While House speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) continues to face criticism for a tone-deaf tweet, Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) is spending Father’s Day leading a march on Tornillo, Texas, where the Trump administration plans to hold 360 migrant children, many of whom were forcibly separated from their families in a “tent city.”
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union program, O’Rourke, who is Ted Cruz’s Senate challenger in this November’s election, discussed the troubling scene at the “tent city” outside of El Paso:
On #CNNSOTU with @jaketapper @BetoORourke describes his visit to the tent structure holding immigrant children who were separated from their families in Tornillo, Texas https://t.co/v2Lzqbpml4
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) June 17, 2018
O’Rourke also explained the thinking behind Sunday’s Father’s Day march:
“This is on all of us. And that’s why we’re marching to Tornillo today, to bear witness so that everyone in America knows that this is going on. I hope to produce the outrage and the public pressure to force those in power to do the right thing.”
Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who is running for Senate in Texas, says the process of separating families is “inhumane. I’d like to say it’s un-American, but it’s happening right now in America. And it’s on all of us, not just the Trump administration” https://t.co/kSkxtixb38
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 17, 2018
Despite Republicans’ total control of the government and President Donald Trump’s demand that any changes to his government’s new family separation policy would require concessions from Democrats to fund his border wall, O’Rourke remains confident that Americans won’t tolerate ripping children away from their parents:
Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke at the border: “I think the American people are going to force us to do the right thing, that always happens in America … I’m confident that the American people this time are going to get it right” https://t.co/iV9gxsIZEg https://t.co/nPg1mcTf0g
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 17, 2018
On Thursday, the Trump administration announced it was moving forward with a tent city in Tornillo to hold migrant children. White House officials have struggled to justify Trump’s new “zero tolerance policy.” Trump continues to blame Democrats for his family separation policy even though his claims are not backed up by reality.