Rep. Karen Bass (CA-37) this week joined more than 100 of her colleagues in introducing the “Keep Families Together Act of 2018” in response to the Trump administration’s controversial practice of family separation. This bill has also been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Diane Feinstein of California.
“The separation of immigrant families is a violation of human rights,” said Rep. Bass, a member of the House Subcommittee on Global Human Rights. “A civilized country should never levy lifelong trauma as a deterrent to immigrants seeking asylum, let alone defenseless children. Now, as the President of the United States uses these traumatized children and parents as collateral for his border wall, it is absolutely imperative that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle stand up to this inhumane practice and pass this piece of legislation.”
The “Keep Families Together Act of 2018” would prohibit border officials from separating children from their parents, except in extraordinary circumstances, restrict the prosecution of parents who are asylum seekers by adopting the recommendation of the DHS Office of Inspector General, and require all CBP officers and agents to complete child welfare training on an annual basis.
