Migrant centers that have come under criticism by the media will be opened to visits by journalists, U.S. President Donald Trump foreshadowed on Sunday.
The president spoke after he was asked if he would visit the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Clint, Texas, that the New York Times and El Paso Times have recently covered.
His comments came after the two outlets on Saturday published an article alleging the Texas migrant shelter was filled with hundreds of children wearing filthy clothing and packed into disease-ridden cells – a story Trump called a “hoax”.
Trump told reporters in Morristown, New Jersey: “What we’re going to do is I’m going to start showing some of these detention centers … to the press.”
“I want the press to go in and see them,” Trump added, before declaring, “We’re going to send people in. We’re going to have some of the press go in.”
The president also took the time to expand on his reasons for opening the facilities to a generally hostile media, outling they were full for a reason.
“They’re crowded because people come up, but now thanks to Mexico it’s slowing down greatly,” he said. “But it is crowded, but we want to have the press go in and see,” Trump continued, decrying the Times as “fake news.”
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has previously attacked the facilities and posted on Twitter, “People (are) drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress.”
“I brought it up to their superiors,” the freshman Democrat wrote. “They said ‘officers are under stress & act out sometimes.’ No accountability.”
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador agreed last month to crack down on undocumented migration, deploying tens of thousands of National Guardsmen to tighten its borders after Trump threatened to impose tariffs.