Congressional Hispanic Caucus Statement on DHS Inspector General Report Regarding Family Separation

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01), Chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), released the following statement in response to a report by the Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General, which details how the Trump Administration violated regulations that protect children, had no plan or database to match separated families and actively misled the public as they executed President Trump's inhumane ‘zero tolerance' policy.

"Today's OIG report confirms what CHC Members have known all along — that despite multiple denials from Trump officials, DHS deliberately lied to Congress and the public, inflicted trauma on innocent children, regularly violated regulations, and enacted policies that removed peoples' ability to lawfully seek asylum.

"It is completely reprehensible that in their haste to separate families, the Trump Administration knowingly separated families without a process to reunify them. As a result, thousands of children have been traumatized and nearly 150 still remain separated from their families. DHS blatantly and willfully lied to Congress and the American people by claiming that a central database existed to help reunify families when it did not.

"This administration cannot be trusted to be truthful. Congress must hold them accountable. CHC will continue to oppose this administration's inhumane immigration policies aimed at tearing apart families and denying refuge to asylum-seekers."

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