Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee Demands a Full Investigation of the Department of Homeland Security Following a Report by its Office of Inspector General Detailing Abuses related to the Child Separation Policy

Statement

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a senior member of the House Committees on Judiciary and Homeland Security, Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations, and a Senior Member of the House Budget Committee, issued this statement following the report released by the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General detailing abuses committed during the administration of the president's child separation policy:

"The report released by the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General on the Trump Administration's cruel and inhumane child separation policy is troubling, but of no surprise to those of us who visited the southern border many times, and who witnessed the anguish and the horror that this president and his administration were visiting on these mothers and fathers, sons and daughters.

"The details of the report are damning. Specifically, it states that: Department of Homeland Security was not prepared to deal with the staggering repercussions of separating children from their parents; there was no computer or automated system to facilitate the reunification of parents after they have been separated; despite a 72-hour limit on the time a child may be separated from their parents, many children were separated for five days, and some as long as a dozen days; the government failed to adequately notify parents of the child separation policy, and the process to initiate reunification; government officials gave inconsistent information to parents arriving at the border, which had the effect of instituting confusion at these ports of entry; and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristjen Nielsen signed off on the actions which led to the child separation policy, which is in stark contrast to Secretary Nielsen's May 15, 2018 testimony to the United States Senate.

"The child separation policy perpetrated by this president and his administration was and remains immoral. I urge my colleagues in the United States Capitol to conduct vigorous oversight on this matter to learn of all the ways in which this president's abhorrent policy was permitted to tear families apart and ensure that it does not replicate itself once more, and in the process again besmirch our nation's reputation as the last best hope of the world."

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