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Yvonne Nieves of El Paso, Texas demonstrates in front of the U.S. Border Patrol facility where lawyers reported that detained migrant children were held unbathed and hungry on June 27, 2019 in Clint, Texas. The protesters attempted to deliver water and diapers to the facility but the front door was locked. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described the "horrifying" conditions she witnessed on Monday in a series of live tweets as she and other congressional Democrats visited migrant detention facilities in Texas.
The New York congresswoman was part of a delegation of 21 lawmakers organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and co-led by Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas.
The group is slated to make stops at three separate facilities, one of which is the Clint site, where a team of laywers recently visited and detailed dangerous and inhumane conditions faced by imprisoned migrant children.
The lawmakers' visits took place the same day as A.C. Thompson reported at ProPublica on a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents--boasting roughly 9,500 members--in which participants depicted lewd images of Ocasio-Cortez, joked about the death of a migrant in custody, and, referencing the planned congressional visits, referred to Ocasio-Cortez and women in the group as "hoes" and bitches."
Ocasio-Cortez helped bring attentin to the conditions inside the concentration camps by live-tweeting along the way. She noted the ProPublica reporting, saying it was evidence of a "violent culture."
"How on earth can CBP's culture be trusted to care for refugees humanely?" she asked.
The sexually threatening images the Facebook group posted of her, said Ocasio-Crotez, were in line with the way the detained migrant women were treated. "Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets," she wrote. "This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress."
Her tweets follow:
\u201cWe just landed in El Paso last night with several other members of Congress to tour migrant camp facilities.\n\nMeanwhile in McAllen, this is the scene (via @Reuters) \u2b07\ufe0f\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1561987548
\u201cThis just broke: a secret Facebook group of 9,500 CBP officers discussed making a GoFundMe for officers to harm myself & Rep. Escobar during our visit to CBP facilities & mocked migrant deaths.\n\nThis isn\u2019t about \u201ca few bad eggs.\u201d This is a violent culture. https://t.co/SkFwThHElx\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1561997503
\u201c9,500 CBP officers sharing memes about dead migrants and discussing violence and sexual misconduct towards members of Congress.\n\nHow on earth can CBP\u2019s culture be trusted to care for refugees humanely?\n\nPS I have no plans to change my itinerary & will visit the CBP station today.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1561997503
\u201cThere are 20,000 TOTAL Customs & Border Patrol agents in the US.\n\n9,500 - almost HALF that number - are in a racist & sexually violent secret CBP Facebook group.\n\nThey\u2019re threatening violence on members of Congress. How do you think they\u2019re treating caged children+families?\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562000207
\u201cJust left the 1st CBP facility.\n\nI see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me.\n\nOfficers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets.\n\nThis was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562005970
\u201cNow I\u2019ve seen the inside of these facilities.\n\nIt\u2019s not just the kids. It\u2019s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress.\n\nI brought it up to their superiors. They said \u201cofficers are under stress & act out sometimes.\u201d No accountability.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562006555
\u201cAfter I forced myself into a cell w/ women&began speaking to them, one of them described their treatment at the hands of officers as \u201cpsychological warfare\u201d - waking them at odd hours for no reason, calling them wh*res, etc.\n\nTell me what about that is due to a \u201clack of funding?\u201d\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562006950
\u201cNow I\u2019m on my way to Clint, where the Trump admin was denying children toothpaste and soap.\n\nThis has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We\u2019re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562006950
\u201cWhat\u2019s haunting is that the women I met with today told me in no uncertain terms that they would experience retribution for telling us what they shared.\n\nThey all began sobbing - out of fear of being punished, out of sickness, out of desperation, lack of sleep, trauma, despair.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562015288
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described the "horrifying" conditions she witnessed on Monday in a series of live tweets as she and other congressional Democrats visited migrant detention facilities in Texas.
The New York congresswoman was part of a delegation of 21 lawmakers organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and co-led by Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas.
The group is slated to make stops at three separate facilities, one of which is the Clint site, where a team of laywers recently visited and detailed dangerous and inhumane conditions faced by imprisoned migrant children.
The lawmakers' visits took place the same day as A.C. Thompson reported at ProPublica on a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents--boasting roughly 9,500 members--in which participants depicted lewd images of Ocasio-Cortez, joked about the death of a migrant in custody, and, referencing the planned congressional visits, referred to Ocasio-Cortez and women in the group as "hoes" and bitches."
Ocasio-Cortez helped bring attentin to the conditions inside the concentration camps by live-tweeting along the way. She noted the ProPublica reporting, saying it was evidence of a "violent culture."
"How on earth can CBP's culture be trusted to care for refugees humanely?" she asked.
The sexually threatening images the Facebook group posted of her, said Ocasio-Crotez, were in line with the way the detained migrant women were treated. "Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets," she wrote. "This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress."
