The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is suddenly permitting Congress to visit a Texas immigration detention center at the Joint Base San Antonio Lackland Tuesday morning, according to Fox News.
The permission comes after HHS denied Oklahoma GOP Rep. Jim Bridenstine access to Fort Sill, which is another facility where unaccompanied immigrant children are being housed. Bridenstine said he was told he would have to wait until July 21.
Bridenstine voiced his suspicions: “Any member of Congress should have the legal authority to visit a federal youth detention facility without waiting three weeks. What are they trying to hide? As a Navy pilot, I have been involved in operations countering illicit human trafficking. I would like to know to whom these children are being released.”
HHS has issued restrictive rules for the Lackland tour similar to those of other tours, including no recording devices, no interaction with staffers and the children, and no questions until after the tour is over.
Suspicions have arisen that those in charge of the immigration policies of the federal government are keeping information private about the status of the huge influx of immigrants in order to conceal the severity of the problem.
Some members of Congress were invited to see the Ventura County Naval Base immigrant facility in Oxnard, California, on June 12. At least 50,000 children among thousands of other young immigrants have crossed into the United States this year, largely from Central America. This week protesters in Murrieta made buses carrying illegal immigrants return whence they came.
Next week, Barack Obama is expected to put Congress on the spot by asking for $2 billion in aid to deal with the influx of immigrants.
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