Rep. Chu Joins Progressive Caucus, House Judiciary Democrats at Forum on Family Detention

Statement

The Congressional Progressive Caucus, along with Democratic Members of the House Judiciary Committee and support from the Congressional Tri-Caucuses, today held a forum on family detention. The forum highlighted grave abuses experienced by women and children housed in for-profit detention facilities across the country. The forum allowed Members of Congress to hear directly from a panel that included two former detainees, a whistleblower who once worked as the lead social worker at a detention facility, and two experts who spoke to the psychological, developmental and legal implications of current family detention policies. The event comes just days after a federal judge in California ruled that DHS's family detention policy violates a longstanding court settlement regarding the treatment of children in immigration custody.

"What I saw on my visits to Dilley and Karnes was shocking," Rep. Chu said. "The bleak, barracks-like conditions these women and children were held in reminded me of the Japanese Internment camps. And like those camps, the damage of detention is long lasting. Prolonged detention re-traumatizes families, breaks apart the parent-child relationship, and has serious cognitive effects on children. I appreciate hearing from today's witnesses who are bravely documenting what they experienced inside these facilities. It is my hope that an end to this sad chapter will come very soon, and we can turn to a more humane and just way of treating refuge families seeking protection in our country."F

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