Campaign Action
Over 50 days later, the children are still not in the arms of their parents. Monday, Sept. 17, marks 53 days since Judge Dana Sabraw’s deadline ordering the reunification of migrant kids stolen from the arms of parents at the U.S./Mexico border, yet hundreds remain torn apart.
Trump officials still have 211 children under U.S. custody, recent numbers show, including six kids age five and under. The parents of 165 of those children have already been deported, including five kids age five and under. New developments in the effort to locate deported parents also continue to make it clear that officials stole these kids with no plan in place on how or when to ever reunite them with their parents.
“Lawyers asking [the] Trump administration for more help [are] finding already-deported parents of remaining separated kids,” MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff reports, including placing billboards and radio ads in parents’ home countries. Soboroff also reported that some parents may not be answering calls from the U.S. out of fear.
This has been a humanitarian disaster created by and continued by Donald Trump and his officials, and one that has been repeatedly condemned by the U.N. Yet not one official has been jailed for violating a judge’s order, or has been fired, or has been forced to resign. The Republican-led Congress has the power to investigate these abuses and haul in officials for questioning, yet it has abdicated its duty. These complicit legislators need to get the hell out.
Judge Sabraw can and should take steps of his own, not just because of basic human decency, but because officials believe they are above the law. “Please continue to stand up for what is right and decent,” said immigrant rights leader Frank Sharry. “Please call the top officials responsible for this dark chapter on the carpet. Please consider holding DHS Secretary Nielsen and HHS Secretary Azar in contempt. It’s time, once again, for dramatic action to end this horrible chapter and this ongoing suffering.”