Amy Klobuchar: “I thank Mr. Merkley, the Senator from Oregon, for his leadership and his calling attention to the tragedy that has been…”

“I thank Mr. Merkley, the Senator from Oregon, for his leadership and his calling attention to the tragedy that has been going on right on our border. I rise today to join my colleagues to express my deep concern about the policy that was adopted by this administration to separate families at the border. What we have seen over the past several days and weeks and actually months is simply unacceptable. While the President has now recognized publicly that we should not be taking children from their parents, this should not be happening in our country. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 2,342 children were separated from their parents at the border between May 5 and June 9. The pace of these separations had been increasing, with nearly 70 children being taken from their parents up until today and being kept in facilities that are increasingly overcrowded. The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have expressed their opposition. They said that this type of family separation does ``irreparable harm'' to children. The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who traveled to the border, called it ``a form of child abuse.'' It is not just the medical groups. A bipartisan group of 75 former U.S. attorneys called on the administration to end its policy. The group included a former Republican U.S. attorney who served under both President Bushes, Tom Heffelfinger from the State of Minnesota.…”