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DHS Bans Democrats from Visiting Border Facilities

Members of the House Oversight Committee have already toured border facilities once and were scheduled to have a second visit in upcoming days.

That visit, however, has been canceled by the Department of Homeland Security because of how “disruptive” members of the visiting delegation were during their last visit.

Not Welcome

It is not exactly a secret Democrats have feelings of contempt for anyone working at the border.

We have all heard them compare these agents to Nazi’s working concentration camps.

It is not exactly a surprise that the contempt came through during the visit and that the lawmakers were both “rude” and had “interfered” with operations.

After hearing that DHS had forbidden the lawmakers from returning, Democrats started their own conspiracy theory as to why this ban is now in place.

They believe they uncovered facts about the border facilities DHS did not want to be known, so now they are being blocked from further exposing the problems at the border facilities.

That, however, is not what DHS officials told Fox News.

A DHS official stated, “Due to the operational burden placed on the field by their refusal to comply with instruction during last week’s STAFFDEL [staff delegation visit], CBP pulled the trip in which more site visits were to take place at CBP and ICE facilities this week.

“DHS communicated to the committee that due to their conduct, CBP could not support visits from the committee this week.”

That view is backed up by a letter that had been sent to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, after the committee members visited the facilities the first time.

That letter stated, “During discussions between Department and Committee staff, however, the Committee staff repeatedly stated that they do not intend to abide by DHS guidelines. In light of this, we are unable to accommodate your staff’s visit … unless we receive a firm commitment that the Committee and its staff will comply fully with all existing guidelines and policies.”

Democrats, of course, are refuting the facts listed in the letter to Cummings.

One aide responded, “The real news here is that the Department of Homeland Security abruptly canceled future inspections and denied Committee investigators access to 11 CBP facilities as soon as Committee investigators began confirming with detainees some of the very same problems identified by the independent Inspector General. It appears that the Ranking Member [Jordan] would rather defend the Trump Administration than conduct meaningful independent oversight.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican agreeing with the concerns of DHS cited several reasons why the future visit is being canceled:

“DHS asked the Committee to abide by the instructions of DHS personnel on the ground and to respect the significant operational interests of the border facilities visited. Unfortunately, at your apparent direction, Democrats refused to listen to law-enforcement instructions and made demands at the facilities ‘against the express written notice DHS had provided earlier.’”

He further stated, “One aspect missing from your staff travel to date has been any interest in the well-being of, or resources provided to, the brave men and women who serve to secure our border.

“Several Border Patrol agents told us the nasty rhetoric from Democrats in Congress—one Member of this committee even likened them to Nazis—hurts morale and makes some agents reluctant to tell people what they do for a living.”

This will no doubt be a powder keg for the Trump administration at a time when Trump is being attacked from just about every angle imaginable.

However, if the concerns of DHS are accurate, this is the correct decision, as our elected representatives and their staff cannot impede normal operations during these visits.

Whether the media sees that point is another matter altogether.

Source: Fox News

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