[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 116 (Wednesday, July 11, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H6101-H6104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REUNITE CHILDREN WITH FAMILIES: WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL EACH CHILD IS
WITH THEIR PARENTS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Smucker). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 3, 2017, the gentleman from California (Mr. Correa)
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous materials on the subject matter of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to address
this body, once again, on the urgency of reuniting migrant children
with their families.
The administration's zero-tolerance policy has caused chaos and
systematically torn immigrant children away from their parents. Many
innocent children are still being held under inhumane conditions at
detention facilities apart from their parents. In total, almost 5,000
children--let me repeat--almost 5,000 children who have been separated
from their parents because of this zero-tolerance policy are still
suffering.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Sabraw ruled that children under the
age of 5 must be reunited with their parents within 14 days. That
deadline was yesterday. It came and passed, and only about half the
children were actually reunited.
Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable. There needs to be consequences for
the administration's disregard for the law and failure to comply with
the Federal Court order.
The United Nations has noted that children who arrive at the U.S.
border who plead for asylum with their parents is a legal form of entry
according to international law. Many of these children are fleeing from
countries plagued with gang violence and drug wars. The administration
continues to highlight the threat of the MS-13. Yet the administration
does not acknowledge that actually MS-13 is one of the reasons why
children and families are seeking protection in our country.
Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants. They are individuals
seeking refuge. It is the law to ensure that asylum seekers are given
an opportunity to state their case in front of a judge. Furthermore,
separating children away from their parents is an illegal violation of
human rights.
This violation of human rights is being exacerbated by DHS' poor
recordkeeping. Today the administration does not have the recordkeeping
capability necessary to reunite children with their parents, and,
instead, they are now relying on DNA tests to figure out what child
belongs to what parent.
That is why, Mr. Speaker, 120 of my colleagues and I have called upon
the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services
and Homeland Security to investigate on how the administration plans to
reunite children with their families. We are concerned that there are
no records of the children to reconnect them with their proper parents.
The administration's actions are causing irreparable harm to these
vulnerable children, and it is time for the administration to
immediately reunite these families.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis),
who is my good friend and distinguished colleague.
Mrs. DAVIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Correa for
this Special Order.
Mr. Speaker, the Trump administration has just missed their court
deadline for reuniting the youngest children separated from their
parents, and there seems to be no solution in sight for these innocent
children.
Over 20 days ago, even before the court order, I led my colleagues in
writing a letter to Homeland Security and Health and Human Services
asking what their plans were for reuniting separated children with
their families.
{time} 1815
I have yet to get an answer. The American people deserve to know
where the children are and how they will be safely returned to their
families.
In a world where we can track nearly everything in real time, how is
a Federal agency unable to provide answers to Congress on the
whereabouts of kids in their care?
We are told that agencies did not coordinate their efforts. Did they
not plan for this? Do they not understand the concept of
interoperability that we have come to use within our administrations?
This administration's cruel policies are overwhelming our already
burdened judicial and foster care systems, and the American people are
stuck paying the price. It is time for this administration to realize
that policy decisions have consequences.
Even the few children who have been reunited with their families will
carry the scars of this appalling experience throughout their lives. We
have already heard reports that some of the youngest do not recognize
their parents as they are reunited. That is understandable. In fact, it
is even anticipated. Families, as we are seeing, are traumatized. They
are scared. They are heartbroken, as anybody would be in their shoes.
Mr. Speaker, I once again call on this administration to answer
critical questions about the whereabouts of the children and reunite
them with their families immediately.
Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California,
Mr. Salud Carbajal, my good friend and colleague.
Mr. CARBAJAL. Mr. Speaker, I, too, am an immigrant to this country.
[[Page H6102]]
What has become evident is the cruel, self-imposed crisis that this
administration has created. It has created a chaotic process for
detaining and separating children from their families.
This is an administration that has now missed the court's order to
start reuniting children, something that is unacceptable. We are
talking about more than 2,000 children, kids that remain separated from
their families.
About a week ago, I visited the El Tornillo detention center in
Texas. I saw firsthand the conditions in which these children are being
detained. I spoke to the children firsthand to get their own personal
thoughts on what was going on.
They talked to me in detail about how they were woken up at 5 a.m. in
a regimented fashion. They were rushed through showers and made to take
showers in less than 5 minutes. They were given only 10 to 15 minutes
once or twice a day for recreation, because they are out in the middle
of the desert where it is extremely, extremely hot.
