Sen Jeff Merkley asked to leave when visiting a facility believed to be housing children taken....

[Roland99]

https://www.facebook.com/jeffmerkley/videos/10155510407061546/

This was live just a few min ago on Facebook

Sen Jeff Merkley visited a southwest keys program facility in an old Walmart bldg where children taken from immigrant parents are believed to be held

Doors and windows were blacked out

Supervisor refused to talk to Sen Merkley. Only referred him to a DC phone number

202-402-9215

Local police were called. Sen Merkley was eventually asked to leave and he complied

This is TRUMP’s America!

[bluestarone]

1. What a RUMP world we are living in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Total BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Maraya1969]

21. Someone on the FB chat said the company name was SouthWest Key Programs. Here is their site

http://www.swkey.org/

So it is not just about being mean to people trying to escape from danger it is also about making money.

Here is their contact information. I wonder what the chance that this group is connected to Trump et al

6002 Jain Lane, Austin, TX 78721
[phone]
[phone] (fax)

Also:

If you are a member of the media and have a request regarding Southwest Key's Unaccompanied Minor program, you must go through the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Public Affairs, at [phone].

[Hortensis]

39. Good post! This is a Republican administration product

and a huge clue for Republican voters to the kind of people who've taken over their party. Probably only half of them are able to satisfy themselves that terrorizing brown-skinned children to spite and terrorize their parents into not coming is a good thing.

Big cheers to Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley for going and throwing attention on this place and issue. For those Republicans who are troubled and need to be more troubled.

[gademocrat7]

2. This is a travesty.

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. OMG!! OMG!!! OMFG!!!!

Edited to add after a moment of cooldown.

If true, this is fucking outrageous. A US Senator being refused access to a government facility? By a fucking supervisor? Please, someone tell me this is not true. They had better be getting a court order right this minute to search this facility.

[Crash2Parties]

25. But that's the "beauty" of how the GOP does things - it's a private facility.

Not a government facility at all. And accountable only to the office/agency that signs the contract.

[Achilleaze]

43. RepubMart. Inc. (R)

The republicans are showing their real "family values" here. You cannot trust a damn thing they say.

[avebury]

46. The Democrats should push to deauthorize any

payments to a for profit facility housing children.

If they want to be paid, then they have to allow Federal oversight, including the admission of UD Senators and Representatives.

Hopefully the ACLU will sue the pants off of all these for profit places.

[Roland99]

50. It's a non profit. 501(c)(3)

http://www.swkey.org/about/overview/

But I would hope their books and history are reviewed with a fine-tooth comb!

[avebury]

56. They ought to lose their 501(d)(3) status.

There has to be some way to hold them accountable for their actions. It seems like they are nothing more than a Trump styled Concentration Camp.

The Democrats really need to start perpetually comparing Trump, his minions and the Rethugs in Congress to the Hitler Government and how we are sliding down into becoming the 21st Century version of Nazi Germany.

[Duppers]

32. My thought also: Court Order! NT

[mountain grammy]

4. This is a United States Senator..

I hope Merkley persues this. WTF is going on in there?

[Scurrilous]

5. K&R

[blogslut]

6. kick

[riversedge]

7. I'm at an immigration detention center where children who have been separated from their families ar

I was just going to post this.



Senator Jeff Merkley
‏Verified account @SenJeffMerkley

I’m at an immigration detention center where children who have been separated from their families are being held. Trying to get inside to get answers. Follow live >>> https://www.facebook.com/jeffmerkley/videos/10155510407061546/ … #FamiliesBelongTogether #KeepFamiliesTogether

Link to tweet

🎀𝕄𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕪
🎀
‏ @VirtuallyMisty
23m23 minutes ago
Replying to @SenJeffMerkley

Thank you, Senator Merkley. Amazing how not being able to see, seeing the reaction, says way too much about this.
#KeepFamiliesTogether
0 replies 0 retweets 5 likes

🌊
❄#resist
❄
🌊
‏ @JulzResists
23m23 minutes ago
Replying to @SenJeffMerkley

Thank you for doing what the cowardly, spineless GOP thinks is beneath them. ❤❤❤
0 replies 1 retweet 6 likes

WonderWoman #RESISTS your misogyny. #FightItAll
‏ @AlsoWonderWoman
24m24 minutes ago

Replying to @SenJeffMerkley

Thank you for going there and trying to get some answers. #persist
0 replies 2 retweets 6 likes

Lana
‏ @itsmelanad
43m43 minutes ago

Replying to @SenJeffMerkley

Thank you!!!
0 replies 0 retweets 5 likes

New conversation
Jan Porter
‏ @janatTyMetrix
25m25 minutes ago

Replying to @SenJeffMerkley @Lawrence

Good for you Senator. Hope all your Senate colleagues will do the same.

