Rosa DeLauro

I would just say just to follow up quickly on something that Congressman Cole said, which is--and I think you have made reference to it, Commander, is the post-release services.

I was the first Member of Congress to put funding into that system, because I understood what it did.

If we had a discharge plan that was adequate and move these children out quickly, as we said earlier, that the longer they are there, the more traumatized they are.

The MOA must be rescinded.

As long as the MOA is still in place, there are sponsors who are terrified of coming forward.

Finally, you have to still establish a negotiated agreement.

I think that that's where, you know, when I see the progressive sequencing of that golden door closing, first with the metering, then now with the interim final rule...

Rescind the memorandum of agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services.

We wouldn't need the beds if we are--and, you know, we had a case management system, Tom.

That sets a tone. It sets a tone, and I think it's incumbent upon us to reverse that tone.

We do not have an environment and that's not everyone. That's not everyone.

You cannot have the whole experience for people or denigrate people who, for one reason or another, whether they were or now or in the past coming for economic reasons, they did.

Of course we need comprehensive immigration reform, but in terms of the policies we have in place, they are responsive even to the climate that we're dealing with right now.

The bureaucratic snafu around--you know, I understand two weeks in the shortest particular time. Why then would it--why would it be taking so long in some of these instances?

I'd very much like to get that report, if we can. Thank you.

I have no problem calling into question policies of the prior administration and that's why in this case, we are looking at some more restrictions around the process that has created a situation where we were trying to deal with increased…

Rather than investing in beds and these influx facilities, which are incredibly expensive, a much better investment is into making sure that that analysis is done.

There are insufficient numbers of caseworkers working in all of these influx facilities.

Thank you both very much for very powerful testimony and thank you for your dedication, your commitment, and compassion in dealing with this very serious issue.

The term 'unaccompanied minors' is seemingly meant to give the impression that these children come to the border by themselves.

We must cease the protracted use of influx shelters and close Homestead, which is not in the best interests of the children.

Homestead is not a home. It's an industrial line for the processing of mass numbers of children.

Either they come forward and they free their child from detention and they risk being deported or they stay back and they let their children languish in detention.

Let's rescind the rest of it, and let's get these children with good standards of care.

That has been one of the most serious and onerous policies emanating from that MOA that has brought us to the brink of something that has been, yes, a crisis, a humanitarian crisis.