Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is sharing footage of a Biden administration official who tried to prevent him from documenting the condition of a border facility where migrants are being held.
Cruz joined more than a dozen Republican senators on a trip to the border on Friday. They received a briefing on the situation and toured the Customs and Border Protection Facility in Donna, Texas.
In a tweet on Sunday, he shared a video of the official trying to block him from recording a video to document the condition in the facility.
He wrote, “How far is Joe Biden going to stop the American people from seeing inside the Donna CBP facility? Biden sent a political operative from DC to block our cameras and even threatened another senator to obstruct legitimate congressional oversight.”
The roughly one-minute-long video shows migrants in close quarters with foil blankets. However, the view of the conditions was soon obstructed by an adviser for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“Please give dignity to the people,” the adviser says as she tries to block Cruz’s camera.
The Texas senator responded, “So you work for the commissioner, you’re a senior adviser, you were hired two weeks ago, and you’re instructed to ask us to not have any pictures taken here because the political leadership at DHS does not want the American people to know it.”
“You keep standing in front of the picture. So you don’t want the pictures taken. The rules are arbitrary, and they’re designed to keep the American people in the dark,” he added.
Watch the video below:
How far is Joe Biden going to stop the American people from seeing inside the Donna CBP facility?
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 28, 2021
Biden sent a political operative from DC to block our cameras and even threatened another senator to obstruct legitimate congressional oversight. pic.twitter.com/vHT2U7Nh1z
Still, the adviser asked Cruz to “please give dignity and respect to the people.”
“This is not a zoo, sir. Please don’t treat the people as such,” she said.
Cruz fired back, “You’re right, and this is a dangerous place. Your policies are, unfortunately, trying to hide them. I understand that you were instructed… I respect them, and I want to fix this situation, and the administration that you work for is responsible for these conditions.”
He argued that the conditions in the facility were not respectful of the migrants being held there as he noted the close quarters the migrants were staying in amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The video comes as the Biden administration has faced criticism for a lack of press access to the border facilities.
During an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said officials are “absolutely committed” to providing press access to such facilities but declined to give a timeline for when reporters will be able to travel to the facilities.