O’Rourke, other Dems don’t want tent city’s contract renewed
Posted Dec 15, 2018 03:19:46 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
AUSTIN, Texas — Rep. Beto O’Rourke and four other Democratic members of Congress have toured a remote tent city in West Texas where they say 2,700 immigrant teens are being held at a cost of roughly $1 million per day.
The lawmakers urged the non-profit running the facility not to renew a federal contract that expires at the end of the year. That would effectively shutter the facility, which was supposed to be temporary but is expanding and taking on a permanent feel.
O’Rourke has been mentioned as a potential 2020 presidential candidate after nearly upsetting Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in deep-red Texas.
But he didn’t mention White House aspirations after visiting Tornillo with U.S. Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Tina Smith of Minnesota, and California Rep. Judy Chu.
Will Weissert, The Associated Press
