The American Immigration Council submitted a written statement to the House Committee on the Judiciary for a July 25, 2019 hearing on the “Oversight of Family Separation and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Short-Term Custody Under the Trump Administration.” The statement highlights the Council’s concerns regarding the systematic separation of families at the border, and the impact of President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy directing federal law enforcement to prosecute all adult immigrants who entered the country unlawfully.
The statement also highlights critical information that the Council and its partner organizations collected and conveyed to the Department of Homeland Security clearly documenting the extreme trauma that this new policy forced upon immigrant families, and the related negative impact on their ability to effectively pursue relief in their respective immigration cases.
