U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal, serving as the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, released a statement in response to the Biden administration's announcement of a settlement connected to the family separation policy implemented during the Trump Administration.
“I commend the administration for reaching today’s historic settlement. This announcement is a very significant step forward in addressing the extreme pain, violations of rights, and consequences of those violations for the separated families,” she said in the statement. “It is also necessary to ensure the Trump administration’s cruel, zero-humanity family separation policy will never happen again under future administrations.”
In 2018, Jayapal became the first Member of Congress to visit a federal prison and engage with parents who had suffered the cruel separation from their children, some just a few months old. They were torn from their children without a chance to say goodbye, leaving lasting emotional scars, she said in her statement. The parents had been deceived by immigration agents, who promised a photograph or a court appearance, but then took their children away.
“I am proud to have worked with movement partners and colleagues inside Congress to organize on the ground for a march with 500,000 people in Washington, D.C. to protest the cruel zero-humanity family separation policy, and to continue to constantly remind us that America must address the consequences through a settlement and policy and legislative action,” she said.
“Let us be very clear that the Trump Administration intended to permanently separate children from their families. Today, hundreds of children have been reunited thanks to the hard work of the Biden Administration, yet hundreds remain separated. We must ensure this never happens again,” she continued.
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