The Trump Administration's Child
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THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CHILD SEPARATION POLICY: SUBSTANTIATED ALLEGATIONS OF MISTREATMENT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JULY 12, 2019 Serial No. 116–46 Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Reform ( Available on: http://www.govinfo.gov http://www.oversight.house.gov http://www.docs.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 37–315 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland, Chairman CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Ranking Minority Member ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of PAUL A. GOSAR, Arizona Columbia VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JIM COOPER, Tennessee JODY B. HICE, Georgia GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI, Illinois JAMES COMER, Kentucky JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland MICHAEL CLOUD, Texas HARLEY ROUDA, California BOB GIBBS, Ohio KATIE HILL, California RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Florida CLAY HIGGINS, Louisiana JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland CHIP ROY, Texas PETER WELCH, VERMONT CAROL D. MILLER, West Virginia JACKIE SPEIER, California MARK E. GREEN, Tennessee ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois KELLY ARMSTRONG, North Dakota MARK DESAULNIER, California W. GREGORY STEUBE, Florida BRENDA L. LAWRENCE, Michigan FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands RO KHANNA, California JIMMY GOMEZ, California ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, New York AYANNA PRESSLEY, Massachusetts RASHIDA TLAIB, Michigan DAVID RAPALLO, Staff Director RUSS ANELLO, Chief Oversight Counsel AMY STRATTON, Clerk CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Minority Staff Director CONTACT NUMBER: 202-225-5051 (II) CONTENTS Page Hearing held on July 12, 2019 ............................................................................... 1 WITNESSES Written opening statements and witnesses’ written statements are available at the U.S. House of Representatives Repository: https://docs.house.gov. Panel 1 The Honorable Andy Biggs (R-AZ) Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 6 The Honorable Michael Cloud (R-TX) Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 8 The Honorable Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Member of Congress Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 10 The Honorable Chip Roy (R-Texas), Member of Congress Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 12 The Honorable Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Member of Congress Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 14 The Honorable Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Member of Congress Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 15 The Honorable Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Member of Congress Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 18 The Honorable Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Member of Congress Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 20 Panel 2 Ms. Jennifer L. Costello, Acting Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 22 Ms. Ann Maxwell, Asst.Inspector General for Evaluation and Inspections, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 23 Ms. Elora Mukherjee, Jerome L. Greene Clinical Professor of Law, Columbia Law School Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 25 Ms. Jennifer Nagda, Policy Director, Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 27 Thomas D. Homan, Former Acting Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 29 (III) INDEX OF DOCUMENTS The documents listed below are available at: https://docs.house.gov. * ‘‘Homestead isn’t just for kids at the border, it’s for kids living in the U.S. their whole lives,’’ article, Miami Herald, Monique Madan; submited by Rep. Kelly. * Statutory Definition of Unaccompanied Minor; submitted by Rep. Kelly. * Letter from Anti-Defamation League; submitted by Chairman Cummings. * Recommendations from Kids in Need of Defense; submitted by Chairman Cummings. * Statement from the World Church Service; submitted by Chairman Cum- mings. * Statement from the Center for Victims of Torture; submitted by Chair- man Cummings. * Letter from Zero to Three; submitted by Chairman Cummings. * Letter with submission of photos of the Yuma Detention Center; sub- mitted by Rep. Gosar. * U.S. Department of Homeland Security Memo; submitted by Rep. Ocasio- Cortez. (IV) THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CHILD SEPARATION POLICY: SUBSTANTIATED ALLEGATIONS OF MISTREATMENT Friday, July 12, 2019 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:06 a.m., in room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Elijah Cummings (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Representatives Cummings, Norton, Clay, Lynch, Coo- per, Connolly, Krishnamoorthi, Raskin, Rouda, Hill, Wasserman Schultz, Sarbanes, Welch, Speier, Kelly, DeSaulnier, Khanna, Gomez, Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, Tlaib, Jordan, Foxx, Massie, Mead- ows, Hice, Comer, Cloud, Gibbs, Roy, Green, Armstrong, Steube, and Keller. Also present: Representatives Garcia of Illinois, Gaetz, and Law- rence. Chairman CUMMINGS. The committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the com- mittee at any time. This full committee hearing is convening regarding the adminis- tration’s child separation policy and substantiated allegations of mistreatment. I also wanted to briefly address the spectators in the hearing room today. We welcome you and respect your right to be here. We also ask, in turn, for your respect as we proceed with the business of the committee today. It is the intention of this committee to proceed with this hearing without any disruptions. Any disruption of this committee will re- sult in the United States Capitol Police restoring order and that protesters will be removed. If a disruption occurs, a Capitol Police officer will go to the indi- vidual, instruct that they cease the demonstrations. If the indi- vidual does cease, no action will be taken. However, if the person does not cease or begins demonstrating after the initial warning by the officer, the individual will be removed from the hearing room. We are grateful for your presence here today and your coopera- tion. I would also remind all Members to avoid engaging in adverse personal references. (1) 2 I now recognize myself for five minutes to give an opening state- ment. Today we examine the Trump administration’s inhumane policy of separating children from their parents at the southern border. I use the word ‘‘inhumane’’ for a reason. Separating children from their mothers and fathers causes damage that may endure for a lifetime. Let me let that sink in. In other words, until they die. The Trump administration adopted this child separation policy intentionally, purposefully, as a tactic to deter people from coming to the United States and seeking asylum. You ask the question: How do you know this? Well, let me an- swer. On March 7, 2017, the Secretary of Homeland Security, General John Kelly, was asked whether the administration was going to, and I quote, ‘‘separate the children from their moms and dads.’’ He said, quote, ‘‘Yes,’’ he said, to, quote, ‘‘deter,’’ end of quote, addi- tional movement across the border. Later, when he became the White House Chief of Staff, General Kelly confirmed, quote, ‘‘It could be a tough deterrent—would be a tough deterrent,’’ end of quote. Similarly, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions was asked if sep- arating children was intended as a deterrent, he said, quote, ‘‘Yes, hopefully people will get the message.’’ As many of you know, this is an issue I care deeply about. Last year, while Democrats were in the minority, I begged the Repub- lican leaders of this committee to take action. And when I say beg, I mean beg. I didn’t ask. Asking was too cheap. But they refused. I wrote letters seeking information about these children. I spoke up at completely unrelated hearings to warn about the plight of these children. But I was ignored. One Republican, Representative Mark Meadows, agreed to join me in sending a letter seeking documents. I thank him for that and for his cooperation. But the administration ignored our letter, and we never got a single page. Not a single word. Not a single syllable. I’m sorry to say the Republicans were fine with that during the last Congress. Well, that was their watch, and now this is our watch. And when I say ‘‘our watch,’’ I’m not just talking about Democrats. I’m talking about all of our watch. And so earlier this year we issued subpoenas to the Departments