Sen. Ted Cruz to visit Dallas convention center currently housing thousands of migrants on Monday

The senator is also requesting President Biden allow press access to the facility

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Committee on Rules and Administration joint hearing Wednesday, March 3, 2021, examining the January 6, attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP) (Greg Nash, The Hill)

DALLAS – Republican Sen. Ted Cruz announced Sunday he is going to tour a Dallas convention center that is currently housing thousands of migrants this week.

The senator said he will tour the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas on Monday, which is being used by the the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to house the migrants.

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Although there is currently no press access to tour the facility, Sen. Cruz also sent a letter to President Biden, calling for the restriction for the media to be lifted.

This comes after Sen. Cruz and Republican Sen. John Cornyn lead a Senate delegation in a tour of the Texas-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley on Friday.

RELATED: WATCH: Sens. Ted Cruz, John Cornyn give update after leading Senate delegation in border tour

In the letter, Sen. Cruz wrote the following:

“On Friday, when we held a press conference on the banks of the Rio Grande to explain what we were seeing, journalists from across the country came to report. Yet not a single one of those cameras, and not a single one of those reporters, was allowed inside the Donna Facility that we toured earlier that day. They could not show the American people what it looks like when a tent city built to house 250 children under COVID restrictions instead houses 4,200. They could not show the American people cages after cages of little boys lying side-by-side, of little girls lying side-by-side, covered with reflective emergency blankets with virtually no space between them.” […]

“On Monday, I will tour the Kay Bailey Hutchinson (”KBH”) Convention Center in Dallas. This is a temporary detention facility designed to accommodate the overwhelming influx of unaccompanied children (“UAC”) coming across the border due to your policies.” […]

“Although some in the press remain uninterested in this crisis, many others are now recognizing that a humanitarian crisis is a humanitarian crisis no matter who sits in the Oval Office and are beginning to cover this critically important story. I again urge you to stop denying reality, confront the consequences of your policies, and allow the media access to these facilities. The media should be able to come with me on my tour of the KBH center to show the American people what is happening in this country.”

According to a report from the Associated Press, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has not yet provided a specific date for when media will have access to the Border Patrol facilities.

Psaki told the AP on Sunday that the Biden administration was “working to get that done as soon as we can.”

We’ll bring more updates to this story as they become available.

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About the Author:

Cody King is a digital journalist for KSAT 12. She previously worked for WICS/WRSP 20 in Springfield, Illinois.