Border Official Says Migrant Facilities Are Stocked ‘Like Costco’ With Supplies

(Bloomberg) -- Emotions flared during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday after a picture of a migrant and his daughter who drowned trying to cross into the U.S. underscored the urgency for Congress to address the humanitarian crisis at the border.

Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, referenced the picture of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his 2-year-old daughter, lying face-down after drowning in the Rio Grande during the last stage of their journey from El Salvador to the U.S.

“I don’t want to see another picture like that on the U.S. border,” Johnson said.

The haunting photograph follows reports that hundreds of children in a Texas detention center were kept in inhumane conditions without proper food and sanitation. Officials in President Donald Trump’s administration have been warning for weeks that they are running out of resources to deal with the influx of migrants, many of whom are seeking asylum.

The Senate on Wednesday passed $4.6 billion in additional funds to address the humanitarian crisis. Lawmakers have little time to reconcile that bipartisan bill with the House version before they leave town this week for a July recess.

Leaders in the House and Senate are exploring ways to reconcile the two bills, and Trump has charged Vice President Mike Pence with representing the administration in the talks.

Migrant Facilities

Democrats in Wednesday’s hearing interrogated U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials on the treatment of migrant children within their custody.

Brian Hastings, head of border patrol law enforcement, said the actual situation is the complete opposite. Hastings said border patrol has increased food funding for migrants and that the facilities have storerooms with supplies that “frankly look like Costco.”

“We provide three hot meals a day and snacks are unlimited,” said Hastings. “I have seen agents on their own go out and purchase toys and bring in for the children to play with.”

CBP officials emphasized the need for extra funding to deal with human and drug trafficking issue at the southern border.

Republicans accused Democrats of blaming CBP instead of working on a bipartisan solution to control the border and reduce the number of migrants seeking to cross.

Senator Joshua Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, said Trump should “take every action that he possibly can within bounds of the law to address this crisis to secure the border because it is clear to me that this Congress will not act.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jarrell Dillard in Washington at jdillard11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anna Edgerton at aedgerton@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu

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