[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 26, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4380-S4381]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FAMILY SEPARATION

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, on immigration, in the past few weeks, 
it has not been so optimistic. The Trump administration has created a 
humanitarian crisis at our southern border through its cruel family 
separation policy. An Executive order signed by the President last week 
has barely undone the damage. It largely leaves the original policy 
intact and raises a whole series of unresolved questions.
  Those in the administration have a lot of questions to answer, and it 
is only they who can straighten this out. Legislation might be a good 
thing, but we all know the path to legislation is fraught with peril. 
Having legislation pass the House, pass the Senate, and be signed by 
the President hasn't happened in a while. In the meantime, while people 
grapple with legislation--and I encourage people to talk to one 
another--we have a lot of questions that the administration must 
answer: How many children are separated from their parents? Where are 
those children? Where are the parents? What kind of care are these kids 
getting? How are they holding up?
  I saw on one of the TV shows this morning a little girl, who asked: 
Where is my mommy? Where is my mommy? She was a young girl who was, 
maybe, 4 years old.
  That is not the America any of us--regardless of our party, 
regardless of our political philosophy--believe in. We see that in 
other countries that are much crueler and less democratic than we. So 
we need these questions answered by the administration quickly.
  The second thing we need is a plan. The administration, the 
President, and

[[Page S4381]]

others have said that we are not going to break up families anymore 
even though he was the cause of breaking up the families. What is the 
plan to get them back together? What is the plan for the future? They 
now say they are going back to the way it was under Obama because they 
don't have the resources. What are the resources they need? At the same 
time, when Sarah Huckabee Sanders says that they don't have the 
resources, President Trump says: I don't want any more immigration 
judges. This administration is just contradictory and tied in a knot.
  Compounding the problem is the President's ranting--that is what he 
is doing; I hate to say it--at these rallies when he says that 
Democrats want crime. Democrats want open borders. Well, Mr. President, 
I am the author, with John McCain--someone you have also belittled--of 
a bill that passed this body with 69 votes that put $40 billion on the 
border. It would have been far more effective than any wall. We could 
do that now. We could do comprehensive reform now if some people would 
be for it on the other side and in the White House.
  These rants--these hysterical, nasty, finger-pointing rants--don't 
help bring bipartisanship here. Yet we expect that of the President, as 
he has been highly partisan, but they don't help solve the problem. He 
just shoots from the hip. The different agencies, whether they be the 
Department of Justice and the Attorney General, the Secretary of HHS, 
and the Secretary of Homeland Security, don't know what to do because 
there are so many contradictory signals coming. Who suffers? These poor 
little children who are separated from their parents suffer.
  Two days ago, Sunday, in New York, I called for a czar--a good czar--
because, when you have different agencies in charge, you need the White 
House to direct it all. This President shoots from the hip and is more 
interested in nasty rhetoric than in solving problems, and nothing gets 
solved. A czar--some capable, level-headed person who has the 
President's blessing in the White House, who could help coordinate 
between Justice and HHS and Homeland Security and the other agencies 
that are involved--could help solve this problem.
  Whether it goes for the czar or not, this administration needs to 
present a plan--ASAP--of how to unify the kids and how to deal with the 
border. It has no plan. It has a lot of contradictory language. Let's 
hope it can get there for the sake of humanity and for the sake of what 
this country has been all about for its beautiful 229 years.

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