Cruz demands Biden allow press access to border crisis

Sen. Ted Cruz and more than a dozen other GOP senators will tour the Texas-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley on Friday to assess the illegal immigration crisis there. It will be a return visit for Cruz. Pictured: On Jan. 10, 2019, Cruz (second from right) and fellow Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn (left) listen as then-President Donald Trump speaks after receiving a briefing on border security in McAllen, Texas. Photo by Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

‘They deserve to see and understand the crisis for themselves with the help of reporters who are free and independent from your administration’

STAFF REPORT

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today ramped up pressure on President Biden to allow free and fair reporting on the humanitarian, national security, and public health crises at the southern border. This comes ahead of a tour Sens. Cruz and John Cornyn (R-Texas) will lead on Friday to the Rio Grande Valley.

In a letter, Sen. Cruz wrote: “As part of our oversight duties as Senators, I and 14 of my colleagues will travel to the border this week to talk to the brave men and women on the ground who are working every today to stop this crisis and secure our border.

“But it is not enough for members of the Senate to see what is happening – the American people must see.

“That is why I requested that members of the media be allowed to join us. But your administration clearly and emphatically refused to offer press access. This is outrageous and hypocritical.

“Denying the press the ability to observe, film, and report on the conditions at the border is not openness or transparency – it is hiding the truth from the American people. The press and the American people deserve more than denials and excuses from a podium.

“They deserve to see and understand the crisis for themselves with the help of reporters who are free and independent from your administration.”