Conspiracy Theory Proven Fact as Cops Remove Senator from Walmart Converted into Detention Center

 

In 2015, Snopes  attempted to fact-check “rumors” that “began to swirl in April 2015  when several Walmart stores around the U.S. were abruptly closed due  what Walmart claimed were “plumbing problems.“ Walmarts in Pico Rivera,  CA, Livingston, TX, Midland, TX, Brandon, FL, and Tulsa, OK, all  suddenly closed their doors, with Walmart corporate announcing that some  of those outlets would be shuttered for six months or more. 

We now  know, even though Snopes has not updated its web page, that at least one  of those Walmarts is a detention center to house children of immigrant  families. U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) attempted to enter the converted  Walmart in Brownsville, TX to inspect the living conditions of immigrant  children who had reportedly been separated from their parents and were  rumored to be kept in cages and concrete floors of the converted  Walmart. Merkley streamed live on social media his attempt to enter the  facility but was denied entry by Homeland Security.

All the windows and doors to the facility—which is a shuttered  Walmart—have been blacked out with window tinting. Merkley arrived and  was immediately asked to leave by a female government worker. One of the country’s most powerful lawmakers then demanded to speak  with a supervisor. Instead of complying with his wishes in the name of  transparency, the shadowy government workers called Brownsville police  on the U.S. Senator. After 10 minutes of waiting and being confronted by  local police, he was denied entry and forced to leave.   Later, in a Facebook live video, Merkley remarked: 

When an organization has something to hide, not allowing  members of congress to see it, in a democracy, is completely  unacceptable…What’s going on is an effort to prevent the press from  being able to report to the American people what is happening. And  that’s simply unacceptable.

Later on in the video he added: 

So far, as far as we know, no member of Congress has actually been allowed to see what’s going on with this program.

The detention facility is run by Southwest Key Programs, who promptly  issued an apology to the Senator from Oregon on Wednesday for  disallowing Merkley entry to its converted Walmart on Padre Island  Highway in Brownsville. The statement reads: 

We regret having to turn away Senator Merkley at our Casa  Padre shelter. The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) prohibits  any facility from allowing visits that have not been approved by them,  even if it is a U.S. Senator. With ORR approval, Southwest Key shelters  have welcomed elected and other public officials at our facilities in  the past, and will continue to do so, because we are proud of the caring  environment we provide these children. We have reached out to the  Senator and connected with his staff because we would like to see this  happen.

After the video began gaining traction, the White House lashed out at  the senator, claiming that he is “spreading blatant lies” about the  reality of the situation. “Senator Merkley is irresponsibly spreading blatant lies about  routine immigration enforcement while smearing hardworking, dedicated  law enforcement officials at ICE and CBP,” deputy White House press  secretary Hogan Gidley told Fox News.

“He voted against closing the ‘catch-and-release’ loopholes used by  child smugglers, and his reckless open borders policies are responsible  for the permanent separation of thousands of American families who have  been forced to bury their loved ones,” Gidley added.

 “No one is taking a  public safety lecture from Sen. Merkley, whose own policies endanger  children, empower human smugglers and drug cartels, and allow violent  criminal aliens to flood into American communities.” What’s more, DHS press secretary Tyler Houlton said Merkley was  actually able to visit the facility—in spite of the video showing  otherwise. 

“At 2pm on a Friday, the Senator asked to visit a secure DHS facility  over the weekend where children are present and we worked with him to  provide him access,” Houlton said. “This presented obvious and serious  privacy concerns – not to mention disrupting operations. He was able to visit the facility on Sunday.” 

That never happened. According to Merkley, however, he says that he’s actually been inside  another one of these facilities in which he witnessed hundreds of  children being kept inside cages. “When I was at the center at McAllen Border Station, this is the  processing center, earlier and I was admitted there and I did see the  people, hundreds of children locked up in cages there at that facility,”  Merkley said in an interview with CNN. 

“They have big cages made out of  fencing and then wire and nets stretched across the top of them so  people can’t climb out of them.” After the White House issued the statement on Merkley allegedly  spreading lies, Merkley Communications Director Ray Zaccaro fired back  and insisted the White House be more transparent on what’s going on with  these children. 

“The White House is smearing Senator Merkley because they can’t  defend their indefensible policy of snatching children from their  parents,” Zaccaro said. 

"Senator Merkley and his staff saw children in  cages yesterday at the DHS processing center. We still have no idea  what’s happening in the detention center where reportedly up to a  thousand children are being held, since they refused the Senator’s  request to go inside.” Even if Merkley is doing all this as a means to smear Trump or garner  political support, the reality of the situation is that children have  been documented by politicians and local news crews during the Obama administration being kept in cages.  

Sadly, these children are being used as pawns in a political game as  rivals bicker over how to handle them while ignoring real factors that  would curb criminal immigration. As the Free Thought Project reported,  Ron Paul provides penetrating wisdom on truly effective ways to deal  with the situation, while providing a financial benefit and removing a  giant injustice being perpetrated by the U.S. government. 

End the war on drugs.

From the Ron Paul Institute: 

“Likewise, the 40 year war on drugs has produced no  benefit to the American people at a great cost. It is estimated that  since President Nixon declared a war on drugs, the US has spent more  than a trillion dollars to fight what is a losing battle. That is  because just as with the welfare magnet, there is an enormous incentive to smuggle drugs into the United States. We already know the effect that ending the war on drugs has on  illegal smuggling: as more and more US states decriminalize marijuana  for medical and recreational uses, marijuana smuggling from Mexico to  the US has dropped by 50 percent from 2010.”

This view is backed by data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. In fiscal year 2015, illegal immigrants were responsible for 75 percent of federal drug possession charges. Amusingly, both Sean Hannity and PolitiFact  confirmed this. Data show that the ‘illegal alien” category accounted  for “1,640 of 2,181 total convictions (75 percent) in which the primary  charge was simple drug possession.” It is important to note that a rise in gang violence in El Salvador,  Honduras and Guatemala has caused a massive influx of immigrants seeking  refuge lately. 

They are coming in by the thousands in an attempt to  escape this violence. Instead of looking at the cause of this violence,  however, US policy is to separate immigrant children from their parents  while prosecuting the adults—and this is supposed to somehow be a  solution. Paul also points out the burden of free medical benefits, food  assistance, and education given to illegal immigrants which amounts to  about $100 billion a year. Granted, many of them are part of the  workforce in sectors such as agriculture, but not paying taxes and  sending money back to Mexico creates a significant imbalance. 

Instead of wearing the badge of the “largest prison population in the  world” and continue to convert Walmarts into detention centers, the  United States could begin eliminating the national debt, reduce crime,  foster personal liberty, and drastically decrease criminal gangs that  flourish from prohibition—and all it would have to do would be end the  war on drugs. Sadly, at least for now, it appears that these dinosaurs in DC think  that caging children, ripping them out of their parents arms, and  repeatedly deporting them at the expense of the taxpayer, is the only  solution. Thanks government.