DeGette statement on new report finding more children separated at the border

Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), the Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations panel, released the following statement today on the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general's newly-released report that found the Trump administration may have separated thousands more undocumented children at the border than previously reported:

"The HHS Office of Inspector General announced today that there were potentially thousands more children separated from their families at the border during an influx that began in 2017. In fact, the HHS inspector general says the actual number of children separated from their parents is unknown - and may never be known - because there is no adequate system in place to properly track which children were separated from their families and whether they were ever reunited. That's unacceptable. This was an unnecessarily cruel policy by the Trump administration and we should be doing everything we can to reunite these families immediately. This report further illustrates why this is such an important issue - and one that my subcommittee has already started to investigate. We plan to hold an oversight hearing on this topic early next month."

A copy of the HHS IG report is available here.