WASHINGTON – Following reports that the Trump Administration is preparing mass arrests and deportations of undocumented families, which could lead to many families being separated, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, today called out President Donald Trump for his cruel, anti-immigrant agenda.
“These mass arrests and mass deportations are going to create fear in communities across the United States, including the City of Chicago, which I am honored to represent. And for what? It won’t make America safer for us to deport these people. Sadly, it’s going to mean that their families are going to be torn apart and there will be more children and families in detention,” Durbin said. “This is not what America is all about. There is a way for us to deal with immigration in a sensible, thoughtful, rational way. Cruelty has no place in the history of this country and has no place when it comes to the treatment of those who are in the United States today.”
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor are available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.
In April, Durbin visited the Port of Entry in El Paso, Texas, and a nearby Border Patrol Station. In May, Durbin led 24 Senators in calling on the International Committee of the Red Cross and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Inspector General to investigate these Border Patrol facilities. In May, the DHS Inspector General’s Office released a report detailing the inhumane and dangerous overcrowding of migrants at the El Paso Port of Entry. Last week, the DHS Inspector General issued another scathing report, this time about multiple Border Patrol facilities in the Rio Grande Valley.
