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MEDIA ADVISORY: Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Joaquin Castro, KIND President Wendy Young, Dr. Katherine Peeler Press Call on the Unjust Treatment of Unaccompanied Children

May 19, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, May 20, at 3:30 p.m. ET, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus led by Chairman Joaquin Castro will host a press call with Wendy Young, President of Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), and Dr. Katherine Peeler, Pediatric Faculty Member of Harvard Media School and a medical expert with Physicians for Human Rights. The panel will discuss the Trump Administration's unjust treatment of unaccompanied children seeking asylum at the southern border ahead of the CDC's potential public health order's indefinite extension.

As the nation responds the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump Administration has used this crisis to turn away hundreds of unaccompanied children seeking safety and to rush the deportation of vulnerable children in their care to countries where they are unsafe. More than 20,000 families, individuals, and children have been expelled since the CDC's order in March. Unaccompanied children are at risk of human trafficking, and the lack of due process ignores our legal and moral obligation to provide them safety.

WHO:

  • Rep. Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC)
  • Wendy Young, President of Kids In Need of Defense (KIND)
  • Dr. Katherine Peeler, Pediatric Faculty Member of Harvard Medical School and Medical Expert with Physicians for Human Rights.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 20 at 3:00 — 3:30 PM ET

WHERE: Zoom Meeting (RSVP for link and dial-in)

RSVP: Interested media should RSVP to CHC.PressOffice@mail.house.gov.

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The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Territories.