Campaign Action
All 10 Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee signed on to a letter Monday urging their GOP chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, to hold “an immediate oversight hearing” on the Trump administration’s family separation policy currently wreaking havoc at the nation’s borders.
“We cannot remain silent in the face of these horrifying stories,” wrote the Democrats. “Our Committee has a moral obligation to examine whether this policy is consistent with our most basic American values. We strongly believe it is not. We owe it to the American people to hold a hearing so that we can all, together, learn more about this policy being implemented in our name.”
Abso-fucking-lutely! Precisely because the Republicans almost certainly will not execute any of the oversight responsibilities they are charged with performing as U.S. lawmakers, Democrats must remind them of their duties as public servants. If an atrocity of this scope and magnitude were being perpetrated under a Democratic president, Republicans would most certainly call hearings—as they should. Same with the House.
Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should absolutely have to justify this policy, explain how they are executing it, how they are trying to minimize (or not) the humanitarian crisis, and the system they are using (or not) to reunite families following the separation.
In any remotely functional Congress, they would be up on Capitol Hill in a heartbeat getting grilled about this misbegotten policy. But in this Republican-controlled Congress, they’re too afraid of big bad Donald Trump and losing their majority to address his policy of targeting a defenseless population with state-sponsored terror.
Below is a list of Republican Senate Judiciary members. If you live in any of their states and find this policy abhorrent, make sure to call them and let them know.
GOP Senate Judiciary Committee members:
Grassley, Chuck (IA), Chairman
Hatch, Orrin G. (UT)
Graham, Lindsey (SC)
Cornyn, John (TX)
Lee, Mike (UT)
Cruz, Ted (TX)
Sasse, Ben (NE)
Flake, Jeff (AZ)
Crapo, Mike (ID)
Tillis, Thom (NC)
Kennedy, John (LA)
Conversely, you can call your Democratic senators and thank them for taking a stand.
Feinstein, Dianne (CA), Ranking Member
Leahy, Patrick J. (VT)
Durbin, Richard J. (IL)
Whitehouse, Sheldon (RI)
Klobuchar, Amy (MN)
Coons, Christopher A. (DE)
Blumenthal, Richard (CT)
Hirono, Mazie K. (HI)
Booker, Cory A. (NJ)
Harris, Kamala D. (CA)