After visit to Texas detention centers, Pence calls allegations of mistreatment 'slanderous'

(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

published 13 July 2019

Vice President Mike Pence on Friday traveled to two federal migrant detention centers in Texas where he witnessed firsthand the extreme overcrowding migrants have to endure.

Pence said afterward that he had seen evidence of a "system that was overwhelmed." He acknowledged that "the crisis was real" in reference to illegal border crossings and legal asylum claims at the southern border, but he called allegations that detainees were mistreated by Customs and Border Protection "slanderous," arguing that he could see the agents' care and concern. However, footage from Pence's tour of the facility reportedly showed a group of men detained behind a chain link fence shouting that they did not have access to showers.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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