DHS Defends Border Response as Democrats Demand Answers on Kids

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s acting Homeland Security secretary defended the department’s response to the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and said fewer children are being separated from their parents.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Thursday questioned Kevin McAleenan, the acting Homeland Security secretary, about the separation of children and inhumane conditions reported in detention facilities. Chairman Elijah Cummings asked why DHS didn’t maintain records to track children who had been separated from their parents.

“The damage the Trump administration has inflicted and is continuing to inflict will impact these children for the rest of their lives,” said Cummings of Maryland.

McAleenan said less than 1,000 children have been separated from their families this fiscal year out of 450,000 family units apprehended at the border. He said the only cases of children still being separated from the adults accompanying them are to protect the child’s safety or when the family member is not the child’s parent.

Trump has made immigration a central part of his political message, but his administration’s policy last year of separating children from their parents -- in part as an effort to deter migration -- was widely denounced as cruel and dangerous. Democrats continue to push the administration to provide details about the treatment of migrants.

Overhauling Asylum Laws

Trump took executive action this week to require most migrants to apply for asylum in countries through which they travel, and that initiative already faces legal challenges. Republican senators are drafting measures that would change U.S. asylum laws and a court settlement known as Flores that restricts how long children can be detained.

“Flores has to be fixed, the asylum law, the loophole has to be addressed,” said Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, the ranking Republican on the committee. “Maybe if we had a border security wall that would help as well.”

Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan, questioned the motives behind talk of addressing the Flores settlement, saying the Trump administration has made it clear “they want to keep kids longer.”

McAleenan said that Congress’s delay in providing funding is part of what “left children in these situations way too long.” Last month, Congress passed $4.6 billion in supplemental funds for humanitarian purposes, which omitted some of the protections for migrants sought by progressive House Democrats.

Committee members also questioned McAleenan about Border Patrol officials who were involved in a Facebook group mocking migrant children and posting lewd photos, including photoshopped pictures of congresswomen.

McAleenan said there is an ongoing investigation and several officials have been served with cease-and-desist orders and put on administrative leave. He told the committee that he hopes to report findings by early next month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jarrell Dillard in Washington at jdillard11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton, Laurie Asséo

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