Want to see what the Biden administration has kept hidden from the public in the border crisis? Give House Democrat Henry Cuellar some thanks for this leak to Axios, which published pictures of the “pods” in which children are being warehoused. These look suspiciously like the “kids in cages” photos used to slam the Trump administration, right up until their 2014 provenance became widely known.

It looks like the only change between the Biden and Obama administrations is replacing chain link for plastic — and stuffing more kids than ever into these cages:

Each of eight "pods" in the soft-sided facility has a ~260-person occupancy, said @RepCuellar who provided the photos to Axios. But as of Sunday, one pod held more than 400 unaccompanied male minors. https://t.co/TRLqmkCV0N

— Stef Kight (@StefWKight) March 22, 2021

Exclusive photos from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary overflow facility in Donna, Texas, reveal the crowded, makeshift conditions at the border as the government’s longer-term child shelters and family detention centers fill up.

Why it matters: Each of eight “pods” in the so-called soft-sided facility has a 260-person occupancy, said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), who provided the photos to Axios to raise awareness about the situation. But as of Sunday, he said, one pod held more than 400 unaccompanied male minors. …

Cuellar, who recently visited a shelter for children, did not tour the Donna facility or take the photos himself. He said the photos were taken over the weekend.

Axios has five pictures of the Donna facility in its exclusive; be sure to click the link and take a long look at all of them. Children sleep on thin, plastic-wrapped mats on a hard floor with foil blankets. The pictures show most of those mats lying literally side-by-side. There appears to be very little room for maneuvering within the “pods,” thanks to the overcrowding within each of them. Each pod has one small television, it appears, but no other facilities.

If you think this must be a worst-case look, think again, says Andrew Meehan, former acting DHS assistant secretary for public affairs:

Important to note that the Donna facility is in many ways the best facility along the southern border. The overcrowding seen here is a result of a lack of capacity at HHS/ORR to move children to more appropriate, longer term settings. https://t.co/6fCWp7vCDj

— Andrew Meehan (@Andmerica) March 22, 2021

These photos will provide more fuel to calls on Capitol Hill for Joe Biden to allow the press to cover these facilities, along with Cuellar’s angry criticism of Biden’s policies:

Senator Rob Portman, ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and one of four senators who accompanied Mayorkas to the border on Friday, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that he will “absolutely” push to open Custom and Border Protection (CBP) facilities to journalists amid calls for transparency.

“This should be transparent,” Portman said. “It’s amazing to me how little my constituents know about what’s going on down along the border. It is a situation spiraling out of control.”

Senator Chris Murphy, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security, also participated in the trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. The Democratic lawmaker told NPR on Saturday that opening up access to media coverage is “something that we should all press the administration to do better on.”

“We want to make sure that the press has access to hold the administration accountable,” he said. “That’s the reason I was there, to hold them accountable. And they’ve seen a surge that began last year, that began under the Trump administration, but it’s real. It’s pressing their resources.”

Accountability is the last thing Biden wants in regard to his disastrous border policies. However, in an age of cell phones, media blackouts simply won’t last. Someone frustrated with this situation — likely someone in the CBP — took these photos and gave them to Cuellar. It won’t be long before others start leaking them directly to the media, and if that doesn’t work, to the GOP. Murphy is only trying to push Biden ahead of this inevitable curve. I’d be surprised, though, if the same White House that created this crisis through its idiotic messaging and knee-jerk reversals of effective policies will figure out how wise Murphy is.

Update: Like I said, these images will come out, one way or the other.

BREAKING: Project Veritas Obtains Horrifying NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN Images From Within Donna, TX Immigrant Detention Center; THOUSANDS of Illegal Immigrants PACKED Into Tight Spaces And Wrapped In Space Blankets On Floor; Insider: '50+ COVID Positive'#BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/mXQM6YbttJ

— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) March 22, 2021