[RandomAccess]

8. More like Nazis every damn day

OUTRAGEOUS

[nolabear]

9. I was watching. It should be national news.

Every responsible politician in this country should mount or support efforts to get in where those kids are.

[Wellstone ruled]

10. Ka-Boom!!!

Watch for this to gain legs in the next couple of days.

[ProudLib72]

16. I hope so!

If Merkley pushes this, it could get really ugly really fast. That is exactly what needs to happen.

[Wellstone ruled]

20. Senator Merkley we stir this hornets nest

and it will not be pretty for the Trumpers. Especially Sessions. There is no love lost between these two.

[erronis]

11. Please don't use facebook for a way to exchange information!

Many of us can't and won't get on that site.

I know many of you will tell me to get over it, get on with the data collection program. Go for it if that's what you and your friends want to do.

Don't make it a way for important information such as congressional transactions to be conveyed.

[csziggy]

14. The link was to Sen. Merkley's Facebook page

It was his choice to use it to share his experience. Complain to him if you don't like it.

[nini]

26. you could just google that senators name and find the same info

It took me about 10 seconds to find the story. Faster than it took you to type that comment.

[we can do it]

33. This deserves a post of its own.

[Blue_Adept]

36. Your post would be more helpful with offering up alternative links instead

of trying to shame people.

[Oppaloopa]

40. I agree. This should be on CNN repeatedly until something is done.

[pnwmom]

68. When the Senator himself posted this, he was getting ZERO media attention.

I know because I googled for this over the course of several hours yesterday, and the news media universally ignored it.

If the Senator gets publicity now it will be because of the Facebook post.

[llmart]

47. Just because you don't use Facebook...

doesn't mean millions of other people don't. If our so-called media won't report on stuff like this, then we need to use anything and everything to get the information out.

[pnwmom]

67. When it is from a real source, like the Senator, and the media won't cover it

we SHOULD post messages like this.

And you CAN see it because the SENATOR posted it PUBLICLY.

[demmiblue]

12. Ripped away from their parents and warehoused at an old Walmart building.

That is where we are right now.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Sen. Merkley for your vigilance.

[Maraya1969]

13. It's so dark in there!!!!

I can't believe there are children in there without their parents!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DemocracyMouse]

23. IT. IS. TORTURE. ...and it IS an international war crime.

Taking innocent children from their parents and keeping them in a blacked out building is nothing less than "cruel and unusual punishment."

It is a war crime.

We must rally. Now.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

15. Wait a minute

Who called the police on the junior senator from Oregon ? Did they know who he was ? What, exactly, did the police department say to him ? Did they threaten him ? Did he have a security detail with him at the time ? More importantly, WHY did he leave ?

Sir, you are a U S Senator. You have every right to access a government building (unless security demands some higher protocol). You also have an obligation to uphold the Constitution and the laws of this nation. If you suspected that some illegal activity was occurring, why did you leave ? What could the locals have possibly done to you ? Arrest you ? Why not call an immediate press conference right there ?

Sir, I beg of you, AND your collegues, PLEASE someone has GOT to stand up to this dictatorship and their terrorism on immigrant children.

These children have human rights that are being denied with impunity. This has GOT TO STOP. This is NOT who we are.

[Roland99]

18. It's a bldg run by a "non-profit" apparently contracted to "manage" these kids

[lunasun]

29. Imagine the number of perverts who are managing the kids . What screening process?

We will never know

[Marthe48]

22. Personal safety

Even if he had a security detail, don't forget how insane people are getting. Your post made me think of Jonestown, when Rep. Leo Ryan was murdered, along with 3 journalists and one of the people trying to leave the temple. Rep. Ryan was trying to negotiate a release of people who wanted to leave. And he was gunned down at the airport by a Jones supporter who posed as someone wanting to leave.

Rep. Merkley is making public what happened and how he was treated. He is a Senator and he should have access, and those people who stopped him need to explain what they are hiding. But Se. Merkley isn't going to help if he is dead.

