Congresswomen AOC, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib testified about their visit to what amounts to an American concentration camp near our border. My words, not theirs.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) delivered an impassioned plea for immigration policy change before the House Oversight Committee Friday, defending claims that migrants at the southwest border have been subject to abuse by federal authorities. In an emotional testimony, Ocasio-Cortez described what she witnessed during a visit to an immigrant detention center earlier this month, and decried the alleged abuses happening "in front of the American flag." “What’s worse, Mr. Chairman, was the fact that there were American flags hanging all over these facilities,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “That children were being separated from their parents in front of the American flag, that women were being called these names under an American flag, we cannot allow for this."

The Hill: AOC in impassioned testimony: Children were separated from parents 'in front of American flags'

x .@RepAOC @AOC: "When these women tell me that they were put into a cell and that their sink was not working, and we tested the sink ourselves and the sink was not working, and they were told to drink out of a toilet bowl I believe them. I believe these women." pic.twitter.com/G6X0fC9uqb Ã¢ÂÂ CSPAN (@cspan) July 12, 2019

Rashida Tlaib also was horrified by the conditions:



"The suffering in these camps cannot be forgotten," Tlaib said during a House Oversight Committee hearing on treatment of migrants at the southern border. "Imagine traveling thousands of miles in grueling and dangerous conditions because you have no other option only to be separated from your family, from your children thrown into overcrowded cages, denied a shower and tooth brush. And yes, Mr. Chairman, drink water out of the toilet if you're thirsty." snip "I've been so deeply haunted by the unforgettable image of a 4-year-old boy coming up to me through a glass door of a cell he was in with a number of other children asked me in Spanish, where his papa was," she said.

The Hill: Tlaib gives emotional testimony at hearing on migrant detention conditions

More from Tlaib:

Tlaib was on the verge of tears during her testimony, her voice breaking as she showed the picture a young migrant boy had drawn for her, depicting children in cages. She openly cried as she spoke about a pregnant woman whom she met at a detention center. Tlaib also claimed that a border patrol agent at the center told her, "I wasn't trained for this, I am not a social worker, I am not a medical worker...I want to be at the border." "The dehumanization is not only with these families but with these agents that we've told to do this to these families," Tlaib said about agents.

CBS: NEWS SHOWS LIVE Watch CBSN Live Ocasio-Cortez condemns "manufactured" cruelty by White House immigration policies - live updates

Ayanna Pressley will testify today:

“It was just palpable walking into that cell, you just felt suffering and trauma and fear,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said Thursday, ahead of her testimony.

AP: Trump immigration policies inflicting lasting harm, Dem says

More from Pressley:

In her opening statement, Pressley urged compassion, saying that women held in detention facilities were not "voiceless...but they are cruelly and criminally unheard."

CBS

Chairman Cummings started the hearings with some truth:

x As the hearing begins, Chairman @RepCummings describes family separations as inhumane:



"I use the word inhumane for a reason. Separating children from their mothers or their fathers causes damage that may endure for a lifetime. Let that sink in. Until they die." Ã¢ÂÂ Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick) July 12, 2019

It is inhumane. This evil is done in our names as Americans.