A Democratic congressman from Virginia will offer an amendment to the defense policy bill that would prohibit the Trump administration from housing children who illegally cross the southern border on military bases.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said in a statement he plans to introduce the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2019 following reports the Department of Health and Human Services was considering the proposal.
“It’s heartless and shameful that the Trump administration is ripping families apart and even considering keeping kids who are separated from their parents at the border on U.S. military bases,” Connolly said in a statement. “My amendment to the NDAA would stop this cruel policy.”
The amendment bars the use of military installations to house immigrant children “forcibly separated” from their parents.
The Washington Post reported this week that HHS is preparing to visit four bases in Texas and Arkansas over the next two weeks to assess whether they’re suitable places to house minors. The bases would be used to shelter minors who arrive in the U.S. either without an adult relative or who are separated by the government from their families.
The Trump administration has defended its new push to prosecute illegal immigrants by saying there is no stated policy to separate people from their children, and that separation happens in the process of prosecuting people, just as it would happen when a U.S. citizen is brought up on charges. Officials have said HHS now takes care of children until the process is over.