Her tweets follow:
\u201cWe just landed in El Paso last night with several other members of Congress to tour migrant camp facilities.\n\nMeanwhile in McAllen, this is the scene (via @Reuters) \u2b07\ufe0f\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1561987548
\u201cThis just broke: a secret Facebook group of 9,500 CBP officers discussed making a GoFundMe for officers to harm myself & Rep. Escobar during our visit to CBP facilities & mocked migrant deaths.\n\nThis isn\u2019t about \u201ca few bad eggs.\u201d This is a violent culture. https://t.co/SkFwThHElx\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1561997503
\u201c9,500 CBP officers sharing memes about dead migrants and discussing violence and sexual misconduct towards members of Congress.\n\nHow on earth can CBP\u2019s culture be trusted to care for refugees humanely?\n\nPS I have no plans to change my itinerary & will visit the CBP station today.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1561997503
\u201cThere are 20,000 TOTAL Customs & Border Patrol agents in the US.\n\n9,500 - almost HALF that number - are in a racist & sexually violent secret CBP Facebook group.\n\nThey\u2019re threatening violence on members of Congress. How do you think they\u2019re treating caged children+families?\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562000207
\u201cJust left the 1st CBP facility.\n\nI see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me.\n\nOfficers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets.\n\nThis was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562005970
\u201cNow I\u2019ve seen the inside of these facilities.\n\nIt\u2019s not just the kids. It\u2019s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress.\n\nI brought it up to their superiors. They said \u201cofficers are under stress & act out sometimes.\u201d No accountability.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562006555
\u201cAfter I forced myself into a cell w/ women&began speaking to them, one of them described their treatment at the hands of officers as \u201cpsychological warfare\u201d - waking them at odd hours for no reason, calling them wh*res, etc.\n\nTell me what about that is due to a \u201clack of funding?\u201d\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562006950
\u201cNow I\u2019m on my way to Clint, where the Trump admin was denying children toothpaste and soap.\n\nThis has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We\u2019re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562006950
\u201cWhat\u2019s haunting is that the women I met with today told me in no uncertain terms that they would experience retribution for telling us what they shared.\n\nThey all began sobbing - out of fear of being punished, out of sickness, out of desperation, lack of sleep, trauma, despair.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562015288
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described the "horrifying" conditions she witnessed on Monday in a series of live tweets as she and other congressional Democrats visited migrant detention facilities in Texas.
The New York congresswoman was part of a delegation of 21 lawmakers organized by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and co-led by Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas.
The group is slated to make stops at three separate facilities, one of which is the Clint site, where a team of laywers recently visited and detailed dangerous and inhumane conditions faced by imprisoned migrant children.
The lawmakers' visits took place the same day as A.C. Thompson reported at ProPublica on a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents--boasting roughly 9,500 members--in which participants depicted lewd images of Ocasio-Cortez, joked about the death of a migrant in custody, and, referencing the planned congressional visits, referred to Ocasio-Cortez and women in the group as "hoes" and bitches."
Ocasio-Cortez helped bring attentin to the conditions inside the concentration camps by live-tweeting along the way. She noted the ProPublica reporting, saying it was evidence of a "violent culture."
"How on earth can CBP's culture be trusted to care for refugees humanely?" she asked.
The sexually threatening images the Facebook group posted of her, said Ocasio-Crotez, were in line with the way the detained migrant women were treated. "Officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets," she wrote. "This was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress."
Her tweets follow:
\u201cWe just landed in El Paso last night with several other members of Congress to tour migrant camp facilities.\n\nMeanwhile in McAllen, this is the scene (via @Reuters) \u2b07\ufe0f\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1561987548
\u201cThis just broke: a secret Facebook group of 9,500 CBP officers discussed making a GoFundMe for officers to harm myself & Rep. Escobar during our visit to CBP facilities & mocked migrant deaths.\n\nThis isn\u2019t about \u201ca few bad eggs.\u201d This is a violent culture. https://t.co/SkFwThHElx\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1561997503
\u201c9,500 CBP officers sharing memes about dead migrants and discussing violence and sexual misconduct towards members of Congress.\n\nHow on earth can CBP\u2019s culture be trusted to care for refugees humanely?\n\nPS I have no plans to change my itinerary & will visit the CBP station today.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1561997503
\u201cThere are 20,000 TOTAL Customs & Border Patrol agents in the US.\n\n9,500 - almost HALF that number - are in a racist & sexually violent secret CBP Facebook group.\n\nThey\u2019re threatening violence on members of Congress. How do you think they\u2019re treating caged children+families?\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562000207
\u201cJust left the 1st CBP facility.\n\nI see why CBP officers were being so physically &sexually threatening towards me.\n\nOfficers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets.\n\nThis was them on their GOOD behavior in front of members of Congress.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562005970
\u201cNow I\u2019ve seen the inside of these facilities.\n\nIt\u2019s not just the kids. It\u2019s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress.\n\nI brought it up to their superiors. They said \u201cofficers are under stress & act out sometimes.\u201d No accountability.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562006555
\u201cAfter I forced myself into a cell w/ women&began speaking to them, one of them described their treatment at the hands of officers as \u201cpsychological warfare\u201d - waking them at odd hours for no reason, calling them wh*res, etc.\n\nTell me what about that is due to a \u201clack of funding?\u201d\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562006950
\u201cNow I\u2019m on my way to Clint, where the Trump admin was denying children toothpaste and soap.\n\nThis has been horrifying so far. It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We\u2019re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562006950
\u201cWhat\u2019s haunting is that the women I met with today told me in no uncertain terms that they would experience retribution for telling us what they shared.\n\nThey all began sobbing - out of fear of being punished, out of sickness, out of desperation, lack of sleep, trauma, despair.\u201d— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1562015288