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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Vivian Ho in San Francisco (now) and Jessica Glenza in New York (earlier)

Court rules asylum seekers cannot be held indefinitely – as it happened

A man protests the treatment of asylum seekers held in immigration detention centers, in Overland Park, Kansas.
A man protests the treatment of asylum seekers held in immigration detention centers, in Overland Park, Kansas. Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP

Evening summary

  • A federal judge ruled Tuesday that asylum seekers cannot be detained indefinitely. The American Civil Liberties Union said that the ruling “will provide much-needed relief for people being detained in cruel and inhumane conditions while going through the asylum process”.
  • The National Park Service is diverting $2.5m in fees for President Trump’s Fourth of July extravaganza.
  • The 2020 census will be printed without the citizenship question, even though President Trump said yesterday that he was “looking into” delaying the census over the question. The question was blocked by the Supreme Court last week.

Court ruling: Asylum seekers cannot be detained indefinitely

National Park Service to divert $2.5m in fees for Trump's 4 July extravaganza

The Washington Post is reporting that the National Park Service is setting aside nearly $2.5m in entrance and recreation fees “primarily intended to improve parks across the country” to cover costs associated with President Trump’s Fourth of July celebration:

The diversion of the park fees represents just a fraction of the extra costs the government faces as a result the event, which also includes expansive displays of military hardware, flyovers by an array of jets including Air Force One, the deployment of tanks on the Mall and an extended pyrotechnics display. By comparison, according to former Park Service deputy director Denis P. Galvin, the entire Fourth of July celebration on the Mall typically costs the agency about $2m.

The White House is also distributing VIP tickets for Trump’s planned speech at the Lincoln Memorial to Republican donors and political appointees, prompting objections from Democratic lawmakers who argue the president has turned the annual celebration into a campaign-like event.

The Republican National Committee and Trump’s reelection campaign confirmed Tuesday that they had received passes they were handing out for the event.

Last month, Facebook launched a cryptocurrency called Libra. Today, Democrats on the House financial services committee sent a letter to the social media giant asking them to halt their plans:

If you, like me, still have no idea what Libra is, give this piece by Kari Paul and stop being confused:

White House responds to House Dems tax returns lawsuit

If you’ll rewind back to this morning, you’ll recall that House Dems sued the US Treasury for President Trump’s tax returns. The White House has responded:

President Trump said he intends to nominate Christopher Waller, an executive vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, to a seat on the central bank’s board of governors.

He also said he intends to nominate Judy Shelton to the board as well.

Updated

Make America France/Brazil/Turkey Again? The Associated Press is reporting that the supporters featured in campaign President Trump’s reelection campaign Facebook ads are actually models - and the video footage is produced as far away as France, Brazil and Turkey:

“Thomas from Washington,” featuring the bearded young man behind a coffee shop counter, appeared aimed at evangelicals, with the voice-over quote saying the president and his family are “in our prayers for strength and wisdom from God almighty.” ″AJ from Texas” seemed focused on Hispanic men. And “Tracey in Florida” was aimed specifically at a demographic in which Trump is historically weak — young women.

All are models for Turkish, Brazilian and French companies, respectively, that supply hundreds of photos and video to the popular site iStock run by Getty Images, which caters to publications, filmmakers and advertisers looking for professional, inexpensive imagery.

According to the site, licenses for the video clips used in the Trump ads can be had for as little as $170.

The blonde on the beach appears to be particularly prolific. Her photos and videos from the French company Tuto Photos in Roubaix, France, show her twirling in a wedding gown, walking spaniels in a meadow, getting her teeth checked at the dentist and working in a warehouse.

And the star of iStock’s “Bearded and tattooed hipster coffee shop owner posing” — also known as Trump’s “Thomas from Washington” — is a fixture on the videos and photos contributed by the company GM Stock out of Izmir, Turkey. His unmistakable beard and tats can be seen on the image site strolling with a woman on the beach, sitting by a campfire and pumping iron in the gym.

At least we’re not talking about the tanks anymore.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has made a statement on the 2020 census going forward without the citizenship question:

Almost 500 scholars signed an open letter to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, asking it to rethink its statement in which it rejected comparisons between migrant detention facilities and concentration camps.

