Sen. Jeff Merkley denied entry into one migrant detention facility, claims he saw kids caged in another

Any adult should know that when some people have such power over others, there will be abuses if there is not very good oversight.
What are the people who run these centers trying to hide?

By Emily Tillett CBS News June 4, 2018, 2:15 PM

Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley tried to visit an immigration detention facility in Texas over the weekend, but was soon denied access into the building. This prompted questions about what's going on behind closed doors at some of the country's detention facilities amid concerns about the separation of children from their parents who have attempted to cross the border illegally.

Merkley live-streamed his arrival at a detention facility run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Brownsville, Texas on Sunday, which he said was housing children who had been separated from their families at the border. During Merkley's live stream, the senator introduced himself to guards outside the building, identifying himself as a member of Congress and asking for permission to enter. The windows at the facility appeared to be blacked out.

"I was barred entry," Merkley said. "Asked repeatedly to speak to a supervisor -- he finally came out and said he can't tell us anything. Police were called on us," he added in a tweet.

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Merkley's colleague, Sen. Bob Menendez tweeted in response to the senator's story, saying he shared a similar experience in being barred from gaining access to a detention facility. He said that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen "owes us answers."

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And amid uproar over the treatment of children who make it into the U.S. after being forced to part ways with their families, Merkley claimed in his interview with CNN that he witnessed kids in cages at a separate facility in McAllen, Texas.

"When I was at the center at McAllen Border Station, this is the processing center, earlier and I was admitted there and I did see the people, hundreds of children locked up in cages there at that facility," said Merkley, claiming that the federal government was "whitewashing" the challenges of the entrance system.

He added, "They have big cages made out of fencing and then wire and nets stretched across the top of them so people can't climb out of them."

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