Washington, DC—In response to Acting Department of Homeland Secretary Chad Wolf’s television statement today that there are no plans to release immigrants in detention, including children, despite a federal judge’s June 26 order that due to COVID-19 concerns the administration must release children held in the nation’s three family detention centers by mid-July, KIND President Wendy Young issued the following statement:
“Federal court judges continue to strike down the Trump Administration’s sustained attacks on immigrants, including children seeking refuge in our nation, and the American public has made clear it will not stand for the systemic separation of children from their parents. No amount of grandstanding from government officials supersedes these rulings or public sentiments. This is particularly troubling considering that KIND is still helping hundreds of children who were separated from their parents in 2018, including some who remain apart from their families, and all who have been traumatized by our government. The administration is using the pandemic to push policies that have nothing to do with keeping people safe and everything to do with advancing its agenda of closing our borders to all immigrants, including children. This administration isn’t above the law and it should immediately comply with these court orders.”
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Media Contact: Megan McKenna, mmckenna@supportkind.org, 202-631-9990