The museum issued a statement saying that it “unequivocally rejects efforts to create analogies between the Holocaust and other events, whether historical or contemporary” after Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew ire for calling the detention facilities concentration camps.

As of 2:30pm, 492 scholars have signed the letter calling for the museum to retract its statement:

We are scholars who strongly support the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Many of us write on the Holocaust and genocide; we have researched in the USHMM’s library and archives or served as fellows or associated scholars; we have been grateful for the Museum’s support and intellectual community. Many of us teach the Holocaust at our universities, and have drawn on the Museum’s online resources. We support the Museum’s programs from workshops to education.

We are deeply concerned about the Museum’s recent “Statement Regarding the Museum’s Position on Holocaust Analogies.” We write this public letter to urge its retraction.

Scholars in the Humanities and Social Sciences rely on careful and responsible analysis, contextualization, comparison and argumentation to answer questions about the past and the present. By “unequivocally rejecting efforts to create analogies between the Holocaust and other events, whether historical or contemporary,” the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is taking a radical position that is far removed from mainstream scholarship on the Holocaust and genocide. And it makes learning from the past almost impossible.

The Museum’s decision to completely reject drawing any possible analogies to the Holocaust, or to the events leading up to it, is fundamentally ahistorical. It has the potential to inflict severe damage on the Museum’s ability to continue its role as a credible, leading global institution dedicated to Holocaust memory, Holocaust education, and research in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies. The very core of Holocaust education is to alert the public to dangerous developments that facilitate human rights violations and pain and suffering; pointing to similarities across time and space is essential for this task.

Looking beyond the academic context, we are well aware of the many distortions and inaccuracies, intentional or not, that frame contemporary discussions of the Holocaust. We are not only scholars. We are global citizens who participate in public discourse, as does the Museum as an institution, and its staff. We therefore consider it essential that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reverse its position on careful historical analysis and comparison. We hope the Museum continues to help scholars establish the Holocaust’s significance as an event from which the world must continue to learn.

The New York Times is reporting that the National Rifle Association is experiencing some turmoil. One of the group’s major benefactors is working with other to donors to withhold monetary contributions until the group’s chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, is ousted:

David Dell’Aquila, the restive donor, said the N.R.A.’s internal warfare “has become a daily soap opera and it’s decaying and destroying the N.R.A. from within, and it needs to stop.” He added, “Even if these allegations regarding Mr. LaPierre and his leadership are false, he has become radioactive and must step down.”

Until that happens, Mr. Dell’Aquila, a retired technology consultant who has given roughly $100,000 to the N.R.A. in cash and gifts, said he would suspend donations — including his pledge of the bulk of an estate worth several million dollars.

He said he was among a network of wealthy N.R.A. donors who would cumulatively withhold more than $134m in pledges, much of it earmarked years in advance through estate planning, and would soon give the gun group’s board a list of demands for reform.

That dollar figure could not be verified, however, and Mr. Dell’Aquila declined to provide a list of the other donors, who he said were not ready to go public. But a second prominent donor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is a senior firearms industry executive, said he was also suspending a plan to give more than $2m from his estate, as well as halting other donations, and was backing Mr. Dell’Aquila’s effort.

“The donors are rebelling,” the executive said, adding that he believed that the leadership turmoil was “helping to destroy, temporarily, the strength of the N.R.A. as one of the strongest lobbying groups.”

Updated

Another odd twist in the sudden cancellation of Vice President Mike Pence’s New Hampshire event today:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to President Trump about migrant children and their families on the border, and reiterating her desire to implement protections for them administratively.

In the letter, Pelosi “respectfully” suggests that the president takes “several important, immediate actions as proposed in the House legislation”:

  • The Department of Homeland Security establishes basic standards of care for individuals in the custody of US Customs and Border Protection, and that includes basic protocols for “medical assessments and emergencies; requirements for ensuring the provision of water, appropriate nutrition hygiene and sanitation needs; and standards for temporary holding facilities that adhere to the best practices for the care of children.”
  • The Department of Health and Human Services should ensure that no children remain at “influx shelters” for longer than 90 days.
  • Congress should be notified within 24 hours when a migrant child dies.

Read the letter in full here.

Hey all, Vivian Ho taking over for Kari Paul and Jessica Glenza. Happy Tuesday.

