Washington, DC – Congressman Lou Correa (D-CA) sent a letter to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman McCaul requesting a hearing on the Department of Homeland Security’s policy of separating families.
Rep. Correa said, “It is imperative we reunite every child separated from their parents. We must hold hearings immediately to understand the scale of the problem before us. Regardless of our policy differences, we must put aside partisan politics and work for the well-being of these children.”
Text
June 27, 2018
The Honorable Michael McCaul
Chairman
Committee on Homeland Security
2001 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman McCaul:
President Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy has led to the separation of at least 2,300 children from their parents. This week, U.S District Judge Dana Sabraw ruled that children under the age of five must be reunited within 14 days and children who are older must be reunited with their parents within 30 days.
It has been reported the administration does not have a clear plan to reunite families. “Trump administration officials say they have no clear plan yet on how to reunite the thousands of children separated from their families at the border since the implementation of a zero-tolerance policy in which anyone caught entering the U.S. illegally is criminally prosecuted. ‘This policy is relatively new,’ said Steven Wagner, the Acting Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ‘We’re still working through the experience of reunifying kids with their parents after adjudication.’”
Additionally, the quality of record keeping appears to be poor or nonexistent. “The biggest problem, as far as I can tell, is where the kids’ records don’t have information on the parents, said one Homeland Security Department official. I don’t know how they’re going to go about fixing that.” Additionally, many in custody are babies and toddlers and are too young to give information about their parents, and in some cases, children speak indigenous languages. These reports are alarming and DHS needs to provide a plan to ensure the safe return of children to their parents.
Last week, 124 Members of Congress called on DHS and HHS Inspectors General for an investigation on reuniting the children and recordkeeping. Given this time sensitive issue, we need answers immediately.
Regardless of any differences that we hold on immigration policy, we all care about the wellbeing of children. Therefore, we must all work together in a bipartisan manner to ensure that every child can be reunited with their parent. I urge you to hold a hearing on this issue to ensure DHS has the necessary information and plan in place to reunite families.
Sincerely,
J. LUIS CORREA
Member of Congress