Video Shows Dozens of Children Packed Into Pods at Migrant Processing Center in Texas

During a recent visit to a migrant processing center in Texas, Representative Beth Van Duyne documented some of what she saw on video and shared the footage with her followers on social media.

In two videos Van Duyne posted on Twitter on Tuesday, dozens of migrant children can be seen packed together in close quarters, many while lying beneath thermal blankets.

"Border Patrol warned Biden what would happen if he chose to open the borders," Van Duyne wrote in a tweet accompanying one video. "They pleaded with him to stop a crisis before it started & he refused. Now, thousands of children are crammed into profoundly inadequate holding facilities as a direct result of Biden's reckless actions."

According to Van Duyne, who represents Texas' 24th District, the migrant processing center where she recorded the videos was intended to house about 250 people. But the congresswoman told Fox & Friends on Tuesday that an estimated 5,700 people—a majority of whom, she said, were unaccompanied minors—were packed into the center.

During her appearance on Fox & Friends, Van Duyne described the "massive surge" of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border that began shortly after President Joe Biden took office as a "tremendous humanity crisis."

"These are children, they are packed and stacked on the floor, barely able to see the ground because so many of them are stuffed in there. It is a processing plant," she said.

Van Duyne added that customs and border officials were frustrated and "at the end of their rope," though she noted, "they're doing what they can."

Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, also appeared beside Van Duyne during the Tuesday segment, to discuss his experience with the situation at the border and said that the Biden administration "absolutely" knew it would occur.

Judd said the current situation at the border was an expected outcome of rolling back policies put in place during former President Donald Trump's administration—policies which sought to reduce immigration throughout his term in office.

Judd also said that he and other Border Patrol agents frequently witness migrants surrendering to agents, rather than trying to evade them.

"That's what we're seeing today: They're just giving themselves up, knowing that they're going to be released into the United States," he said. "When we look back and we look at the policies that President Trump enacted and how they worked, and the rollback of the Biden administration, yes—they had to know that this in fact was going to happen."

Van Duyne reiterated her concerns about the situation at the border in a statement shared with Newsweek.

"What we saw on the border is a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of children are crammed into profoundly inadequate holding facilities as a direct result of President Biden's actions," the congresswoman said. "The truth is that I am outraged that this situation has been caused for political gain and the ones profiting are the cartels and human smugglers who are making tens of millions of dollars off of this suffering."

In a statement shared with Newsweek, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said DHS officials are working "around the clock" to move migrant children out of the facilities.

"As I have said repeatedly, a Border Patrol facility is no place for a child. We have been working around the clock, in coordination with HHS, to quickly move unaccompanied children out of these crowded Border Patrol stations and into the care of HHS so they can be placed with family members or other sponsors," Mayorkas said. "We deployed FEMA to help HHS quickly build additional capacity to shelter unaccompanied children. We also developed and deployed a plan for HHS to more quickly place unaccompanied children with family members. We are seeing progress, but it takes time.

"In the meantime, the CBP workforce has done heroic work under difficult circumstances to protect these children," Mayorkas' statement continued. "Let me be clear: the border is not open, people should not make the dangerous journey, and we will continue to expel individuals and families."

Updated 3/31 at 5:53 p.m. ET, to include a response from Rep. Beth Van Duyne.