WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) joined other Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee in demanding to know how the Trump administration is ensuring the safety of children separated from their parents under Trump’s zero-tolerance policy and how the administration plans to reunify children and families.
In a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar, the senators noted that many of the children separated from their families under Trump’s zero-tolerance policy are being detained in facilities operated through HHS.
“While we are encouraged the President has signed the Executive Order: Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation to stop the unnecessary and cruel separation of children from their families, by no means is this crisis over,” the Senators wrote. “Given the Finance Committee’s jurisdiction over the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the U.S. foster care system, we demand answers on how ACF will ensure the safety, well-being, and reunification of the reportedly more than 2,300 children who have been separated from their families in recent weeks.”
The Senators asked for answers by June 27, 2018. In addition to Sen. Menendez, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-Penn.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) also signed the letter.
Senator Menendez is also an original cosponsor of the Keep Families Together Act, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to keep immigrant families together and prevent the Department of Homeland Security from separating children from their parents at the border.
Read the full text of the letter here.