Kari Paul, logging off after a brief blog stint! Passing along to Vivan Ho.

Trump administration will go forward with 2020 Census without citizenship question

The Trump administration confirmed Tuesday the 2020 Census questionnaire will be printed without questions regarding citizenship status.

The administration was looking at delaying the census after the Supreme Court blocked a question regarding citizenship on the annual head count of people int he United States.

Hello readers, Kari Paul in San Francisco taking over the live blog for the next hour or so. Stand by for more news.

In a statement announcing hearings into the treatment of migrants held in detention facilities at the southern border, Representative Elijah Cummings has said the Trump administration has displayed “open contempt” of “basic human decency”.

More from Reuters:

The House Oversight Committee has scheduled a hearing next week on the separation and treatment of immigrant children and has launched an investigation into reports of offensive Facebook posts by border patrol officers, the panel said on Tuesday.

Cummings, the committee’s Democratic chairman, said the panel had invited Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan from the Department of Homeland Security and Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to testify on July 12.

“The Trump administration’s actions at the southern border are grotesque and dehumanizing,” Cummings said. “There seems to be open contempt for the rule of law and for basic human decency.”

A girl carries a doll at a #CloseTheCamps protest in front of US Senator Marco Rubio’s office in Florida, Tuesday.
A girl carries a doll at a #CloseTheCamps protest in front of US Senator Marco Rubio’s office in Florida, Tuesday. Photograph: Cristóbal Herrera/EPA

Treatment of migrants on southern border to be examined by House

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other House Democrats were shocked by the conditions in a Customs and Border Protection facility Monday evening, and the issue continued to dominate the agenda on Tuesday.

  • While Republicans have attempted to deter migrants from coming to the southern border, Democrats highlighted shocking conditions inside detention facilities.
  • Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called conditions “horrifying”, and later said CBP was a “rogue” agency.
  • A day earlier, ProPublica revealed a secret Facebook group of thousands of immigrations agents which featured lewd jokes and insults about migrants and Ocasio-Cortez herself.
  • CBP took Congress members’ phones at the gates of the detention facility. The chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas, smuggled a recording device into a detention facility so he could later tweet a video of the conditions.
  • By the end of the day, the Democrat-led House called a hearing on the treatment of migrant children for next week.

Also today...

  • President Trump tweeted that the Fourth of July celebration would have huge fireworks and flyovers. Those same celebrations would prompt temporary closure of Reagan airport in Washington DC. That had not been necessary in previous years.
  • Trump’s campaign also encouraged supporters to come to the July 4 celebrations at the National Mall, a move critics said showed the president was likely to politicize the Independence Day celebrations.
  • White House advisor Kellyanne Conway had a combative exchange with reporters, who she accused of tossing her a question akin to a “Molotov cocktail”. A government oversight agency recently recommended the Trump administration fire her for repeatedly violating the Hatch Act, which bars appointees from mixing campaigning with government business.
  • Vice President Mike Pence canceled an opioid roundtable to return to Washington DC. His staff said the cancelation was not related to health or national security, but has failed to quell speculation about why he was called back from the scheduled trip.

Democrat-led House to hold hearings on treatment of migrant children

This was an animating issue in last week’s Democratic Presidential debates – the private prison companies which run immigration detention facilities.

There are currently 52,000 migrants held in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement custody, and 71% of them are held in private prison facilities whose subcontractors are nearly impossible to track down, according to reporting from NPR.

If there’s one throughline between every single component part of the ICE detention system, it is opacity; it’s like intentional lack of transparency,” said Heidi Altman, director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center.

Quick reminder that today is the anniversary of passage and signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, barring discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

We have a new report from the Associated Press. Advocates for child migrants are suing the Trump administration to block a memorandum they say significantly curtails asylum rights. Here’s more:

Attorneys from Catholic Legal Immigration Network and Kids in Need of Defense are asking a federal judge in Maryland for a temporary restraining order benefiting all asylum seekers affected by the policy change. Their lawsuit claims the memo violates a 2008 law that protects children entering the U.S. without a parent or guardian.

USCIS spokesman Daniel Hetlage said in an email Tuesday that the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

If you want to follow the Women’s World Cup semi-final, do it here where we’re watching live.

