[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 20 (Thursday, January 31, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S802-S803]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. Leahy, Mrs. Murray, Mr. 
        Wyden, Ms. Harris, Ms. Rosen, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. King, Mr. 
        Carper, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Coons, Mr. 
        Blumenthal, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Reed, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Hassan, Mr. 
        Markey, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. 
        Heinrich, Mr. Udall, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Booker, Mr. Whitehouse, 
        Mr. Merkley, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Casey, Ms. Hirono, Mrs. 
        Gillibrand, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Warren, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. 
        Baldwin, Mr. Brown, Ms. Smith, Mr. Warner, Mr. Peters, Mr. 
        Jones, and Mr. Schatz):
  S. 292. A bill to limit the separation of families at or near ports 
of entry; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to reintroduce 
legislation that will finally put an end to the separation of families 
at our southern border. I have believed from the outset that the 
administration was wrong to pursue a zero tolerance policy of family 
separation, which is cruel and detrimental to children and parents 
alike.
  The President claimed to end this policy in June by executive order, 
but we have learned that the practice of separating families continues 
today. In fact, the separations may have been broader in scope than we 
previously knew.
  Last year, the American people were rightly horrified when thousands 
of children, including babies and toddlers, were taken from their 
parents, to be separated for weeks and months. Dozens of these children 
spent days and weeks in cages with nothing but thin mats and aluminum 
blankets.
  In response, people from all walks of life--Republicans, Democrats, 
clergy, the medical community, business leaders, labor organizers--
stood up and

[[Page S803]]

said, ``enough is enough.'' Average Americans spoke out, marched, and 
called their members of Congress pleading for us to stand up to the 
President and demand he reverse his policy.
  But we still may not know the full scope of the harm that was caused. 
We still do not know just how many families were torn apart as a result 
of the zero tolerance policy.
  Litigation has identified over 2,700 children who were separated from 
their parents by DHS, including nearly 100 children under the age of 5. 
However, in January the Inspector General for Health and Human Services 
found that ``this number does not represent the full scope of family 
separations.'' Indeed thousands--thousands--more children may have been 
separated from their parents in 2017, before the start of the 
accounting period required by the court.
  We have also learned in recent weeks that this crisis is not over. 
Families are still being separated from one another.
  In June, the Trump administration issued an executive order that 
ended the ``zero tolerance'' family separation policy. Despite that 
order, the practice of family separation did not end.
  Instead, the Inspector General for Health and Human Services reported 
that separations are ongoing with little oversight or accountability. 
In fact, at least 118 children were separated from their parents 
between June 2018, when the executive order was issued, and early 
November.
  These family separations could not have happened if Republicans had 
joined me and all Senate Democrats to pass the Keep Families Together 
Act last Congress. The Keep Families Together Act prohibits Border 
Patrol from separating children from their parents or legal guardians, 
without good cause.
  Good cause is defined with a focus on the best interest of the child, 
and cannot be based on the parent's migration or crossing of the 
border. No separation can be made without consulting a child welfare 
specialist, and all presumptions are made in favor of family unity, 
including unity of siblings.
  The Keep Families Together Act includes vital oversight mechanisms 
that will ensure that every child separated under the zero tolerance 
policy is accounted for. These include a requirement for DHS to publish 
transparent guidance on separations, as well as annual reporting 
requirements and a requirement for a GAO report on criminal prosecution 
of asylum seekers.
  These are basic protections for children that should not be 
controversial. Parents who try to protect their children from violence 
and poverty abroad, should not be punished by having those children 
ripped from their arms. Children should not be subjected to severe 
trauma in the interest of deterring migration.
  Instead, families should be kept together and given a fair chance to 
present their cases for asylum. The Keep Families Together Act will 
provide these fundamental necessities and protect children from further 
harm. We have a fresh start in a new Congress. It is time to make these 
vital protections a reality.
                                 ______