Beto O’Rourke: Migrants ‘Had No Choice But to Come Here’ Due to Climate Change

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.

WATCH: Dems stand by Maine nominee hit with report he fathered children with his second cousin

Hawaii contractor nominated to construct GOP comeback after two-decade Democratic hold on governor’s mansion

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green cruises to Democratic primary win, sets up fall matchup with GOP nominee

Hawaii rep cruises to Dem primary win after challenger arrested for beach brawl

Trump’s 4th of July fireworks display on National Mall confirmed as largest in history

Florida man allegedly kills family’s kittens in front of teenage daughter as form of punishment: officials

Watch: WNBA Player Ejected After Nearly Taking Off Sophie Cunningham’s Head With Clothesline Maneuver

EXCLUSIVE: Teen girls recall Jersey Shore ride malfunction that left them stuck hanging upside down

Trump’s White House ballroom foes face ‘very tough argument’ at Supreme Court, legal experts say

Fauci in the congressional wringer: a test for Trump’s newly-minted Attorney General

Graham replacement hopefuls make final pitches before special election: Iran war, DSA, Flock cams and more

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to what the Senate did and didn’t do overnight

One year on, US-brokered peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan cements US foothold in the Caucasus

Joe Biden’s cancer has spread further, leaving him in ‘very painful’ condition, Hunter reveals

Florida business owners allegedly scattered 1,500 mothballs on beach to send endangered birds packing

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.