White House border czar Tom Homan said complaints about poor conditions at the "Alligator Alcatraz" immigrant detention center are exaggerated and being politicized by lawmakers in Florida.
Homan, who has not visited the facility in the Everglades, told CNN that criticism from Democrats in Congress and others is false.
"I doubt a lot of that's factual," he said. "[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has the highest detention standards in the industry."
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The recently built facility has come by Democratic congressional members who toured it over the weekend and said they saw horrific conditions. They described sweltering heat, bug infestations, insufficient meals, and detainees crammed in cages and crying out for help.
Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, Homan blasted Democrats for hypocrisy.
"You didn't see them complaining about, under Biden administration, people being held in a Border Patrol parking lot surrounded by a fence in the sweltering heat, not a word," he said in reference to record numbers of migrants processed at the U.S.-Mexico border the previous four years.
Under Biden's "open border policies," he said, there were immigrant deaths, fentanyl overdoses, human trafficking and encounters with individuals on terrorist watch lists.
"You can't have strong national security in this country if you don't have border security," he said, saying Democratic lawmakers were "complicit" for not holding the Biden administration accountable.
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The Associated Press reported Friday that people being held there complained of worms in the food, toilets that don't flush, flooded floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects. Detainees are said to go days without showering or getting prescription medicine, and they are only able to speak by phone to lawyers and loved ones. At times, the air conditioners abruptly shut off in the sweltering heat.
The AP based its reporting on interviews with attorneys and relatives of those detained. Authorities have denied media access to the facility or detainees.
State and federal officials disputed those descriptions.
"The reporting on the conditions in the facility is completely false. The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order," said Stephanie Hartman, a spokesperson with the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which built the center.
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