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Pocan Slams Trump Administration for Failing to Reunite Migrant Children with Their Families

July 26, 2018

WASHINGTON, DC (July 26, 2018) U.S. Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02) today released the following statement regarding the Trump Administration's failure to reunite all 2,551 immigrant children over the age of five with their parents by today's court-ordered deadline. The missed deadline comes two weeks after the Trump Administration failed to reunite all the immigrant children under age 5 who had previously been separated from their parents.

"Despite today's court ordered deadline to reunite families, President Trump's disastrous family separation policy continues to be a nightmare for hundreds of migrant families. With just hours until the clock runs out on the directive for the Trump Administration to reunite more than 2,500 children over the age of five with their families, it's clear that the Administration will fail to do so. More than 400 parents may have been deported over the last several months without their children – potentially as a result of misinformation or coercion from the U.S. government – further threatening to keep families apart without any path to reunification.

"Speaker Ryan and Congressional Republicans must join Democrats in speaking out and demanding that the Trump Administration do more to correct the human rights disaster it created. When kids who aren't even old enough to read or write are still behind bars, separated from their families, we cannot be silent. Clearly the Trump Administration had no plan to reunite these families and Congress must demand answers as to why it has failed to meet the court-ordered deadline."

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