This administration has said that they are on track to reunite
children with their families, but there is no clear plan. There are no
details. There is a Department of Homeland Security four-point plan to
nowhere that has been put forth. In this plan, there are no details.
There is really an absence of a coherent process that will reunite
these children with their families. This is unacceptable.
This is a self-imposed crisis and a cruel crisis that has been
created by this administration. This is why we need a congressional
hearing and oversight to get to the bottom of this and to really show
the American people how misguided this policy has been and the inhumane
conditions that have resulted from this policy.
America was once that beacon on the hill other countries looked to,
in terms of how we treated our immigrants and those seeking shelter and
asylum. We have lost that moral ground, because this administration has
sought to destroy the values and ideals that our country has held up
high for decades and centuries.
We also need legislation because, clearly, this administration
reminded us that their zero-tolerance policy could be put in effect and
implemented any other day again.
What this administration has done is un-American. This President has
chosen to divide us again as a country, to go after the most
vulnerable, and to go after immigrants in the most inhumane way. This
is not the United States that we all love and care for.
Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Maxine Waters), my good friend and distinguished colleague.
Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my
colleague from California, Congressman Correa, for leading this
important discussion.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to reiterate my alarm about the child abuse at
the border.
Due either to complete incompetence, deliberate indifference, or
both, this administration failed to fully comply with one of the first
court-ordered deadlines to reunite innocent children with their parents
from whom they were separated.
The Trump administration failed to implement an effective system for
identifying and reconnecting children with their parents before
executing its family separation policy. As a result, they have been
unable to accurately report the number of children in their custody,
the location of each child, and the immigration status of the parents,
many of whom who have already been deported.
Adding insult to injury, it was recently revealed that one of the
detained children under the age of 5 may actually be an American
citizen. Such a mistake should never happen and should shock every
American to their core.
This is a despicable humanitarian crisis created by Donald Trump, and
one which the Trump administration has shown no ability to solve.
Despite the President's attempt to divert attention from the crisis,
thousands of children remain separated from their families. This is a
national disgrace. Every parent, every grandparent, and every patriotic
American should be appalled by the harm that this President has
inflicted on children.
We must all exercise our First Amendment right to speak out against
this unconscionable family separation crisis. I urge my colleagues in
Congress to make every effort to ensure that these children are
reconnected with their parents. If the crisis proves impossible for the
administration to fully solve, Congress must hold accountable those who
are responsible.
Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas, Mr.
Vicente Gonzalez.
Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to tell my fellow
Americans and fellow Members of Congress that I am appalled over
reports of mistreatment and abuse toward children at the Shiloh
Residential Treatment Center.
The facility is under contract with the Department of Health and
Human Services, and is located just south of Houston, Texas. The Shiloh
facility is owned and operated by the same entity that formerly
operated Daystar Treatment Center in Manvel, Texas. Daystar was closed
because the way they physically restrained children led to the death of
three teenagers. In most cases, the children were hog-tied. Now,
instead of hog-tied, they are drugging children into submission.
One child was prescribed 10 different shots and pills, including the
antipsychotic drugs Latuda, Geodon, and Olanzapine; the Parkinson's
medication Benztropine; the seizure medication Clonazepam; and many,
many others, such as nerve and pain medications, antidepressants, and
cognitive enhancers. This is a crime.
A Federal judge in California, Judge Laughrey, recently explained:
``Psychotropic drugs are powerful medications that directly affect the
central nervous system. They are particularly potent when administered
to children. . . . They are more vulnerable to psychosis, seizures,
irreversible movement disorders, suicidal thoughts, aggression, weight
gain, organ damage, and other life-threatening conditions.''
The message is clear. The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services needs to be reprimanded for letting these horrific actions
take place, and provide answers to the American people. You cannot hide
behind subcontractors. You are on notice.
Let me make this even clearer. The Federal Government must act at
once. Stop placing these children in traumatic and dangerous
environments that right now are causing children to suffer in pain.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join in this
argument, utilize their powers of congressional oversight, and call on
the administration to end these procedures and abide by simple rules of
decency and humanity.
Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York
(Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), my good friend and distinguished colleague.
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend
and colleague from the great State of California (Mr. Correa), for
yielding and for his leadership on this very important humanitarian
issue and so many other issues before this Congress.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Trump administration missed its court-
ordered deadline to reunite the toddlers and babies it kidnapped at our
southern border with their families.
And, yes, I say kidnapped. I don't know how else to describe this.
That is the only appropriate word to describe the implementation of the
so-called zero-tolerance policy when there was clearly no forethought
as to how children would be returned to their parents.
