U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner Robert Perez said Tuesday that while he's never seen the conditions Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described in a border center she and other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus toured, as a professional agency, the complaints will be examined.
"I've never heard in 26 years of being in this business have I ever heard that type of allegation being made," Perez told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" about claims the New York freshman Democrat made, including saying a migrant woman had told her that she was told to drink from a toilet if she wanted water.
"I can tell you with the utmost confidence, anyone and everyone in our custody at all of our facilities have ready access to fresh water," Perez said. "They have access to consumables. The standards that we apply to make sure that on a recurring and very timed basis, that not only they have access to the types of consumables and fresh water they would need, in between if they make those requests, our agents and officers are at the ready to provide those types of requests to them."
Ocasio-Cortez also said she felt threatened by the Border Patrol officers, and Perez responded that those types of allegations are taken "very, very seriously," as would claims that agents are using a private Facebook page group to post slurs about her and other lawmakers.
"If there is anything factual to any of these types of allegations we will get to the truth of it and hold people to account," said Perez. "I have never heard anything like that before."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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