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.
Kansas Senate rivals distance themselves from party leaders in fiery debate
Omar Wouldn’t Say For Sure Her Ex-Husband Wasn’t Her Brother: ‘Not to My Knowledge’
Omar Wouldn’t Say For Sure Her Ex-Husband Wasn’t Her Brother: ‘Not to My Knowledge’
Mass firings vow sparks clash with Klobuchar over Walz fraud legacy
Trump dominates El-Sayed’s attacks against Rogers, but GOP rival offers unexpected policy split
Trump warns Democrats ‘want to burn it all down’ in South Carolina pitch
Abdul el Sayed, Mike Rogers clash over MAGA, Muslim Brotherhood in final Michigan Senate debate
ICE crackdown divides swing state candidates as GOP nominee vows to mandate sheriff cooperation
Florida attorney accused of threatening to shoot ICE agents while trying to buy gun
Did Vivek Ramaswamy Go Too Far? Some Republicans Object as He Doubles Down on Controversial Attack Ad
Is ‘Ilhan Omar’ a Fake Name? New Court Filing Identifying Omar’s Alias Has Americans Questioning Her Real Name
El-Sayed erupts at GOP rival over Muslim Brotherhood accusations in fiery Senate debate
California Driver Crashed While Watching X-Rated Content – Police Say She Killed a Retired Sunday School Teacher
DOJ urged to investigate Slotkin over threats to young professionals seeking work in Trump administration
Retired NYPD detective charged with murder in George Washington Bridge shooting of Con Ed worker: officials
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.
Kansas Senate rivals distance themselves from party leaders in fiery debate
Omar Wouldn’t Say For Sure Her Ex-Husband Wasn’t Her Brother: ‘Not to My Knowledge’
Omar Wouldn’t Say For Sure Her Ex-Husband Wasn’t Her Brother: ‘Not to My Knowledge’
Mass firings vow sparks clash with Klobuchar over Walz fraud legacy
Trump dominates El-Sayed’s attacks against Rogers, but GOP rival offers unexpected policy split
Trump warns Democrats ‘want to burn it all down’ in South Carolina pitch
Abdul el Sayed, Mike Rogers clash over MAGA, Muslim Brotherhood in final Michigan Senate debate
ICE crackdown divides swing state candidates as GOP nominee vows to mandate sheriff cooperation
Florida attorney accused of threatening to shoot ICE agents while trying to buy gun
Did Vivek Ramaswamy Go Too Far? Some Republicans Object as He Doubles Down on Controversial Attack Ad
Is ‘Ilhan Omar’ a Fake Name? New Court Filing Identifying Omar’s Alias Has Americans Questioning Her Real Name
El-Sayed erupts at GOP rival over Muslim Brotherhood accusations in fiery Senate debate
California Driver Crashed While Watching X-Rated Content – Police Say She Killed a Retired Sunday School Teacher
DOJ urged to investigate Slotkin over threats to young professionals seeking work in Trump administration
Retired NYPD detective charged with murder in George Washington Bridge shooting of Con Ed worker: officials
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.
