If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
More than a week after he was denied access to a federal facility housing illegal immigrants from Central America, an Oklahoma congressman finally will get to enter the building in the state he represents.
On Saturday, Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., will go to the Fort Sill Army post in Lawton, Okla., to visit the relocation facility run by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., will accompany Bridenstine, according to a press release from Bridenstine’s office.
Although officials placed conditions on the visit — including no photographs or interviews — the release suggested Bridenstine and Blackburn won’t be passive onlookers:
Both congressmen have indicated that they plan to treat these restrictions just as the president treats laws passed by Congress, as ‘suggestions.’
>>>Watch: 1,100 Illegal Immigrants Live at This Army Base. Why Can’t This Congressman Visit?
HHS officials had told Bridenstine on July 1 that he could not enter the facility unless he scheduled a visit three weeks in advance.
Fort Sill houses 1,200 unaccompanied children who crossed the Mexican border into the United States, and Bridenstine said he wanted to understand conditions there.
“Ordinary Americans have a right to know what is happening in these facilities, how the children are being treated, and what is being done to stop this human tragedy,” Bridenstine said at the time.
The congressman later notified HHS that he intended to visit the facility again — and be allowed inside this time.
HHS responded that Bridenstine could tour the facility under these conditions: He could not ask questions during the tour, he could not make contact with staff or children, and he could not take photographs or shoot video.
Under U.S. law, Border Patrol agents are required to take child migrants who aren’t from Mexico or Canada into custody, screen them, and transfer them to HHS within 72 hours.
HHS keeps the children at detention centers until the agency can unite them with family or a sponsor in the United States, pending scheduled appearances in immigration court to determine their status.
