McAllen, Texas – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) toured several facilities where asylum seekers and their children are currently being processed and detained in Texas. During the visit, Senator Cortez Masto met with mothers and fathers who have been deeply scarred by the ongoing effects of President Trump’s inhumane family separation policy.
“My visit of detention facilities and a processing center in Brownsville, McAllen and Los Fresnos today was heart-wrenching. Thousands of children are still without their parents and families are desperately seeking answers as to when they will be reunited, yet the Administration’s plan is nowhere to be found. In addition, President Trump’s executive order and continued criminalization of asylum seekers means that many more families fleeing life-threatening violence and persecution could face indefinite detention in camps along the border. These detention centers are no place for children, with or without their parents, to be held. We must find a more compassionate solution.
“The Trump Administration’s family separation policy should have never been enacted in the first place. He is fully responsible for the thousands of children and babies who have been ripped away from their parents and are still imprisoned in detention centers and children’s agencies across the country. I urge President Trump and Republican leaders in Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that addresses the immigration challenges our country faces while respecting human rights. We must reunite children with their parents, end the criminal prosecution of asylum seekers, ensure families get a fair chance to make their case before a judge and pursue alternatives to detention for families.”
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