WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today Sen. Mark R. Warner joined 48 U.S. Senators in calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on the Trump administration’s treatment of children coming across the Southern border. 

Following yesterday’s Trump Executive Order, new questions have been raised about whether the children who have already been separated will be reunited with their families, and how children will be treated going forward.

The Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy “is responsible for hundreds of children being forcibly separated from their families, falsely labeled ‘unaccompanied alien children,’ and transferred to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement,” the Senators wrote in a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. “This cruel treatment of children and families arriving to the United States demands immediate and direct Congressional oversight. 

In addition to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who led the letter, the letter was signed by Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Doug Jones (D-AL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Angus King (I-ME), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Patty Murray (D-WA), Tom Carper (D-DE), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jack Reed (D-RI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bob Casey (D-PA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tom Udall (D-NM), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mark Warner (D-VA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Gary Peters (D-MI), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chris Coons (D-DE), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jon Tester (D-MT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Charles E. Schumer (D-NY).

The full letter is available here and below. 

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