During the CNN-New York Times’ Democrat debate on Tuesday night, former HUD Secretary Julián Castro claimed, without evidence, that President Donald Trump is “caging kids” at the United States-Mexico border while freeing terrorists of the Islamic State (ISIS).
“Think about how absurd it is that this president is caging kids on the border and effectively letting ISIS prisoners run free,” Castro said. There has yet to be any evidence, though, to back up the accusation.
Over the last year, illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border had increased significantly, leaving federal immigration officials with increasingly less space to detain and hold migrants. In response, the Trump administration enacted a “Remain in Mexico” policy that returns adult border crossers and the children they arrive with at the border back to Mexico while they await their asylum process.
Last year, the Trump administration enforced its zero-tolerance policy to stop the flow of illegal adult border crossers from arriving at the country with minor children. The separation of adult border crossers from the children they arrive with has occurred since before 2001, court records have shown, and the Obama administration used the same detention centers that are currently being used.
Detaining child border crossers was a policy during the Obama administration, and Breitbart Texas exclusively reported on the conditions in which unaccompanied minors were being packed into crowded cells and holding facilities.
As Breitbart News has noted, Health and Human Services (HHS) centers — where unaccompanied minors are often sent — feature comfortable living conditions.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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