O’Rourke to visit Mexico, meet turned away US asylum-seekers
Posted Jun 29, 2019 10:57:13 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is heading to Mexico to meet with immigrants seeking U.S. asylum but “turned away.”
In his first international trip as a White House hopeful, the former congressman will visit Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from his native El Paso, Texas, on Sunday to view what he calls “the desperate circumstances” some are fleeing.
O’Rourke says he’ll also see the conditions they endure while waiting because of the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program, part of a deal to avert the White House’s threatened tariffs.
O’Rourke plans a rally Sunday outside the Border Patrol facility in nearby Clint, Texas, where immigrant children have reported being denied access to soap and toothbrushes.
He previously visited centres holding immigrant children in Florida and Houston.
Will Weissert, The Associated Press
