Congress Fails to Protect Refugee Children in Detention

Washington, D.C.—In response to reports that the House of Representatives will vote on the Senate’s version of a supplemental funding bill that includes money for the humanitarian crisis at the border, Human Rights First’s Jennifer Quigley issued the following statement:

Obviously agencies responding to the humanitarian crisis at the border need additional funding, but it is ludicrous to simply hand a blank check over to the Trump Administration without including essential provisions to protect children and refugee families.

We know that anti-immigration hardliners in this administration, who tout policies that lead to abuses in detention, cannot be relied on to set standards for the treatment of children in their care. By passing the Senate Republican bill as it stands now, Congress is abdicating their oversight role and allowing the abuse of refugee children to continue.

Children are dying in U.S. custody. Families are drowning as they try to reach protection in the United States. And rather than take meaningful steps to protect vulnerable people, Congress has simply bent to the whim of a White House intent on inflicting cruelty and trauma on those seeking refuge.