'Very Humane': Sen. Tom Carper Discusses Trip To US-Mexico Border, Visit To Facility For Unaccompanied Migrant Children
WILMINGTON, Del. (CBS) -- A local lawmaker is speaking out about the crisis at the nation's southern border. It comes as the United States deals with a surge of migrants, many of them unaccompanied minors.
Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, a Democrat, recently visited with Border Patrol in West Texas. On Wednesday, Carper talked about what he saw and experienced.
"There's a sharing of responsibility here at the border," Carper said.
Carper's office shared images of the Democrat meeting this week with border patrol agents near El Paso, Texas. That's where Carper also visited a facility for unaccompanied migrant children.
"We were in a facility that can take care of 5,000 kids," he said. "Very humane. Clothes, showers, health care, food, the ability to play outside. It's pretty amazing what they've done there."
Speaking Wednesday outside of Wilmington's Latin American Community Center, the senator acknowledged the trip comes as the Biden administration faces criticism for its handling of the border -- 170,000 migrants were apprehended in March, a 70% increase from February.
"People say, 'Why should we care about the people, the condition they're in down there, what's this on us?' We are complicit in their misery," Carper said. "We are complicit in their misery."
Carper adds the children he saw traveled many miles to the United States to search for a better life.
"These kids, a lot of them are on their own," Carper said.
Carper says he wants to advocate to have ambassadors in countries that currently have none like Honduras.
