Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said the House debate on the border package late last week did not reflect what he saw on a trip to Texas and Mexico at the start of the August recess.
McGovern expressed frustration with Capitol Hill’s inability to send a funding package to President Obama’s desk for leaving for the five-week August break.
{mosads}”I am angry that Congress adjourned for the August recess without providing our agencies with the resources they need to do their jobs and carry out our laws,” McGovern said.
McGovern said the Friday night debate on the slimmed-down $694 million funding bill and measure to scale back the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) program did not line up with what he actually saw at the border.
“I am also frustrated and angry by last Friday’s debate in the U.S. House of Representatives that distorted and demonized the situation on the border,” McGovern said. “That debate did not address the reality I witnessed or the needs and concerns I heard expressed.”
The Massachusetts Democrat spent two days in McAllen, Texas and Reynosa, Mexico visiting migrant shelters and meeting with Customs and Border Protection officers.
McGovern said the child migrants should be offered protection upon entering the U.S. and given a chance to stay.
“As a father, it was heartbreaking to see these kids in small, crowded holding cells. They are not criminals. They are children and families in need of protection,” McGovern said.