As we get ready for the start of the USA v England Women’s World Cup semi-finals, now seems like the best time to highlight an article by star player Megan Rapinoe’s girlfriend, WNBA star Sue Bird, in Player’s Tribune. It is titled: So the President F*cking Hates My Girlfriend.

Fans hold up a sign in reference to Megan Rapinoe of the U.S. before the match.
Fans hold up a sign in reference to Megan Rapinoe of the U.S. before the match. Photograph: Benoît Tessier/Reuters

Rapinoe first gained attention, and the ire of some, for taking a knee during the national anthem in solidarity with protests from Colin Kaepernick, the NFL player who took a knee to protest disproportioate rates of police violence against African Americans.

Rapinoe gained attention again this year when she refused to sing the national anthem and said she would probably “never put my hand over my heart again” to protest a new by-law forcing players to stand.

So when she said in an interview she would not go to the White House if invited following the World Cup, Trump went after her on Twitter.

Bird described the “out-of-body experience” of having the President of the United States go after you on Twitter. Trump accused Rapinoe of being disrespectful, and predictably caused a cascade of take-downs from rightwing media.

Let’s jump into the middle with a long excerpt:

It would be ridiculous to the point of laughter, if it wasn’t so gross. (And if [Trump’s] legislations and policies weren’t ruining the lives of so many innocent people.) And then what’s legitimately scary, I guess, is like….. how it’s not just his tweets. Because now suddenly you’ve got all these MAGA peeps getting hostile in your mentions. And you’ve got all these crazy blogs writing terrible things about this person you care so much about. And now they’re doing takedowns of Megan on Fox News, and who knows whatever else. It’s like an out-of-body experience, really — that’s how I’d describe it. That’s how it was for me.

But then Megan, man….. I’ll tell you what. You just cannot shake that girl. She’s going to do her thing, at her own damn speed, to her own damn rhythm, and she’s going to apologize to exactly NO ONE for it. So when all the Trump business started to go down last week, I mean — the fact that Megan just seemed completely unfazed? It’s strange to say, but that was probably the only normal thing about it. It’s not an act with her. It’s not a deflection. To me it’s more just like: Megan is at the boss level in the video game of knowing herself. She’s always been confident….. but that doesn’t mean she’s always been immune. She’s as sensitive as anyone — maybe more!! She’s just figured out how to harness that sensitivity.

Back to the conditions at the border that US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described as “horrifying”.

Buzzfeed has interviewed two nurses in a south Texas hospital, who said children brought to them from Customs and Border Protection were at times so ill healthcare workers considered calling specialized rapid response teams to prevent cardiac arrest.

In another instance, a nurse said teenagers were so dehydrated “their lips are cracked”.

White House officials are still not giving a reason why Vice President Mike Pence’s canceled a trip to an opioid roundtable in New Hampshire. His chief of staff Marc Short is emphasizing the return was not for a health or national security concern.

Here’s Short, via David Smith, our reporter in Washington DC:

The vice president had a trip to New Hampshire today for an opiate event that we look forward to rescheduling probably a month out,” Short said at the White House.

“He was returned back to the White House but it was not for a national security issue and it’s not for any sort of health concern. He’s met the president; he’ll meet with him again probably this afternoon.”

Last week’s Democratic debates and new fundraising totals are likely to trigger another event in Washington – thinning of the Democratic presidential field.

Politico is reporting senior staff of former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper urged him to drop out of the race and consider running for Senate. Hickenlooper’s fundraising totals will make it difficult for him to qualify for debates this fall.

Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper may be one of the first Democrats to drop out of the race, after a Politico story revealed senior staff advised him to run for US Senate.
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper may be one of the first Democrats to drop out of the race, after a Politico story revealed senior staff advised him to run for US Senate. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Democrats must win the US Senate in 2020, or they are unlikely to accomplish significant policy goals even if they win the White House. A dozen Democrats in Colorado have already announced bids to oust Republican US Senator Cory Gardner.

Here is more from the Politico report:

The source said that the campaign only has about 13,000 donors, making it almost impossible to qualify for the next round of presidential debates in the fall. The campaign also only raised just over $1 million in the second quarter — about what he raised in the first 48 hours of his candidacy — and will likely run out of money completely in about a month.

