U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz wants to overturn a Trump administration policy under which potential sponsors of unaccompanied migrant children being held by the government are arrested and deported.
Even without the policy, Wasserman Schultz said the children are languishing too long in government facilities. With it, children are stuck even longer, either because their sponsors are deported or they’re afraid to come forward to help the children because they fear becoming ensnared in the immigration system.
“The mere threat of arrest prevents other potential sponsors — many of whom are close family members to the detained children — from coming forward to give these children a home. This cruel betrayal hurts too many innocent children, and it must not continue to obstruct the reunification of families,” Wasserman Schultz said in a written statement.
On Thursday, the Broward/Miami-Dade County Democrat is introducing the Families, Not Facilities Act of 2019.
It would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security from using information from the placement process to conduct deportation hearings except in cases of trafficking, abuse or neglect.
“We should not be requesting and sharing sponsors’ immigration status,” Wasserman Schultz said. “The best interests of children must always come first.”
U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is sponsoring the proposal in the Senate.
From late July through late November, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement arrested 170 potential sponsors of unaccompanied minors who were in government custody.
That happened, Wasserman Schultz said, because the Department of Health and Human Services shared information with the Department of Homeland Security for immigration enforcement, something she said isn’t necessary to ensure the welfare of the children.
Under President Barack Obama, the records were kept separate.
The average stay for children in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services increased to 89 days in the first quarter of 2019 compared to an average of 60 days in 2018.
Joann Bautista, policy associate for the National Immigrant Justice Center, called the involvement of immigration agents in the process of unifying children with relatives “abhorrent.”
“The best place for children is to be at home with their families, not in a child prison like the facility in Homestead,” she said in a statement.
The Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Alien Children is growing rapidly. In January, officials announced plans to expand it from 1,350 beds to 2,350 beds. Last week, they said it would be increased to 3,200 beds.
On Monday, Wasserman Schultz and U.S. Reps. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Donna Shalala, both Miami-Dade County Democrats, were denied entry to Homestead facility. In June 2018, Wasserman Schultz and then U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., were turned away from the shelter.
After they and other lawmakers were barred from inspecting facilities where children were being held, a Wasserman Schultz-sponsored amendment to the Department of Health and Human Services budget said the agency couldn’t exclude members of Congress from entering such facilities.
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