House Democrats from districts across the country toured detention facilities Monday along the U.S.-Mexico border, capping off a weekend of such visits in an attempt to ramp up pressure on President Trump to reverse course on a new “zero tolerance” policy toward illegal border crossings.
Democrats and number of Republicans, including former first lady Laura Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, have assailed the administration for separating families at the border. The administration has waffled on its reasoning for implementing the policy from first blaming Democrats to taking credit for the policy change meant as “deterrence.”
House Democrats toured facilities along the Texas and California borders with Mexico on Monday to keep the focus on immigrant children, and urge residents in those states to call the White House.
“We will continue to raise our voices to stop patent, overt and definitive child abuse,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, after touring Casa Padre and Casa Presidente facilities housing separated children in Brownsville, Texas.
Led by Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Texas, Democrats hosted a roundtable with local health, religious, and immigrant advocate leaders. One pediatrician spoke about the “trauma” such separations can have on a child, and a local priest said there’s nothing Christian about the administration’s policy.
“We are here to deliver a very clear message to the president: Mr. President, if you really are in charge pick up the phone and stop this, stop the separation of children,” said Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. “And Mr. President if you’re not in charge call whoever is and ask permission if that’s Stephen Miller or Steve Bannon.”
Miller is an immigration hardliner and one of Trump’s senior policy advisers. Bannon is the former White House chief strategist.
Further west in California, Democrats followed their colleagues pleas, calling on Trump to pick up the phone and direct the Department of Homeland Security to stop the separations. Members gave out the number for the White House switchboard, repeatedly telling local residents to call Trump.
Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., led a delegation on a tour of a facility along the San Diego border. The new policy, Vargas said, is “certainly not biblical.”
“[Trump] was not elected to commit child abuse, this is child abuse,” said Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y.
During the visit, Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., met three women that weren’t given a chance to say goodbye to their children. Barragan described a facility she visited that detained adults as “nothing short of a jail cell, we saw jails.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., joined the group to fight the “heartbreaking, barbaric” policy.
“I know that these people in Congress and in the administration are parents. They understand the damage that is done when stressed is exacted on children by separating them from their families,” Pelosi said of Republicans. “Do they think these children deserve less than their children do?”
There is no law that mandates immigrant families must be separated, but there is a policy implemented by Trump that everyone crossing the border is supposed to be charged with illegal entry, including charging asylum seekers.
Pelosi said Democrats will persist in gathering information on the treatment of the immigrant children to help the public see that “our values are on the line.”
“[Trump’s] using these children to advance a bad policy,” Pelosi said. “This is red meat for his base but I think he underestimates the dignity of his base.”
