OVER THE BORDERLINE

Bryan Barnett

Madonna isn’t the only person from Rochester Hills who makes national headlines these days, as the city’s mayor, Bryan Barnett, was recently named the president of the United States Conference of Mayors. America’s Mayor led a delegation of border-state mayors to the immigration border facility in El Paso, Texas. The visit included a tour of the facilities in which border agents told the mayors they would be treated just like migrants picked up trying to cross into the United States, as well as a 90-minute Q&A session with Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan. While Barnett said migrants – which the mayors were instructed not to speak with – being held at the facility are about a tenth of what they were a few months ago, more still needs to be done to meet the needs at the border. Still, Barnett said he didn’t see any signs of mistreatment or other issues described at other facilities. “I understand my perspective was formed in two hours on a facility tour, but the facility was orderly and well run... I didn’t see some of the things that have been described. I’m not saying they don’t exist, but we didn’t see them, and we went into every room at that facility,” he said. The trip came three days after Barnett visited the White House where modern material girl, Ivanka Trump, requested a personal meeting with him.