The cruelty and inhumanity at the border has led to nearly 3,000
children being torn away from their families and imprisoned. Instead of
having a plan in place to reunite these families, the administration
lost, destroyed, or never even created records, and clearly did not
care or think about reuniting these children.
Now we have a crisis of a whole different kind: figuring out how we
put the pieces back together, how we put the families together again.
Some parents of these children have already been deported. Some are
totally unaccounted for.
President Trump and his administration are utterly failing to fix
this tragedy that they created. We have so
[[Page H6103]]
many tragedies in the world that we are reacting to. This was one that
was literally created by this administration.
While we deal with this unorganized chaos and incompetence, the
children still in custody continue to suffer irreparable trauma in
unimaginable conditions, all because the President wanted to punish
those who sought safety for their children and a better life in the
United States of America.
We will not rest until each one of these children is back safely in
their parents' arms. We will continue to demand information on how
these children will be reunited with their families and insist that
officials who took part in this tragedy are held accountable.
I have visited two facilities with my colleagues. One was in
Elizabeth, New Jersey. We went there on Father's Day with permission
from lawyers and the inmates to visit with them. At first, they would
not allow us access. Finally, after we pushed and pushed, we were
allowed to see five gentlemen, four of whom entered the country
legally. They entered the country and immediately turned themselves
over to immigration authorities. One came in illegally because there
was violence at the border, and he then immediately turned himself over
to immigration facilities.
They all had very sad stories to tell. I share one from a man, from
which country, we can't say, but there was a lot of violence and drug
violence. His partner was killed, and his business was destroyed. They
went to the school, threatening to take his daughter. She, luckily, was
not in school at the time. The thugs were looking for her.
So he grabbed his daughter and fled to America. He was in detention
when they came to his cell at 3 o'clock in the morning and tore his 8-
year-old daughter from his arms.
Along with my five colleagues, Members of Congress from New York and
New Jersey, we asked to speak to the head of the facility, the head
representing ICE, the head of the detention facility.
{time} 1830
They said they had no records of where his daughter was. To this day,
they have not reunited this father with his 8-year-old daughter. He
broke down in tears.
I also visited a facility in New York City, Cayuga in East Harlem.
This is a facility that I feel was very well-run. It is for foster
care. Children are there in the daytime, and then they are placed in
foster homes during the night.
Again, the children did not know where their parents were. The
professionals said it usually takes them 59 days to find a relative, an
appropriate guardian, or the parents.
I just have to join my colleagues in saying that this is a disaster.
Mr. Speaker, 3,000 migrant children who were taken from their parents
at the border are still waiting to be reunited.
There are accounts of pregnant women being shackled in detention and
callously denied prenatal care or medical attention when they are
clearly experiencing symptoms of miscarriage.
On Tuesday, the administration missed the court-ordered deadline to
reunite all children under 5 years of age. I understand there are more
than, roughly, 100 children in this category. Very few have been
reunited.
Neither HHS nor DHS have consistent answers about how and when any of
these children under 5, or over 5, are going to be returned to their
parents. In short, there is no plan.
There was no planning. They took children from the arms of their
parents and did not keep records on where they are now.
Repeatedly, I have joined with Ranking Member Elijah Cummings in
calling for hearings in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Despite numerous, numerous requests from him and others, we have not
had one single hearing about this humanitarian crisis being put forth
by our own government. Yet, there is a hearing planned tomorrow on
Hillary Clinton's emails.
The election is over. Let's focus on the crisis before us: these
children.
Again, we will keep calling for and asking for hearings on this
crisis before our country.
I want to thank my colleague for working so hard and trying to find
answers. I support his work completely, and I will continue working
with him and others to reunite these families who came to our country
looking for a better life.
Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from
New York for her comments.
Mr. Speaker, just recently, a 14-month-old baby boy was reunited with
his mother. The baby boy was traumatized after being separated for
almost 90 days from his loving mother. Not only did he look like he
wasn't bathed for that time, but he also was covered with lice.
His mom said that her son was not the same since they were reunited.
He hasn't been the same since they have been separated. He cries for
fear of being alone. Her son is afraid of losing his mother again.
Another parent, Milka Pablo, received a different response from her
3-year-old daughter, Darly, when they were reunited in Phoenix after 4
months of being separated. Let me repeat: after being separated for 4
months. Darly did not recognize her mother.
Milka was met with cries of rejection, and Darly, the daughter,
screamed as she tried to wiggle away from her mother's arms.
