Ted Cruz Shares Video of 'Biden Cages' Amid Border Visit, Kids "Crammed in at 1500% Capacity'

Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz shared a video Friday evening that appeared to show "thousands of kids" inside an overcrowded U.S. southern border facility—but his blame against President Joe Biden was not shared by Democratic members of Congress.

Cruz joined a group of 19 Senate Republicans Friday during a visit to U.S. border facilities in which they sought to corroborate their own claims that the Biden administration has encouraged an immigration crisis. He said the president and federal border authorities have allowed children to be "crammed" into already overcrowded migrant centers during the coronavirus pandemic.

"These are the Biden cages. (Faces blurred.) Thousands of kids, in the midst of a pandemic, crammed in at 1500% capacity. This is just one of the 'pods' at Donna. There are SEVEN more, equally full," Cruz tweeted Friday evening.

Cruz and fellow Texas GOP Senator John Cornyn led a group of their Senate Republican colleagues in joining U.S. Border Patrol on a midnight shift Friday night along the Rio Grande in Hidalgo County.

"Those migrant numbers are rising, and they are rising because of the Biden administration's mistakes," Cruz told reporters Friday, adding that drug cartel members were taunting the GOP lawmakers during the visit.

But while Cruz and several GOP senators pointed blame toward Biden, Democratic Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said former President Donald Trump caused the current crisis at the border and that the Biden administration is simply cleaning up the problems created by his GOP predecessor.

Omar said the Trump administration wanted to inflict "maximum pain" on the Central American migrants who attempt to cross the Mexico border into the U.S. The congresswoman characterized the current border crisis as a humanitarian issue, while Republicans have reiterated that it's a result of lax Democratic border policies.

"[The Biden administration is seeking] how to deploy that in the most effective way to address a problem that was created by an administration that believed that they had to create maximum pain in order for immigrants not to come to our border. So when you have an administration now that says 'we are going to deploy maximum humanity and dignity in treating people in regards to our policies,' then we are excited because we see partners in humanity, we see partners in children who are coming to our country seeking help."

Newsweek reached out to the U.S Border Patrol and Cruz's Texas Senate office for additional remarks Saturday morning.