I agree with you 100% that trump's government is treating these children vilely and the dictatorship needs to end before it roots any deeper in American soil. I hope he is condemned by the UN.

[keithbvadu2]

17. Donald won't let them in the open?

Now, where would Donald get such an idea?

[SunSeeker]

24. K & R for exposure.

[BigmanPigman]

27. Holy shit!

I'd better hear about this from his fellow senators. This is not my country. I don't know what the Hell it is, but this is definitely NOT America.

[RockRaven]

28. This highlights the importance of having a Senate majority

These assholes would have to appear before a Senate committee and answer questions under oath about their actions if the Dems were in the majority. Do everything (appropriate) you can do to get every Dem Senate candidate elected.

[lunasun]

30. ++++ A zillion

[Roland99]

38. Yes! This!

[llmart]

48. Why weren't there more than one Dem Senator?

He should have garnered more support of people to go with him. Where are the other Dem Senators?

[McKim]

31. Spreading this All Over Oregon

This is the most outrageous thing I have heard about the Trump government. I am spreading this all over Oregon. Is it still on the front page at DU? it should be on the front page of The NY Times tomorrow.

[Guilded Lilly]

34. K & R This cannot be allowed to continue!!!! SOULLESS

[demmiblue]

35. YouTube video for those who do not want to go to Facebook:

The video on FaceBook is longer (@25 minutes)

[DeminPennswoods]

37. Next time he should bring Obama with him

nt

[dlk]

41. Unfortunately, They are Just Getting Started

[Achilleaze]

42. republicans hiding their ugly, unBiblical War on Families ?

I mean, republicans talk all the time about their so-called family values, but here we see them in action.

Watch what the republicans do, not what they say. They are rank hypocrites & liars.

[kcr]

44. It is Trump's America. Time to wake up.

No one's conflating anything or spreading fake news. It really is that bad. I hope some people who were wagging fingers a few days ago see this.

[Hortensis]

45. CNN's doing a long segment now on it, showing him

outside the center. The interviewer is ex-Fox conservative liar Alisyn Camerota, so she prefaced her appropriate question about their not letting him in with a lengthy "I understand why they wouldn't let a strange man in" spin.

Camerota: "Well, look, I understand that you think this is overly punitive and cruel from Jeff Sessions and from President Trump, HOW-EH-VER, in terms of having to take care of undocumented and unaccompanied minors showing up,..."

Evil witch. She seemingly hoped to catch him out in claiming he'd actually seen children in cages, but he had the day before at the McAllen border station. They'd been given space blankets to sleep on concrete with.

Senator Merkley: Not the zero tolerance the Trump administration claims, "This is zero humanity..."

Space blanket, picture from Golden Needle medical supply company, $7.98:



"EMS mylar blanket creates barrier to fluids and wind. Insulating. Extremely lightweight. Chrome color. Great for keeping patients warm while on the treatment table."

Or concrete floors.

CNN follows this segment with one on Bill Clinton "facing tough questions about his impeachment scandal," the bar showing "BILL CLINTON ON WHETHER HE APOLOGIZED TO MONICA LEWINSKY."

[kentuck]

49. Add this to the list:

Can pardon anyone. Can pardon himself. Can fire Special Counsel. Can prevent Congressional oversight. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[MineralMan]

51. Here's a link to a federal document regarding these detention centers

and requests to visit them. Clearly, they do not want visitors at all. Congressional committees need to be looking into these places and inspecting them, I think:

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/resource/children-entering-the-united-states-unaccompanied-section-5#5.1

Anyone wanting to discuss this officially with anyone should get familiar with this document.

[Roland99]

52. I see ORR can make 1-2 site visits/mo. Unannounced and announced

But are the monitoring reports public? What transparency is there to ensure proper care (food, medicine, heating/cooling, sleeping conditions, education, etc?)

[MineralMan]

55. I have no idea, really.

There needs to be some serious Congressional oversight, with inspections.

[mr_lebowski]

53. Trump could literally sign an EO ordering the kids sold to Traffickers and 1/2 the proceeds being

deposited directly into the Trump 2020 campaign, and the 'family-values' MAGAts would all whoop and cheer, saying shit like "that'll teach them swine to try to come to MY MURKA all sneaky and illegal-like ... I stand with TRUMP! SELL ALL THEM KIDS, Donald! You deserve that money, too, for all you do to Make Murka GREAT AGAIN !!! MAGA!!! Trump 2020!"