I cannot believe these small children are subjected to such
conditions. Mr. Speaker, some are as young as 1 year old. One of these
individuals--a 1-year-old--was obligated to appear in front of a judge
for deportation proceedings while separated from his parents.
These children don't have the rights to a court-appointed attorney
and are clearly frightened, yet they are still forced--a 1-year-old--to
appear in front of a judge and answer questions that, clearly, they
cannot comprehend.
Many of these children can barely form sentences, yet they are
expected to talk about the violence-plagued countries they are fleeing.
Even Judge John Richardson told a lawyer representing a 1-year-old
that he was embarrassed to ask a baby questions on whether they
understood the immigration proceedings before them.
The separation of immigrant children from their parents is
unconstitutional and simply wrong. I demand that all families be
reunited immediately.
Mr. Speaker, as you know, contemporary deportation policies are
traumatizing families. The inhumane policy of separating families is
terrorizing parents to detrimental ends. Currently, more than 1,300
families are going through unnecessary and harmful separation enacted
under our current administration.
Last month, Mr. Munoz and his family crossed the border to apply for
asylum. For 40-year-old Marco Antonio Munoz, the fear and anxiety
became overwhelming. After being separated from his wife and 3-year-old
son, Mr. Munoz strangled himself in a detention center in Texas. His
suicide shows the fear they felt during the border crossing and on the
road to safety in the U.S.
The law allows families to escape violence and prosecution by seeking
shelter in the United States. Currently, the administration refers to
asylum as a loophole and family separation as part of a zero-tolerance
policy. This policy of zero tolerance is designed to deter and punish
immigrants seeking asylum, making them illegal.
While we should all focus on the negative effects on the children, we
can't forget the negative effects on the parents as well. Families that
present themselves to border agents seeking asylum have not violated
any laws. However, the administration is criminally prosecuting all
immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
These families are following domestic and international laws, making
their prosecution illegal and against our American values. We should
not terrorize these families.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, unless you are an American Indian, we are
all immigrants to this country. Whether we ourselves or our forefathers
came to this country, we came to seek freedom, a better life, and a
better future for our families. Asylum seekers, likewise, are not new.
What is new is the zero-tolerance policy.
Zero tolerance is clearly a violation of U.S. laws. It violates
international law. It is inhumane. It is shameful.
I ask that the administration come up with real solutions for these
folks
[[Page H6104]]
seeking asylum. I ask the administration to follow the law, follow
American law, follow international law. Let's do the right thing. Let's
do the American thing. Let's reunite these families.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, Congressman Correa is a valued member
of this body and one of the outstanding members of the Homeland
Security Committee, where he is Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on
Oversight and Management Efficiency.
We are here today to call upon the President, the Department of
Health and Human Services, and the Congress of the United States to act
without delay to ensure separated immigrant children are reunited with
their parents in an expeditious manner.
On June 26, 2018, a federal judge ruled that unless reunification is
not in the best interest of the child, a child under 5 years old must
be reunited within 14 days of its order.
Yesterday was the deadline that this administration failed to meet.
To President Trump, I say ``Time's Up!''
This act committed was not only mortifying, but an illegal act.
This individual has proven he lacks depth and experience, has
violated the ethics that this country prides itself on, and he should
be ashamed.
This is a senseless act that must not go unnoticed.
We must hold him accountable for these not clearly formulated
decisions.
Yesterday, I met with faith and community leaders to bring attention
to yesterdays' deadline, imposed by a federal judge, to reunite the
youngest separated children with their parents due to the President's
egregious ``zero-tolerance'' policy.
In our country, the rule of law and its implementation is an
essential component of our democracy.
Twenty years ago, Flores v. Reno, also known as the Flores Agreement,
established that migrants or immigrants could not be separated from
their children for long periods of time.
Earlier this year, President Trump and his administration implemented
a ``zero-tolerance policy'' of separating immigrant children from their
parents upon arrival into the United States.
To be certain, the administration's plan was half-baked.
As the Founder and Chair of the Children's Caucus and as a parent and
grandparent, I am outraged that the administration represented what
they did not know and could not do.
They did not know the true number of the children separated, they
could not reunite these children, and there is no plan for their
reunification.
When Americans and the international community from all walks of life
began to challenge this cruel and inhumane policy, the courts got
involved.
It appears as if a fortnight was more than enough time for this
administration to make a complete mess of this process, and in the
process damage families--perhaps irreparably.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, fewer than half of
the migrant children who are under five years-old will be reunited with
their parents.
