'Be More Accurate': Border Official Slams Media
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Slams Media for 'Crazy' Border Detention Comparison
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The deputy commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) blasted the media's "crazy" description of border shelters as concentration camps.
Ronald Vitiello said on "Fox & Friends" the border shelters are monitored by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and are “very well-appointed” with “PlayStations [and] pool tables.”
"It's far from a concentration camp," Vitiello said.
Two guests on MSNBC on Friday labeled border detention centers as concentration camps.
"We can’t find a solution to this problem without harming children? Without putting them into concentration camps?" Stephanie Cutter asked.
"I call this a concentration camp for kids because that’s exactly what it’s turning out to," Michael Steele added.
Vitiello said the rhetoric within the media regarding President Trump's border policy and border detention centers "disappoints" the men and women of the CBP.
"They know what we're actually trying to do for these families and these children when they're in our custody," he said.
He added that children who are detained by CBP are in its custody for a short time and quickly turned over to HHS within the shelters.
"People should be more accurate when they describe what we're trying to accomplish there," he said.
Vitiello also said a third of the arrests made by CBP come as part of a family of a child alone.
He said when the parent is referred for prosecution, both children and their parents are given instructions on how to contact one another.
"We're trying to abate this activity. We're trying to apply consequence to crossing the border illegally so that we can have less of that."