Omar calls for U.N. authority over U.S. border crisis

Need agency that can 'handle massive flows of refugees humanely'

By Art Moore
Published August 29, 2019 at 2:34pm

The United States should bring in the United Nations to handle the border crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border, asserts Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.

"We should do what any other country does by dealing with this situation in a serious way," Omar told her constituents Tuesday during an immigration forum in south Minneapolis.

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. (Official portrait)

"So, we have to bring in the United Nations high commissioner on refugees, an agency that has the expertise and the training to handle massive flows of refugees humanely," she said, according to the Daily Wire.

Omar was the target of a complaint filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission accusing her of illegally using campaign funds to pay for travel expenses for the Democratic political consultant whose wife accuses him of having an extramarital affair with the Muslim congresswoman.

Nevertheless, the Daily Wire reported, she lectured the Minneapolis audience about losing the "moral high ground" on immigration.

Omar also charged, without evidence, that the federal government was arresting and deporting illegal aliens because they were poor.

In February, Omar called for the elimination of the Department of Homeland Security.

"When Democrats stood our ground last month, we proved that Individual 1 does not have the public support to ram his hateful wall through Congress," Omar tweeted. "Let's stand firm: #Not1Dollar for DHS."

In July, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said in an interview she also would like to get rid of DHS.

'Congress has let it happen'

The United Nations' high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, said last month she was "appalled" by U.S. border detention conditions and said that holding migrant children may violate international law

"As a pediatrician, but also as a mother and a former head of state, I am deeply shocked that children are forced to sleep on the floor in overcrowded facilities, without access to adequate healthcare or food, and with poor sanitation conditions," she said.

Bachelet said that several U.N. human rights bodies have concluded that detaining migrant children may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment that is prohibited under international law.

The Trump administration responded to the criticism in July, arguing the facilities weren't made for the unprecedented number of migrants that had "swamped" the facilities.

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in an ABC News interview that Congress could address the conditions by providing more funding and changing asylum laws that encourage migrants to come to the U.S.

"Congress has let it happen," he said.