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.
Veteran-founded bourbon brand wins $25,000 Fox Business contest: ‘Sip to remember’
Trump issues pardon to former Republican congressman convicted of insider trading
The Way to Save Education Is Through School Choice
Christians Are Being Hunted Like Sport
Platner supporter Khanna calls Senate hopeful’s past relationships ‘toxic,’ but says he deserves ‘redemption’
Six Flags Bans Popular YouTuber ‘For Life’ After Viral Chicken McNugget Video
National Park Service ranger dies after falling into crevasse on Mount McKinley during climbing patrol
USDA Secretary Faces Lawsuit for Explicitly Christian Messages to Employees
Ex-CIA official stole $40 million in gold by making fake top-secret spy program
Top House Democrat says there’s ‘no way’ Platner didn’t know tattoo’s Nazi origins
Michigan athlete lured by Snapchat message before being shot, dumped in lake while still alive
Trump Offers Timeline for When Gas Prices Will Start Dropping Again
Former Indiana Rep Stephen Buyer receives full pardon from Trump for 2023 insider trading conviction
The Dubious Legal Theory That Could Make Life Even More Expensive For Americans
Trump moves to slash intelligence office ahead of permanent chief’s arrival
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.
Veteran-founded bourbon brand wins $25,000 Fox Business contest: ‘Sip to remember’
Trump issues pardon to former Republican congressman convicted of insider trading
The Way to Save Education Is Through School Choice
Christians Are Being Hunted Like Sport
Platner supporter Khanna calls Senate hopeful’s past relationships ‘toxic,’ but says he deserves ‘redemption’
Six Flags Bans Popular YouTuber ‘For Life’ After Viral Chicken McNugget Video
National Park Service ranger dies after falling into crevasse on Mount McKinley during climbing patrol
USDA Secretary Faces Lawsuit for Explicitly Christian Messages to Employees
Ex-CIA official stole $40 million in gold by making fake top-secret spy program
Top House Democrat says there’s ‘no way’ Platner didn’t know tattoo’s Nazi origins
Michigan athlete lured by Snapchat message before being shot, dumped in lake while still alive
Trump Offers Timeline for When Gas Prices Will Start Dropping Again
Former Indiana Rep Stephen Buyer receives full pardon from Trump for 2023 insider trading conviction
The Dubious Legal Theory That Could Make Life Even More Expensive For Americans
Trump moves to slash intelligence office ahead of permanent chief’s arrival
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.