At least five staffers have left or are leaving Hickenlooper’s struggling operation, including his campaign manager, communications director, digital director and finance director. Hickenlooper named a new campaign manager on Monday night.

The Hickenlooper campaign declined to comment for the Politico story, the outlet reported.

Let’s return quickly to something earlier in the blog – Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sander’s fundraising totals for the second quarter for 2019. He said he said he raised $18m from mostly small donations.

The Associated Press has just reported Presidential Trump’s fundraising totals for the second quarter: a mind-boggling $105m. The campaign already had a “whopping $100m on hand”.

More from AP here:

Campaign manager Brad Parscale says the total is “a testament to the overwhelming support” for Trump, who formally announced for reelection in June. Parscale says none of the Democrats who are competing for the right to challenge Trump in 2020 can match the president’s fundraising prowess or the level of enthusiasm for him.

The money was raised by the Trump campaign, Trump’s joint fundraising entities and the Republican National Committee.

Campaigns have until July 15 to report their fundraising totals to the Federal Election Commission, but many will release their end-of-quarter totals if the numbers are especially good.

While Trump did not raise as much money as his rival in 2016, he did go on to have the most expensive inauguration of all time, much of it financed by corporations and wealthy individuals.

In a combative interaction with the press about the Fourth of July holiday, White House advisor Kellyanne Conway accused a reporter of tossing a question, “like a Molotov cocktail”.

You took all of that just to have a negative, toss it at me like a Molotov cocktail, and hope you get to be on the nightly news tonight.”

Later in the gaggle, a reporter states they are asking her questions because, “We don’t have a press briefing so this is out chance to ask you for substance.”

Here is the full video from C-SPAN, and a short clip of Conway accusing reporters of “politicizing” the event below.

Texas US Representative Lloyd Doggett, a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, just released this statement on a Democratic lawsuit attempting to force the US Treasury to release Trump’s tax returns:

This long-overdue legal action is needed to keep this bad president from setting a bad precedent. It should not take a court order to affirm that ‘shall’ means ‘shall.’ But Trump will do what it takes to delay the inevitable, hiding his tax returns as long as he can. Republican silence and Democratic timidity will not produce the documents we need to ensure accountability. Trump must learn that no President can ignore laws he doesn’t like.”

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a staunch conservative, has just asked the head of the Department of Homeland Security to establish a process to accept donations for children in Customs and Border Protection’s custody.

Members of Congress said they found “horrifying” conditions in a CBP detention center on Monday.

I thus urge you to establish and publicize a process for accepting donations from charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, and NGOs to aid individuals in CBP custody,” Sen. Cruz wrote. “Even with the additional supplemental emergency funding [that Congress recently passed], I am confident that DHS and CBP can still use the generosity of the American people to help manage the humanitarian crisis on our border. Congress, Texans, and the American people thank you and your Department for your hard work in addressing this crisis.”

While most Americans are preparing to barbecue and relax on the Fourth of July, President Trump has promised “Incredible Flyovers & biggest ever Fireworks!” (sic).

Trump’s campaign emailed supporters this morning, inviting them to the celebration on the National Mall in Washington DC. Here’s more from the Associated Press:

Trump said Monday that tanks will be part of a special event he’s headlining Thursday to honor the military. An Associated Press photographer found at least two tanks and other military vehicles on flatcars in a railyard in southeast Washington.

Trump tweeted Tuesday: “Big 4th of July in D.C. ‘Salute to America.’ The Pentagon & our great Military Leaders are thrilled to be doing this & showing to the American people, among other things, the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World. Incredible Flyovers & biggest ever Fireworks!”

A worker washes one of two M1A1 Abrams tanks that are loaded on rail cars at a rail yard Tuesday in Washington, DC. President Trump asked the Pentagon for military hardware, including tanks, to be displayed during Thursdays July 4th Salute to America celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.
A worker washes one of two M1A1 Abrams tanks that are loaded on rail cars at a rail yard Tuesday in Washington, DC. President Trump asked the Pentagon for military hardware, including tanks, to be displayed during Thursdays July 4th Salute to America celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

More on Vice President Pence’s schedule change from his press secretary:

A little more perspective on some of the polls out today.

