Congressman Jeff Denham Denied Entry Into Facility For Migrant Children Under 14

According to reports, Congressman Jeff Denham was denied entry into a facility for migrant children under 14. He was informed earlier he would be able to tour the premises, something he had been trying for over a week, the Sacramento Bee reported.

On Monday Denham was left frustrated outside the brown featureless facility strung with Christmas lights, in Pleasant Hill, San Francisco, California, thought to be run by a nonprofit organization contracted by the government.

Accompanied by cameras, the Congressman kept knocking on the door as he waited for several minutes, before asking the security guard if employees inside were aware of his presence. Eventually, he was let to know the employees had been instructed not to answer the door or converse with Denham.

According to Denham, the facility houses immigrant children, separated from their parents, aged 13 and younger. Denham believes there are 25 kids in the facility now.

“They knew that we were coming,” the Congressman said, according to the Sacramento Bee. “We knew cameras most likely wouldn't be allowed in, but if they wanted to show the conditions, and what a lovely facility they run, then why wouldn't they want people to come in and report on it?”

“Obviously, we want to know the plan to reunify those kids back with their parents,” he added.

Dunham said he had co-ordinated with the Trump administration to gain access to the facility. He can be heard in video footage of the incident saying, “We confirmed with both HHS and let our counterparts at the White House know that we were coming.”

The Congressman spoke to ABC7 over the phone and said, “I want transparency. This is a federally funded facility.”

“If you've got nothing to hide, I'd think you would want not only members of Congress to see, who are actually trying to write new laws to fix the situation, but I'd think you'd want the media to know as well. We want to make sure safety comes first for these kids,” he added. “Their living conditions are critical to how the rest of the world views the United States.”

The facility houses children for an average of 47 days.

Meanwhile, the White House Twitter account condemned Democrat senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California on Monday for calling for a replacement of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Being interviewed on MSNBC’s “Kasie DC,” Harris said: “I think there’s no question that we’ve got to critically reexamine ICE, and its role, and the way that it is being administered, and the work it is doing.”

“And we need to probably be thinking about starting from scratch because there's a lot that is wrong with the way that it is conducting itself,” the senator added.

“@SenWarren, why are you supporting criminals moving weapons, drugs, and victims across our nation’s borders? You must not know what ICE really does,” a tweet from the official White House account read.

Similarly, “@SenKamalaHarris, why are you supporting the animals of MS-13? You must not know what ICE really does,” another said.