[not fooled]

62. Lordy

Careful there with your librul 'magination--we don't want to be giving these evil MOFOs any ideas.

[Enoki33]

54. The callous disregard for humanity is frightening. If innocent children

are merely the starting point, from what dark level of depravity are we as a nation going to emerge? Proud to have Jeff Merkley as my Senator. Look for him to follow up on this.

[packman]

57. A U.S. Senator denied entrance - unbelievable

Don't give a damn he was a Dem or Repuke or Independent - for Christ's sake, he's one in a hundred lawmakers in this country in one of four branches of government.
What thugs we have hiding secrets.

[MariaCSR]

58. As to ve expected....zero coverage on CNN.

god dammit.

[Roland99]

59. See post #45

[zentrum]

60. I think a legal case

…can be made for kidnapping. Abduction and kidnapping.

Democrats need to be all over this. Screaming to the rafters. These kids must be seen, ASAP.

[douglas9]

61. Cages used to imprison migrants and water protectors in the United States

This photo is of The Cage, the sweltering inhumane outside detention center used by the US Border Patrol on the Tohono O'odham Nation in the Sonoran Desert, where temperatures can surpass 115 degrees in summer.
When Mohawks came here in 2007, they were joined by Lenny Foster, Dineh, who said this was no more than a "dog cage."
This cage was not operating the last time we were there, but these cages are still used, to cage migrants, as they were used by Morton County, North Dakota, Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier to cage Standing Rock Water Protectors who were jailed for praying for the water.
The Mohawk Warriors found it hard to believe that the Tohono O'odham tribal government allowed the US Border Patrol to be present on their land, and to carry out horrific abuses against migrants and Tohono O'odham.
Today, the cages are used in private prisons to cage migrants, including children, and the US Border Patrol is considered an "occupying army" by many O'odham, as agents carry out horrific abuses on the Tohono O'odham Nation.


Photo copyright Ofelia Rivas, O'odham
Article copyright Brenda Norrell


https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-cage-on-tohono-oodham-nation-us-dog.html

[geretogo]

63. The Brown shirts are living in America . Heil Hitler ! What country do we escape to ?

[gtar100]

64. Kicking this story again...did you see the blacked out windows?

Did you hear them? They do not deny that place is holding children. What a sick nation this has become. The police are upholding laws that are upholding atrocities. They have the authority to do this based solely on a threat of violence against anyone wanting to find out what's going on. There's no "moral" authority there. What are they hiding? What are they doing to those children? What kind of people have they hired who are willing to cage children in a warehouse with windows blacked out? What the fuck is wrong with these people? And what are they doing to those children?

What are they doing to those children!

[Warren_Pointe]

65. Wasn't the right-wing conspiracy machine pushing this a decade ago?

Oh yeah, they were worried that they would be hauling away white gun owners and holding them in abandoned wal-marts. Their outrage has turned into a wet dream.

Let the gulaging of America begin.

[tblue37]

66. The legislative power is supposed to be equal to the executive! nt

[Roland99]

69. Menendez apparently tried a similar attempt with similar results. DHS needs to answer!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senator-jeff-merkley-barred-brownsville-texas-detention-center-refugee-children-2018-06-04/

[Stuart G]

70. K and R....nt

[Roland99]

71. 'Reckless' Sen. Merkley 'spreading blatant lies' in failed attempt to enter immigrant detention ctr

Headline from Faux re: white house response

Not linking to that crap.

[Amaryllis]

72. He sent this email out this AM and is asking people to sign his petition:

Just posted this in separate thread - please K and R for visibility:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210694181


Yesterday, I was in Brownsville, Texas. I went to visit an immigration detention center housing children who have been separated from their families.

When I arrived, I was barred entry. The police were called on me.
What are they hiding?

Sign the petition: tell Donald Trump to immediately reverse this inhumane policy and reunite these families.
https://www.jeffmerkley.com/petition/family-separation/e/

America is better than this. The policies of the Trump administration — conducted in our names — are inhumane and unacceptable.

Imagine the horror these children are feeling when they're ripped from their parents' arms. Imagine not knowing when you'll see your family again.

I won't stop speaking out until these children are reunited with their families. Please join me. We must be heard.

Sign my petition right now.

Jeff