There are a lot of polls out today about which Democratic presidential candidates are doing well following last week’s debates. There are fewer polls about issues they discussed.

That is what makes this Morning Consult/Politico poll about Medicare-for-all so interesting. It finds a majority of voters would favor a government-run healthcare system (like the UK’s health system) if they were able to continue going to the same doctors and hospitals.

Only four of 20 candidates who qualified for the debate supported eliminating private insurance in favor of a government-run system. One of them was Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

These numbers only affirm what the senator has said many times: people don’t like insurance companies, they like their doctors and their hospitals,” Sanders’ campaign said of the data in an email to Morning Consult. “Despite what the pharmaceutical and insurance industries will tell you, Medicare for All is the only proposal that gives Americans the freedom to control their own futures — change jobs, start a family, start a business — and keep their doctor.”

The poll comes after another recent report on a huge increase in lobbying against Medicare-for-all. The number of registered lobbyists working against such a proposal rose from 29 in the first quarter of 2018 to 270 in the first quarter of 2019 – a nearly 10 fold increase, according to Public Citizen.

People with National Nurses United march in support of medicare for all outside the Democratic presidential debate in Miami.
People with National Nurses United march in support of medicare for all outside the Democratic presidential debate in Miami. Photograph: Lynne Sladky/AP

The Boston Globe is now Vice President Pence’s flight was diverted, but the situation was not an emergency.

The situation is developing and we still lack details about what canceled Pence’s event.

We have just gotten word an expected opioid roundtable in New Hampshire featuring Vice President Mike Pence was canceled so he could attend to an “emergency”.

Democrats in House sue US Treasury for Trump’s tax returns.

Trump has broken decades of presidential precedent by refusing to release his tax returns.

Updated

Washington DC’s Reagan Airport will suspend operations for more than two hours over the July 4 holiday for flyovers.

Bernie Sanders has raised $18m for his campaign in the second quarter of 2019. Most of those donations were for less than $100. The number on profession of donors were teachers.

With the July 4 holiday quickly approaching, Trump is being increasingly criticized for his handling of the celebration on the National Mall.

The president ordered military tanks to Washington DC for the event, his campaign emailed supporters, and gave away “VIP” tickets to political appointees and Republican operatives.

Following the Democratic debates last week, we are starting to see some of the first polls to reflect those performances. This one is taken among progressives.

A new poll conducted of supporters of Indivisible, a group that supports progressive candidates, has found supporters had favorable opinions of US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris after the first Democratic debates.

Just a note here about this poll – it is not as random sample. It was conducted among members of the Indivisible email list.

This is from Indivisible’s national political director María Urbina:

We asked Indivisibles to identify which candidates they are considering voting for and which they are definitely not. The results revealed that the historic candidacies of women, people of color and LGBTQ candidates are faring well among the movement and have plenty of room to grow as the field narrows. It also revealed that some of the presumed frontrunners may hit a ceiling with activists, given how many Indivisibles say they aren’t considering them at all.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to the media following the Democratic Debate in Miami, Florida.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to the media following the Democratic Debate in Miami, Florida. Photograph: UPI/Barcroft Media

Ocasio-Cortez: Customs and Border Protection 'a rogue agency'

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has just described Customs and Border Protection as a “rogue agency” following the Congressional tour of a detention facility yesterday.

Updated

On a tour of a detention facility in El Paso, Texas on Monday evening, members of Congress said they found shocking conditions.

Detainees told members of Congress they were forced to drink out of toilets because there was no water, that a woman had her medication changed at the detention facility, and that another woman needed medical attention for a lump on her neck.

Ocasio-Cortez: 'What we saw today was unconscionable'

Good morning and welcome to our politics liveblog. Today, all eyes are on the conditions at migrant detention facilities. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called conditions there “horrifying”.

After touring two camps in Texas, Ocasio-Cortez said: “What we saw today was unconscionable.” She went on: “The idea that we have to choose between people is a false notion. No child ever has to suffer for the benefit of another, and I will never accept that argument.”

As well, a secret Facebook group revealed by ProPublica shows that border agents insulting migrants and making sexualized threats against Ocasio-Cortez.

We’re also expecting to hear more about a roundtable on opioids held by Vice President Mike Pence and Democrats on the campaign trail.

Updated

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