***Video***Blumenthal Delivers Opening Statement at Forum on how DHS Policies Hurt Children

[WASHINGTON, DC] – Today, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), delivered an opening statement at a bicameral public forum on how DHS policies hurt children. The forum, entitled “Our Values at Stake: How Trump’s Immigration Agenda Endangers Children,” featured testimony from young people and mothers about their personal experiences being assaulted or separated from their families by DHS agents. The forum also featured testimony from a school administrator about the impact of current DHS policies on schools and children.

“The second Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement has known no limits in its cruelty. They punish people simply for exercising their constitutional rights, like the First Amendment that protects people’s right to speak and dissent and protest. They’ve dragged people out of their cars, tear-gassed and beaten anyone who happened to be in their path. They’ve murdered American citizens. But even through all of it, nothing is more emblematic of the cruelty and inhumanity and callousness of this Administration than the way they have treated children,” Blumenthal said.

Pointing to the findings of a report Blumenthal and Garcia released prior to the start of the forum, Blumenthal continued, “We have found, through our research, cases of 128 children who have been injured, left unattended, or otherwise put at direct risk of harm due to operations of the Department of Homeland Security. This is the Department of Homeland Security—Security. They have made kids insecure and unsafe. They have treated them with a cruelty and inhumanity that is unconscionable and intolerable in the greatest country in the history of the world or anywhere. We would denounce it if it occurred halfway across the globe. And yet it is tolerated in this country.”

Blumenthal continued, “These stories that we’re recounting today are in a report called, ‘Cruelty is the Point.’ And the reason for that title is in fact, cruelty is the purpose and the objective—consciously, purposefully, and strategically, of an agency that wants to instill insecurity that directly conflicts with its name, Homeland Security. And these cases in this report are just a fraction of the total that exists.”

Blumenthal continued, “And I just want to say, part of the reason why we’re here today is the persistent reporting of journalists who also have shown indomitable courage in making these stories real. Today, we’re going to hear from six brave witnesses about ICE and CBP and about how they are terrorizing children in our neighborhoods. These extraordinary individuals have shown incredible courage, not just to persevere, but to come forward and tell the world about the callousness that should shock the conscience of all Americans.”

“The heartless indifference to the safety and well-being of our children across America is an indelible stain. It is indelible. It is now part of our history. And in making it part of our history and highlighting it today, we want to reverse those practices and reform the agency. And right now, in the United States senate, we are debating legislation that would in fact, reform this out-of-control, reckless, lawless agency. The shock value of your testimony today should move our nation and should persuade my colleagues that now is the time for reform,” Blumenthal concluded.

Today’s forum is the fourth public forum Blumenthal and Garcia have hosted as part of their ongoing inquiry into the lawless and abusive tactics used by federal immigration agents. Prior to the forum, Blumenthal and Garcia released a report entitled “Cruelty is the Point: How Trump’s Immigration Agenda Endangers Children,” which documents 128 children who have been injured left unattended or otherwise put at direct risk of harm as a result of operations by DHS personnel.

A video of Blumenthal’s opening remarks at today’s forum is available here. A transcript of his remarks is available below.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumethal (D-CT): Thank you very much, Representative Garcia. I want to begin by thanking you for your persistence and courage, your incredibly dedicated work on this investigation and so many other matters before the United States Congress today. This is a spotlight forum, and I wish it were a formal hearing where we would be sitting up at the dais with bipartisan cooperation to root out and stop the kind of abuse that you are helping us to document. Unfortunately, we as members of the minority, are uncovering and exposing these kinds of horrific abuses of authority, lawless and reckless, on the part of government agents on our own—but they are no less meaningful than they would be if they were formal Committee hearings, because literally thousands and thousands of people are watching as you speak, more than would be watching, in fact, most formal hearings of Committees.

And so, I want to thank not only Representative Garcia, but all of our staff for their dedicated work and most importantly, our witnesses who have come to be here today, long distances, but most important, a lot of courage and fortitude because recounting your stories, I know, is painful—going through the experiences were immensely painful, and then to have to relive them here in public takes a lot of guts, takes a lot of guts and grit and grace. And I want to thank every single one of you for it.

The second Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement has known no limits in its cruelty. They punish people simply for exercising their constitutional rights, like the First Amendment that protects people’s right to speak and dissent and protest. They’ve dragged people out of their cars, tear-gassed and beaten anyone who happened to be in their path. They've murdered American citizens. But even through all of it, nothing is more emblematic of the cruelty and inhumanity and callousness of this Administration than the way they have treated children.

We have found, through our research, cases of 128 children who have been injured, left unattended, or otherwise put at direct risk of harm due to operations of the Department of Homeland Security. This is the Department of Homeland Security—Security. They have made kids insecure and unsafe. They have treated them with a cruelty and inhumanity that is unconscionable and intolerable in the greatest country in the history of the world or anywhere. We would denounce it if it occurred halfway across the globe. And yet it is tolerated in this country.

These numbers include 20 children who were pepper sprayed by DHS agents and ten children who required medical attention due to their encounters with DHS, the Department of Homeland Security. It also includes 42 enforcement operations at or near schools, daycares, bus stops or other locations where children gather. These stories that we’re recounting today are in a report called, “Cruelty is the Point.” And the reason for that title is in fact, cruelty is the purpose and the objective—consciously, purposefully, and strategically, of an agency that wants to instill insecurity that directly conflicts with its name, Homeland Security.

And these cases in this report are just a fraction of the total that exists. We know that many want to hide after they go through this experience. Many want to, in effect, try to forget. And you’re the brave ones coming forward. We recount in this report only a fraction of the total number of abuses.

At the notorious Dilley Family Detention Center in Texas, officials reportedly removed the children’s access to crayons after their drawings appeared in a ProPublica story. You can see here some of what those ICE officials wanted to hide. “When will we go home?” When will we go home? When will America come home to its values? When will DHS come home to its real mission—security?

Our efforts to document and elevate the stories of this regime's heartless actions against children will continue. And we know that there are thousands more stories to be told. In fact, just yesterday, it was reported that the Trump Administration has detained the parents of 11,000 children who are U.S. citizens. The headline is, “Trump has Detained the Parents of More than 11,000 U.S. Citizen Kids,” and it’s in ProPublica. And I just want to say, part of the reason why we're here today is the persistent reporting of journalists who also have shown indomitable courage in making these stories real.

Today, we're going to hear from six brave witnesses about ICE and CBP and about how they are terrorizing children in our neighborhoods. These extraordinary individuals have shown incredible courage, not just to persevere, but to come forward and tell the world about the callousness that should shock the conscience of all Americans.

It’s our fourth public forum as part of this inquiry. I continue to be amazed by the courage of witnesses, whether they are whistleblowers from within the agency or victims of this brutality of different ages and backgrounds—some on their way to church, others to pick up kids at schools, all over the country. Witnesses come today from Massachusetts, Idaho, Texas, California, and Minnesota.

Minneapolis was not an isolated incident. We are all Minneapolis. The nation is Minneapolis, and you truly show us that this is a nationwide trauma and speak for many more who have also been impacted by the Department of Homeland Security’s conduct.

The heartless indifference to the safety and well-being of our children across America is an indelible stain. It is indelible. It is now part of our history. And in making it part of our history and highlighting it today, we want to reverse those practices and reform the agency. And right now, in the United States Senate, we are debating legislation that would in fact, reform this out-of-control, reckless, lawless agency.

The shock value of your testimony today should move our nation and should persuade my colleagues that now is the time for reform. We have to bring this agency home and restore the rule of law in the Department of Homeland Security to make sure that our nation is, in fact, secure.

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