WASHINGTON – The U.S. government released new video last week, showing conditions inside a border patrol facility, as the outcry, finger-pointing and defense of the Trump administration policy intensified.
The policy has resulted in the separation of thousands of kids from their parents who have crossed the border illegally. On Monday, the President doubled-down in his blame on Democrats, before finally signing an executive order to end the separations on Wednesday, giving into mounting political pressure from both sides of the aisle.
Sen. Todd Young, in a statement last week, said the government “must make sure to reunite families expeditiously.”
“It is a moral imperative to ensure the safety and well-being of children, and the government must make sure to reunite families expeditiously. Our immigration system has been broken for far too long. We must solve this humanitarian and national security problem once and for all – as I have voted to do. As a Marine who used to work on border security issues, Hoosiers know that I will continue to fight for a real solution.”
In the video above, Young is asked if he’s satisfied the executive order will really solve the problem, especially as it relates to reuniting the families that have already been separated.
“I’m not entirely satisfied,” said Young in an interview on Thursday. “Congress really needs to act if we’re going to come up with a sustainable solution, and that’s going to require bipartisan work.”
Meantime, Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) said she is actively working with colleagues on a solution.
She wrote a letter to administration officials on Friday.
“While I am in support of defending our nation’s borders and am encouraged by the President’s recent executive order, many questions still remain surrounding the policies of taking children from their parents at the border,” said Brooks. “In this letter, I joined my colleagues to ask the responsible executive agencies to clarify their policies and procedures when it comes to separating families so we can better understand how to fix this disturbing situation at the border as quickly as possible. While Congress works to reform our broken immigration system, we must provide a compassionate, fair and efficient process that respects our laws as well as defends those who are most vulnerable. Keeping families together is the right thing to do. The separation of illegal immigrant families at our southern border does not reflect American values and is not a compassionate or fair way to be processing those who enter our country illegally. I look forward to the Administration’s timely response and will continue to look for ways to advocate for the reunification of those who have already been separated.”
At the same time, other Indiana lawmakers stayed silent on the issue, while others blamed Democrats.
“Most Republican members of Indiana’s congressional delegation have been unconscionably silent amid this outrage,” Indy Star columnist Tim Swarens wrote in a column published Monday afternoon.
“President Bush didn’t do this. President Obama didn’t do this,” said Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN). “This was a decision by the administration.”
Donnelly, who is facing re-election in November, joined all Senate Democrats Monday in backing the “Keep Families Together Act,” a bill writing by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that is intended to limit the separation of families.
Donnelly’s opponent Republican businessman Mike Bruan placed the responsibility on Congress in a statement, issued by his spokesman Josh Kelley.
“Mike Braun believes politicians have failed to fix our broken immigration system, and just like President Trump, he doesn’t want to see families separated, and he believes Congress needs to step up and address this problem and secure our border.”
