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.
NYPD officers save choking 2-year-old boy, bodycam video shows
Government shutdowns may be fewer, but they’re increasingly disruptive
Trump considers legal action against Michael Wolff and Epstein estate after latest document release
What Tyler Robinson’s defense wants hidden and why prosecutors and media say no in court
‘Christ or Chaos’: Former Pastor of Invaded Minneapolis Church Has a Message for America
How Activists Embed Leftist Ideology in K–12 Schools
Deputy attorney general says ‘I don’t know’ why Gabbard was present at Georgia FBI raid
Senate Republicans push for House GOP rebellion against funding package, voter ID legislation
From Rodney King to Spitting and Kicking Alex Pretti, the Left’s Flawed Hero Worship Never Changes
Former Planned Parenthood Worker Gives Haunting Account of Her Past Work
Melania Trump’s $8 million opening best documentary debut in over 10 years
What Trump’s next pick to lead the Federal Reserve means for your wallet
Hunter S. Thompson suicide ruling stands firm after 20-year review by Colorado investigators
The Left Doesn’t Care About Children, They Care About Using Them Because They Know You Care So Much
Black Pastor Gives Don Lemon a Warning After Storming Church: ‘Don Lemon, Don’t Come Here’
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.
NYPD officers save choking 2-year-old boy, bodycam video shows
Government shutdowns may be fewer, but they’re increasingly disruptive
Trump considers legal action against Michael Wolff and Epstein estate after latest document release
What Tyler Robinson’s defense wants hidden and why prosecutors and media say no in court
‘Christ or Chaos’: Former Pastor of Invaded Minneapolis Church Has a Message for America
How Activists Embed Leftist Ideology in K–12 Schools
Deputy attorney general says ‘I don’t know’ why Gabbard was present at Georgia FBI raid
Senate Republicans push for House GOP rebellion against funding package, voter ID legislation
From Rodney King to Spitting and Kicking Alex Pretti, the Left’s Flawed Hero Worship Never Changes
Former Planned Parenthood Worker Gives Haunting Account of Her Past Work
Melania Trump’s $8 million opening best documentary debut in over 10 years
What Trump’s next pick to lead the Federal Reserve means for your wallet
Hunter S. Thompson suicide ruling stands firm after 20-year review by Colorado investigators
The Left Doesn’t Care About Children, They Care About Using Them Because They Know You Care So Much
Black Pastor Gives Don Lemon a Warning After Storming Church: ‘Don Lemon, Don’t Come Here’
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.
