Senator Tester answers questions on migrant detention, climate change, congressional gridlock at Helena, Montana town hall

Out of Montana’s three-person delegation, Tester is the only one to hold regular in-person town halls that are announced in advance and open to the public.

The treatment of children and families detained along the southern border was top of mind for Montanans who came to a town hall held by U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in Helena on Tuesday.

Tester, a Democrat who was reelected to his third term in the U.S. Senate last fall, spoke to more than 100 people over a largely audience-driven hour, where questions ranged from conditions in detention facilities and the climate crisis to gridlock in Congress, for which Tester placed blame squarely on Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.