HOMESTEAD, Florida — Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) told demonstrators and the assembled media outside the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children that migrant children from Central America “had no choice but to come here” because climate change had ravaged their countries.
O’Rourke said that rising temperatures had created droughts, which made it more difficult for people to grow their own food. That, he said, forced them to undertake the arduous journey on foot to the U.S. border, and to cross illegally.
O’Rourke was the fourth presidential candidate to visit the protest outside the facility, where thousands of teenagers, most of whom arrived unaccompanied, are temporarily housed until they can be handed over to a sponsor in the U.S.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) was the first the protests: he was followed on Wednesday by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and then several other candidates decided to visit as well, turning the protests into something of a presidential pilgrimate. O’Rourke was preceded an hour before by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
O’Rourke, who was greeted and briefed by local activists, turned his visit into a rally, spending roughly half an hour atop a ladder overlooking the fence around the facility.
Graham Platner blasts new allegations as ‘false accusations’: ‘Maine, you have my back’
The Trump Effect: President’s Presence Turns NBA into NFL, At Least for a Night
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Pride flags removed, DEI back under fire, TV host’s Cali criticism
Platner shrugs off mounting controversies as ‘politically motivated’ and ‘false’ at rally
‘See you Monday’: Susie Wiles dismisses ‘Friday fiction’ she is eyeing White House exit
Trump expands TrumpRx prescription drug discount program to more than 800 medications
Sunny Hostin Admits She Hates America, Declares Country a ‘Failed Experiment’
Trump green lights new DNI Pulte to ‘start the process’ on mass intelligence firings
Forget Trump’s Bruised Hand – What Bobby Kennedy’s Hands Did in the ’68 Campaign Is 100x Worse – Yet the Media Adored Him
Virginia gun sales spike ahead of July 1 assault weapons ban signed by Gov. Spanberger
Platner’s Ex-Girlfriend Accuses NYT of Sanitizing Her Abuse Claims After Interview: ‘This Really Was a Set Up’
Former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra advances to California governor general election, AP projects
Paying for Klan Hoods, Cross Burnings, And an Imperial Wizard – The 6 Worst SPLC Sins Alleged in New Indictment
Report: Karmelo Anthony Has Visible Reaction as Intense Body Cam Footage Is Played in Court
Eric Schmitt rips Hirono over denaturalization bill: ‘You’re damn right we’re deporting’ criminals
Unlike other candidates, he was not content to peer over the fence, but delivered an impromptu speech.
“He who denies the stranger or the outcast, he also denies America,” O’Rourke said, citing Robert Kennedy.
“Instead of reuniting them [the teenagers] with their families, we are incarcerating them in tents in a for-profit facility with no oversight,” he added. He demanded that the Homestead facility, and every other like it, be shut down.
In Spanish, he declared: “We must reunite every boy and girl here with their family.”
He also urged the small crowd to wave to the teenagers inside the facility, barely visible in the distance, wearing bright orange caps.
Graham Platner blasts new allegations as ‘false accusations’: ‘Maine, you have my back’
The Trump Effect: President’s Presence Turns NBA into NFL, At Least for a Night
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Pride flags removed, DEI back under fire, TV host’s Cali criticism
Platner shrugs off mounting controversies as ‘politically motivated’ and ‘false’ at rally
‘See you Monday’: Susie Wiles dismisses ‘Friday fiction’ she is eyeing White House exit
Trump expands TrumpRx prescription drug discount program to more than 800 medications
Sunny Hostin Admits She Hates America, Declares Country a ‘Failed Experiment’
Trump green lights new DNI Pulte to ‘start the process’ on mass intelligence firings
Forget Trump’s Bruised Hand – What Bobby Kennedy’s Hands Did in the ’68 Campaign Is 100x Worse – Yet the Media Adored Him
Virginia gun sales spike ahead of July 1 assault weapons ban signed by Gov. Spanberger
Platner’s Ex-Girlfriend Accuses NYT of Sanitizing Her Abuse Claims After Interview: ‘This Really Was a Set Up’
Former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra advances to California governor general election, AP projects
Paying for Klan Hoods, Cross Burnings, And an Imperial Wizard – The 6 Worst SPLC Sins Alleged in New Indictment
Report: Karmelo Anthony Has Visible Reaction as Intense Body Cam Footage Is Played in Court
Eric Schmitt rips Hirono over denaturalization bill: ‘You’re damn right we’re deporting’ criminals
O’Rourke added: “Donald Trump has done this; its up to change who is in the White House going forward.” However, the facility was first opened under the Obama administration, and briefly closed before re-opening in March 2018.
Gayle Bouley, of Miami, arrived with her family to join the protest, carrying a sign with a yellow Star of David and the words, “Never again is now.”
Asked by Breitbart News if she supported comparisons between the migrant facilities and concentration camps, she said she did.
“I don’t know how look at how you look at it any other way,” she said, stressing that she was both a veteran and a Jew.
Story cited here.