Studies have documented that when young children are forcibly removed
from their parents, the traumatic experience engenders long-term
negative effects on their physical and mental health and well-being
suffers.
Stressful situations that would usually prompt physiological
responses in other people--increased heart rate, sweaty palms--would
provoke nothing in the children forcibly removed from their parents
because their fight-or-flight response system appeared permanently
broken.
This is outrageous and unacceptable in a nation which has a long and
noble tradition of providing sanctuary to the persecuted and oppressed.
Last Friday afternoon, July 6, 2018, the administration asked for
more time to reunite these young children with their parents, which
again was nothing more than a tacit admission that its plan for
separating children was implemented without a way to eventually reunite
them with their parents.
After it was ordered to reunite these children, and in asking for
more time to comply with the federal court, the President's lawyers
asked ``can I keep these children away from their parents for a longer
time?''
My response is ``these children have been away from their parents
long enough.''
When I visited the border and the federal detention facilities that
housed parents and children quarantined from one another, what I
witnessed was horrific and was echoed in heartbreaking audio recordings
released by the press revealing children crying, aching for their
parents, as all face a fate uncertain, and inconsistent with the
American ideal.
I will never forget the little children I met during my visit to the
border.
One baby, 9-month-old Roger, had been taken from his 19-year-old
sister after she was prosecuted for crossing the border illegally.
Their mother is dead, and they were coming here to find family.
Little Leah, was just one year-old and was taken from a grandmother
and a sister.
The pain was no less visceral when speaking with mothers wondering
where their children have gone.
In South Texas I met Gabby, from Honduras, who had a 45 day-old baby
taken from her, and while housed at the facility had not yet been
treated or given medical attention.
Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that the administration's argument
in favor of child separation was ``tortured.''
Put another way, the Administration has no leg to stand on.
Trump knows that he is advancing a cruel and inhumane policy, but he
refuses to accept responsibility for this matter blaming,
alternatively: Congress, the courts and prior presidents.
This is no surprise, of course: all who have watched this president
know his proclivity to shirk responsibility for any of his actions.
In a bizarre turn of events, the President actually tried to blame
the courts for his own cruel child separation policy.
A federal judge appropriately chastised the President and cast as
``cynical'' any attempt to blame the courts for his mess, which is
entirely of this Administration's own doing.
Tellingly, the judge went one profound step further and indicated
that the President and his administration knew--at least for over a
year--that there was no facility which would house parents and children
together.
Thus, when it proceeded with this new immigration policy, the
President knew that the segregation of children from their parents was
inevitable and chose to implement this policy anyway.
The last time this nation had policies that promoted the forcible
separation of children from newly arrived persons was slavery: a dark
and shameful chapter in this nation's history that we cannot revisit.
Earlier this year, President, in proclaiming April as National Child
Abuse Prevention Month, stated, ``we must always remember that all
children are blessings from our Creator'' and endowed with value,
purpose and human dignity.''
It is time for this President and the administration he leads, to act
with reason, foresight and compassion and immediately and completely
rectify this crisis.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, while the Trump
administration has clearly taken steps to reunite immigrant children
with their families, there are still 100 children under the age of five
in the government's custody. The court ordered deadline to reunite all
of these children with their parents was yesterday. The Departments of
Homeland Security and Health and Human Services must continue to make
it a top priority to locate these children's parents and reunite these
families in a timely manner.
The Trump administration's inhumane ``zero-tolerance'' policy was
finally stopped by the President, but the terrible effects of this
policy continue. DHS' poor recordkeeping has resulted in the prolonged
separation of these children. Twelve of these children's parents have
already been deported, making it much more difficult for them to
reunite with their children. The Department of Homeland Security has
had to resort to DNA testing to ensure that children are properly
reunited, a costly and tedious process that prolongs the trauma these
children are experiencing. This excess cost to American taxpayers could
easily have been avoided had the Trump administration thought about the
reunification process rather than solely focusing on separating
children from their parents.
These children have already endured an incredibly dangerous journey
from their home countries, and the Trump administration has subjected
them to even more suffering. The American Medical Association has
stated that separation from parents can cause lifelong psychological
trauma for these children, particularly children who are under the age
of five. Sadly, there are already reports of children who no longer
recognize their parents after these prolonged periods of separation.
The Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services
must take immediate action to expedite the process of reunification,
and Congress must use its legislative authority to hold these
departments accountable and ensure that these human rights violations
are corrected. Children have been taken from their parents, and it is
all of our responsibility to ensure that this administration are
reuniting them as quickly as possible.
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