Thread by @BetoORourke

On Monday, I said a fifth young asylum seeker had died under our care. But we've just learned that they were actually the sixth. A 10-year-old girl died in U.S. custody back in September and her death was hidden from us for nearly eight months. A cover up.

I am calling for an immediate and complete investigation into not only her death under our care but into why we're just now learning about it. There must be accountability, there must be transparency, and there must be justice.

This is only the most recent lie from a president and an administration who continue to inflict suffering, death, and irreversible trauma with the most inhumane and un-American immigration policies. At the expense of our humanity, not to the benefit of our safety.

Putting kids in cages and continuing to lie about how many remain there. Lying about their health and their care. Lying again and again about when or even if they'll be released.

Separating children from their mothers and fathers then peddling lies about how many remain apart, the number of parents who have been deported without knowing where their kids are, and the sum of children who they've lost track of altogether.

Manufacturing a crisis through a series of lies -- refusing to follow our own asylum laws, not allowing asylum seekers to lawfully petition at our ports of entry, sending troops to the border, putting children in desert tent camps, and locking kids under a bridge in El Paso.

We must stop this. And in a democracy, it's on all of us to do so. We must never again separate another family when they come here at their most vulnerable and desperate moment. We must make every effort and spare no expense to reunite families who have already been separated.

Let's rewrite our immigration laws in our own image. Let's reflect our values, our reality, the best interests & traditions of this country that is comprised of immigrants, asylum-seekers, & refugees. I know that we can do it. Today's news makes it all the more urgent that we do.