Navy pilot, combat veteran, and Oklahoma Congressman Jim Bridenstine, who sits on the House Armed Services committee, was denied entry to the Health and Human Services facility housing over 1,000 unaccompanied alien children at the Fort Sill military base in Oklahoma.
Appearing in an interview on Breitbart News Saturday with Editor in Chief of Breitbart News and host of the show Alex Marlow, Bridenstine recounted his experience on Wednesday when he visited the base to discuss military topics with the commanding general.
Afterward, the Congressman drove over to the area at the base where illegal alien detainees were being held. Immediately, he was thwarted from entering the holding area because of a surrounding, newly-built chain link fence blocking off the area. Other than the fence, Bridenstine said that the housing looked like a typical apartment complex, often seen on military bases. Marlow considered the incident ironic, saying “I thought America wasn’t good at building fences.” The Congressman replied that, for this administration, fences don’t work on our southern border, but they work on a military base.
The Congressman then drove around the fenced-off area, where unaccompanied illegal immigrant children are being held, looking for a security guard station or check in point. After driving around the barracks a couple of times, Bridenstine discovered that “there were no access points, all the gates were locked down tight, and there was no security person visible.” Finally, Bridenstine saw someone peering through a crack in the fence, so he walked over and introduced himself. “I’m United States Congressman Jim Bridenstine; I’m on the Armed Services committee; I represent the first district of Oklahoma, and I would very much like to speak to the person who runs this facility.”
The man behind the fence told Bridenstine to wait, while he made a phone call. He came back and told the Congressman, “We are not taking visitors.” Bridenstine made the man call again to emphasize that he was a “U.S. Congressman, and that this is federal property.” The security guard walked away and came back after making another call. He said, “If you want to take a tour, you can come back on July 21, and you need to work it through the office of the legislative liaison office of Health and Human Services.” Marlow reacted by calling the entire affair “mind-blowing.”
All this didn’t deter Bridenstine. When he got back home, he moved up the chain of command and made a phone call to the office of the communications director for HHS, Ken Wolfe. Wolfe’s assistant told him that the only way to contact him was by e-mail. Bridenstine observed, “Here is the president asking for $2 billion to expand the detainee program, and he won’t even let a member of congress view the facilities.”
The reason for the coverup, Bridenstine suspects, is that “They don’t want you to see the human suffering that has gone on because the law has been broken,” he added.
“The $2 billion is not for border security… the crisis that is ensuing is a direct result of failed federal policy. The policies are not deterring human trafficking; they are causing human trafficking. The prevailing wisdom in Central America is: If you come across the border with a child, you are far more likely to gain entry than if you don’t.” Unfortunately, the Congressman points out, one third of the children that come from Central America and try to cross the border are abused and raped.
Bridenstine admits that the crime is bad in Central America, but nothing has changed since he was there a couple of years ago. The only reason we are seeing an increase in illegal immigration is because the president “has advertised to the world that if you come, you’re going to get to stay.”