Durbin: Trump Administration Anti-Immigration Policies Are Inhumane & Making Us Less Safe
WASHINGTON – Following reports of the death of a teenager at a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility – the fifth child since December to die after being apprehended by CBP – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today slammed the Trump Administration for its anti-immigrant policies and practices, including rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program, separating thousands of children from their parents at the southwest border, and the dire conditions at the CBP detention facilities. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to immediately investigate the CBP detention facilities at the southwest border, in particular the conditions for minors, family units, and other vulnerable individuals.
“We call on the International Red Cross to go to developing countries and look at their prison situations and decide whether they are humane,” Durbin said.
Durbin also discussed the Trump Administration’s recent admission that there may be more than 1,700 cases of family separation prior to the Administration’s zero-tolerance policy.
“It is reported that at least 1,712 more kids may have been separated. That means we are over 4,500 babies, toddlers, infants, and children separated from their parents by this Administration. Sadly, some of these children will not be reunited – their parents sent back, usually to Central American countries that they came from. And now the kids are in the system and may be too young to even remember who mom was or who dad was,” Durbin said.
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor are available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.
Last month, Durbin visited DHS CBP detention facilities in El Paso, Texas, and detailed the conditions he witnessed in an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune.