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.
FAA ground stop timeline: Weekend chaos grounds planes and postpones games
North Korean Hackers Hijacked US Employee Webcams to Steal Hundreds of Millions – The FBI Just Put a Stop to It
Duffy: Investigators examining 2 routers after nationwide FAA ground stop, no signs of foreign cyberattack
These AI Startups Want To Predict Your Moves, Speak For The Dead — And ‘Take Your Jobs’
Blue-Collar Electrician Sues Soros-Linked NGOs and Activists for Allegedly Sabotaging Data Center Jobs and Costing Him Work
Pennypinching Over Student Lives? Fiery Crash Killed 15-Year-Old – Lawsuit Says School Ignored Safety Warnings to Score ‘Very Cheap’ Vans
Buttigieg takes swipe at Trump administration amid FAA flight chaos
NYC DSA urges AOC to run for president while planning to take over City Council
Congress’ incoming wealthiest member vows to crack down on politicians getting rich in office
Virginia parents charged after house party draws hundreds of teens, fireworks and alleged underage drinking
OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney moved to new prison, listed as minimum custody inmate: records
Murders plunge in US cities as Americans reclaim their streets from thugs
Trump’s top officials retreat behind military gates as ex-FBI deputy points to what’s fueling threats
Dem Senator Who Called for RFK Jr to ‘Resign or Be Fired’ Is Backed By Big Pharma
Inside Senate GOP’s tense post-election reckoning as Thune clashes with Republican critics
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.
FAA ground stop timeline: Weekend chaos grounds planes and postpones games
North Korean Hackers Hijacked US Employee Webcams to Steal Hundreds of Millions – The FBI Just Put a Stop to It
Duffy: Investigators examining 2 routers after nationwide FAA ground stop, no signs of foreign cyberattack
These AI Startups Want To Predict Your Moves, Speak For The Dead — And ‘Take Your Jobs’
Blue-Collar Electrician Sues Soros-Linked NGOs and Activists for Allegedly Sabotaging Data Center Jobs and Costing Him Work
Pennypinching Over Student Lives? Fiery Crash Killed 15-Year-Old – Lawsuit Says School Ignored Safety Warnings to Score ‘Very Cheap’ Vans
Buttigieg takes swipe at Trump administration amid FAA flight chaos
NYC DSA urges AOC to run for president while planning to take over City Council
Congress’ incoming wealthiest member vows to crack down on politicians getting rich in office
Virginia parents charged after house party draws hundreds of teens, fireworks and alleged underage drinking
OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney moved to new prison, listed as minimum custody inmate: records
Murders plunge in US cities as Americans reclaim their streets from thugs
Trump’s top officials retreat behind military gates as ex-FBI deputy points to what’s fueling threats
Dem Senator Who Called for RFK Jr to ‘Resign or Be Fired’ Is Backed By Big Pharma
Inside Senate GOP’s tense post-election reckoning as Thune clashes with Republican critics
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.
