Durbin Statement on Settlement Agreement for Families Separated at the U.S.-Mexico Border by the Trump Administration

CHICAGO – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement regarding the settlement agreement in the Ms. L vs. Immigration and Customs Enforcement class action lawsuit:

“Today’s announcement is a win for the hundreds of families who endured severe trauma due to the Trump Administration’s cruel and inhumane family separation policy—a policy that went directly against the values of this nation.  The prior Administration chose to separate thousands of children from their parents or guardians, inflicting permanent trauma on these children with no plan to reunite them.  We owe it to these families to ensure that we never repeat this dark period in our history.

“I applaud the entire Biden-Harris Administration for their steadfast commitment to ensuring these families receive the resources they need to aid in their recovery.”

Durbin was an outspoken critic of the Trump Administration’s family separation policy and called on then U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to resign as a result.  He was also the lead requester of three investigations into the policy—one to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG), one to DHS OIG, and one to the Department of Justice (DOJ) OIG.

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