Claudia Maquin, 27, shows a photo of her daughter, Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin in Raxruha, Guatemala, on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. The 7-year-old girl died in a Texas hospital, two days after being taken into custody by border patrol agents in a remote stretch of New Mexico desert. (AP Photo/Oliver de Ros)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Some of Utah’s members of Congress are talking about the conditions for migrant children at the border — and asking for change.
They say the government has a responsibility to provide things like soap and toothbrushes but must do more than that to solve the broader issues behind a broken immigration system.
“Imagine you had a glass door that was broken, and every time you walked through that glass door you got cut, and all I wanted to do was give you a bandaid,” said Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah.
Curtis told Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News on KSL Newsradio that he has been to the border and seen the conditions first hand.
“What Utahn doesn’t want them to have decent hygiene? But that’s pretty low on these people’s worries list right now,” he said. “These are people who have had deplorable conditions for weeks, who have been taken advantage of in every way. That’s far deeper into the problem, and we can go deeper than that.”
On Twitter, he called for investing in our borders with better facilities, technology, judges, agents, and barriers; rewriting immigration and asylum laws; and investing in countries where people are driven to risk everything to have a better life.
“We are making a mistake far before they manage to get into those facilities,” said Curtis.
Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, made a call for a bipartisan solution to immigration one of his campaign platforms. And Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, says the reports are deeply troubling, and he supports a funding package to boost resources.
KSL aired a multiple-part series about challenges at the border, including the plight of migrant children, earlier this year through a partnership with our sister station, KTAR:
Part 1: Touring the border
Part 2: Unrest at the border