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Today, Congresswomen Debbie Dingell (MI-12) and Annie Kuster (NH-2) released a response from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to a request made by nearly every Democratic woman in the House for details about immigrant children separated from their parents, specifically young girls. You can read the lawmakers’ request here, and Nielsen’s response here. The Department of Health and Human Services has yet to respond. 

The response comes on the court-ordered deadline for the Trump Administration to reunite all children separated from their parents. Questions remain about how the Administration plans to handle the nearly 500 children whose parents have been deported.

“Secretary Nielsen’s response left a lot to be desired,” said Dingell. “On the day when the courts have ordered all separated children must be reunited with their families, Congress is still in the dark on the conditions these kids were housed in. Congress has a responsibility to ensure all these kids, especially the girls, were cared for with the safety, support, and protection they deserve as human beings. These are children and it’s our job to protect them. This isn’t over, there are hundreds of kids who won’t be reunited today because their parents are no longer in the country.”

“It’s bitterly disappointing that as the Administration is poised to miss a court imposed deadline to reunify children separated from their parents, Secretary Nielsen is unable to provide answers as to how DHS is ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children still in its custody,” said Kuster. “We outlined basic questions about the conditions of infants and young children who are still being held, but those concerns were not addressed by Secretary Nielsen. Regardless of one’s political persuasion, we can all agree that the safety of children and babies held by the U.S. government is paramount.”

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