Feinstein Statement on Executive Order

Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today released the following statement on the Trump administration’s executive order on family separation:

“The American people have rightly been horrified by children being taken from their parents. They’ve spoken out, called their members of Congress and made clear that this is not who we are. President Trump has finally recognized his folly, but this humanitarian crisis should have never happened in the first place.

“Now the Trump administration’s top priority must be reuniting the more than 2,300 children who have been taken from their parents as quickly as possible to minimize the trauma they’ve experienced.

“Upon reading the actual text, it’s extremely troubling that the president’s executive order would require immigrant families with children to be detained indefinitely, with no opportunity to present evidence that they are not a flight risk or a danger, possibly violating the Flores agreement.

“The executive order appears to be the next step in the Trump administration’s larger agenda to eliminate basic protections for asylum seekers. We cannot trade protections for one set of immigrant children for another merely to further the president’s hard right, anti-immigrant agenda.”

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