Thread by @RepMcGovern

We have been able to confirm what other Members of Congress have heard & seen:

-no showers for over 40 days.
-lights are kept on all night & people are sleeping on concrete floors.
-some are complaining they have gone hungry.

Let’s be clear: decades of U.S. asylum & immigration law (upheld time and again by U.S. courts) protects children & families seeking safe haven in the United States. These laws comply with international law, treaties and agreements the U.S. has signed.

This framework has been upheld by past Republican & Democratic administrations, including during periods when the number of migrants coming to our southern border was 2 or 3x greater than it is now.

Then, in 2016, Trump terminated the “Family Case Management” program that even @ICEgov admits was 99% effective in having these families appear before a court. The program cost taxpayers about $38/day per family. In comparison, detaining families costs hundreds per day.

If Trump wanted a solution, he would improve & expand case management programs instead of defunding them, & increase the number of specialized personnel to interview asylum seekers, especially families and children, so they may be processed quickly, professionally & humanely.

The cruelty we are witnessing today is not an unintended consequence or side effect.

It is the goal.

Meant to say in *2017* Trump terminated the Family Case Management program.