Republican Rep. Will Hurd says he is concerned about the Health and Human Services Department’s ability to handle children separated from their families at the border because the agency’s phone number didn’t work during a conference call.
“We were supposed to have a conference call yesterday with members of Congress and their staff to talk about this process and the phone number didn’t work, so if they can’t do that with us, then I’m concerned with their ability of connecting kids,” the Texas Republican said.
Nearly 2,300 children were separated from their parents between May, when a zero tolerance immigration policy was implemented, and June 9. But President Trump then signed an executive order on Wednesday that seeks to keep immigrant families at the border together “while ensuring we have a powerful, very strong border.”
GOP Rep. @HurdOnTheHill says he’s concerned about HHS’s ability to reunite separated migrant children with their parents: “We were supposed to have a conference call yesterday … to talk about this process and the phone number didn’t work” https://t.co/zmh23SccDX pic.twitter.com/8r9KsRJE6R
— New Day (@NewDay) June 26, 2018
However, the order did not provide for a means of reuniting families already separated, and HHS currently has thousands of immigrant children in its custody at various detention centers.
[Related: Trump administration could be holding 30,000 border kids by August, officials say]
Hurd expressed concerns that immigrant children are not being reunited with their families as quickly as they should be.
“We are still operating under the Florence settlement that says that the government can’t hold kids for more than 20 days, so we may not be separating families at the border, but when they have them in custody, that means HHS or potentially DOJ might be taking these families after those 20 days if we don’t figure out an alternative,” he said.
HHS did not immediately respond when asked for comment.
