Two Republican lawmakers — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona — are asking the Department of Homeland Security to provide more information about the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.
“What the administration has decided to do is to separate children from their parents to try to send a message that if you cross the border with children, your children are going to be ripped away from you. That’s traumatizing to the children who are innocent victims, and it is contrary to our values in this country,” Collins told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
In April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the U.S. would prosecute anyone found trying to cross the border illegally, which means parents could be separated from their children, with the adults being detained and charged and the children placed in U.S. custody.
[Also read: Jeff Sessions uses Bible to defend zero-tolerance border policy to church leaders]
Sessions also announced earlier this month that there would be a higher bar for migrants claiming domestic violence and gang violence to obtain asylum protections in the U.S.
In a Saturday letter, Collins and Flake asked if it is true to say: “When families present themselves at a legal point of entry seeking asylum, are children separated from their parents?”
Collins and Flake also want to know if the answer is yes, how many children have been separated and how long do the separations last.
[Trump administration could be holding 30,000 border kids by August, officials say]
“What DHS policy or legal theory provides the justification for these separations?” they wrote. “It is critical that Congress fully understands how our nation’s laws are being implemented on the ground, especially when the well-being of young children is at stake.”
Collins said Sunday she supports the president’s efforts to bolster border security, but said that “using children has not the answer.”
“From the experience of previous administrations, it does not act as a deterrent to use children in this fashion,” Collins said. “[I]t is inconsistent with our American values to separate these children from their parents unless there’s evidence of abuse or another very good reason.”
