, a new report from NBC News last night detailed the inhumane treatment of migrant children at the Arizona border stations: allegations of sexual assault, retaliation by Customs and Border Protection officers, overcrowding, lack of showers, lack of clean clothes, and lack of space to sleep. The accounts made by dozens of children at these facilities are horrifying and are completely unacceptable.
In the wake of several similar reports about the treatment of migrants by CBP officers in Texas, in the wake of revelations of secret Facebook groups where Border Patrol officers joke about the horrid treatment of migrants, it is abundantly clear that there is a toxic culture at Border Patrol that can only be changed--only be changed--by the immediate firing and replacing of top leadership at the Agency. CBP needs to clean house. The top people at CBP ought to be fired now.
In just a few days on the job, Mark Morgan, the Acting Commissioner, has already shown himself to be far too callous about the way in which children and their families are treated. We need committed law enforcement professionals to take over the CBP, particularly those who have training and expertise in working with vulnerable populations.
There are rumors that Mr. Morgan was chosen because he is a tough guy--a tough guy--on kids. But he is a tough guy who will tolerate an out-of-control culture in many parts of the CBP.
It is a perfectly wrong choice for what is going on there. I will say this to President Trump. He is not going to help you. Whatever Americans' views are on immigration, they don't like pictures of little children in squalid and awful conditions, whoever they are.
The Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, who oversees CBP, needs to take this matter into his own hands. He has shown far more balance, far more expertise, and far more ability to talk about the truth--not some ideology--than Morgan or some of the others. He should take this matter into his own hands and pursue changes to the Agency that go beyond mere investigations and reports.
CBP needs a real change in personnel and in leadership, and it needs it now. The reports by NBC News and many others are a stain on this great Nation. We are not perfect. We are a lot better than most everyone else. But in the past, when there was a problem, we didn't revel in it; we tried to solve it. We cannot allow what is happening at the border to continue.“
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