Speaking to the press on Wednesday, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott blasted the Biden administration after allegations surfaced that immigrant children were being sexually abused at a federal detention facility in San Antonio, Texas. Abbott snapped, “These problems are a by-product of President Biden’s open border policies and the lack of planning for the fallout from those disastrous policies.” The Biden administration, the governor said, “is now presiding over the abuse of children.”
“Earlier today, The Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services separately received tips that allege child abuse and neglect at the federal government’s Child and Migrant facility at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio behind me,” said Gov. Abbott. “These problems are a by-product of President Biden’s open border policies and the lack of planning for the fallout from those disastrous policies.”
“Complaints that were sent to these state agencies include the following four things: Children at this facility are being sexually assaulted. Second, there are not enough staff to safely supervise the children at this facility. Third, some children in this facility are not eating throughout the day. And fourth, children with COVID are not being physically separated from children without COVID,” Abbott continued.
“In short, this facility is a health and safety nightmare,” Abbott charged. “The Biden administration is now presiding over the abuse of children. To end this abuse, the Biden administration must immediately shut down this facility. The children who are in this facility should be moved to other federal-run facilities where the federal government has space, personnel, and resources to ensure their safety.”
“While we wait on the Biden administration to act, I am directing the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers to immediately begin investigating these allegations,” Abbott promised. “That investigation will be headed by Richard Henderson; he is the Senior Texas Ranger lieutenant taking the Department of Public Safety lead on this investigation.”
“The Biden administration has caused this crisis and has repeatedly failed to address it,” Abbott stated. “The Biden administration opened borders; the administration failed to plan for the influx of children they invited to come. Now they face allegations of despicable child abuse and neglect.”
“This must end,” he said bluntly. “The Biden administration must act now. This facility should shut down immediately; the children should be moved to better-staffed and better-secured locations, and Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas Rangers must immediately investigate allegations of child sex abuse.”
Answering a question from a reporter, Abbott stated, “The complaints were received by two separate state agencies this morning. … As you may know, they were required by law to pass that on to the appropriate legal authority, which they did.”
He asserted, “The Biden administration has already said they have other locations across the entire country. Certainly they must have locations that have better staff, better safety measures, situations where children would not be subject to abuse like this.”