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After Calling For Donations For Detention Facilities, Bored Patrol Is Unable To Accept

After reading about migrant children being held at the border in overcrowded facilities, allegedly without access to soap or other basic hygiene products, Texas state legislator Terry Canales called on the public to donate these items. He was surprised to learn that the Border Patrol would not accept the items, saying it would be illegal to do so and that they’re “not running low” on hygiene products.

“The United States Border Patrol has responded, telling my office they do not accept donations. How ridiculous is this?” Canales tweeted after receiving an official response from the government agency. Before being turned away, some of Canales’ constituents had tried to donate items like diapers, toys, toothbrushes, and soap.

But Theresa Cardinal Brown, a former policy advisor to Customs and Border Patrol, said that it’s plainly illegal for a government agency like CBP to accept donations.

“That law is a law passed by Congress that says the government cannot accept goods and services without remuneration. It cannot spend or use things that have not been appropriated to it by Congress. If CBP was able to accept donations outside of that it would be overspending what it was authorized to spend,” Brown told CNN.

The U.S. Congress is rushing to address the crisis of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions at several border facilities. Democrats are currently working to pass a humanitarian aid bill to address the needs of people held in immigration detention facilities.