Suzan Delbene ‘extremely concerned’ as she heads to Texas
Jun 22, 2018, 10:13 AM
Congressmember Suzan DelBene represents Washington's 1st District. (File, Associated Press)
(File, Associated Press)
Congressmember Suzan Delbene (D-Washington) will tour a detention facility in Texas where immigrant children who were separated from their parents are being held.
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Delbene says she’s concerned about the way the children are being treated and plans to question Homeland Security.
“What they’re doing to reunite families, how they’ve been tracking information on children and on parents so they know who is connected to who. Are people able to talk to each other?” Delbene asked. “This is very concerning as so far the answers have not been satisfactory.”
President Trump signed an executive order this week that stops the separation of families attempting to enter the country from Mexico. However, it doesn’t guarantee the approximately 2,300 children who were already separated due to the administration’s zero-tolerance policy will be reunited with their parents quickly.
On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee and state Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the policy that has led to children being separated from their families.
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Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and a delegation of mayors were turned away from an ICE detention facility in Texas where children are being held. They demanded to see how children are being treated but were turned away.
Delbene will try to accomplish what they couldn’t.
“I’m going to Texas to see with my own eyes the conditions that are happening at the border and also to a detention center to see the conditions these children are living in,” Delbene told KIRO Radio.
She added: “I’m extremely concerned about how these children are being treated. I’m a parent. I can’t imagine what these families are going through having children ripped away from their parents and even sent to other parts of the country and detention.”
