news

Today, Congresswomen Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Lori Trahan (MA-03) launched the Congressional Moms Task Force on Family Separation to provide fellow mothers in Congress with a platform to lead reunification efforts in coordination with the Biden administration for migrant children who are still separated from their parents.

“In 2017, the Trump administration quietly used El Paso as a testing ground for the shameful family separation policy which ripped thousands of children from their parents’ arms at our southern border,” said Congresswoman Escobar. “As our nation continues to confront the consequences of an anti-immigrant agenda, I am proud that the Congressional Moms Task Force on Family Separation has taken up the mission of working with the Biden administration to ensure all separated children are identified and reunited with their loved ones.”

“The Trump administration’s family separation policy was cruel, unnecessary, and fundamentally un-American. As we work to restore humanity to our nation’s values, we must make urgent efforts to reunite separated children with their parents as soon as possible,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “I’m proud to join with Congresswoman Escobar and fellow moms in the House to form this Task Force that will work alongside the Biden administration to reunite children with their families and return decency to our immigration system.”

Over the last four years, the Trump administration has implemented cruel immigration policies meant to deter families from seeking asylum. From the family separation policy implemented in April 2018 to the expulsion policy created in March of last year, immigrant families have suffered at the hands of Trump appointees and their draconian regulations. Because of the Trump administration’s disregard for humane asylum safeguards, we are not sure of the extent of the separations that have occurred.

As mothers, Escobar, Trahan, and members of the task force believe women should play a leading role in advancing reunification efforts. In coordination with the Biden administration, the Moms Task Force on Family Separation will work to advance proposals necessary to ensure an urgent federal response in locating the separated families and swiftly reuniting them. Additionally, the Task Force will advocate for the creation of a Special Select Committee on Family Separation to investigate and adequately respond to this crisis and guide commonsense policies in Congress to prevent family separation at the border from ever happening again.

Additional members of the Task Force include: Congresswomen Cindy Axne (IA-03), Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44), Anna G. Eshoo (CA-18), Lois Frankel (FL-18), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-02), Doris Matsui (CA-06), Grace Meng (NY-06), Grace F. Napolitano (CA-32), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Linda T. Sánchez (CA-38), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Jackie Speier (CA-14), and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23).