Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Immigration
Durbin Calls On DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen To Step Down In Wake Of Failure To Reunite "Deleted" Families
WASHINGTON-During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Trump Administration's incompetent family reunification efforts, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the architect of this humanitarian disaster, to resign. "Incredibly, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen claimed, 'We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period.' But it was on her watch and under her … Continue Reading
July 26, 2018
On Deadline Day To Reunite Separated Families, Durbin & Senators Call For DOJ Investigation of "Zero Tolerance" Immigration Policy
WASHINGTON-Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with 30 other senators, sent a letter to Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz calling for an investigation into DOJ's role in the creation and implementation of the Trump Administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General are conducting reviews of the … Continue Reading
July 19, 2018
Durbin Demands Trump Administration Reunite Families Torn Apart Under "Zero Tolerance" Policy By Deadline Next Week
WASHINGTON-In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today urged the Trump Administration to reunite families torn apart by President Trump's cruel "zero tolerance" policy by the court-ordered deadline of July 26, 2018. Durbin's speech comes one week before the deadline. "The 'zero tolerance' [policy] of the Trump Administration resulted in the Department of Homeland Security forcibly separating up to 3,000 children from their parents. I saw some of … Continue Reading
July 17, 2018
Durbin Presses Heartland Alliance To Look Into Allegations Of Physical & Emotional Abuse At Chicago Facility
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today urged Heartland Alliance, an Illinois-based social services agency, to look into the disturbing allegations of physical and emotional abuse made by children who were recently cared for at Casa Guadalupe, a Chicago shelter run by Heartland, and take immediate steps to determine what happened, who was responsible, and to ensure that nothing like this happens to any child in the care of a U.S. Department of Health and Human … Continue Reading
July 11, 2018
Durbin, Wyden, Feinstein, Murray Call Out Glaring Inaccuracies In HHS Secretary Azar's Testimony On Child Separation
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar questioning the truthfulness of testimony he gave to the Senate Finance Committee regarding HHS'care of children removed from their parents by the … Continue Reading
July 11, 2018
Durbin: Failure To Reunite Separated Children Is A Toxic Mix Of Cruelty & Incompetency
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on his Senate colleagues to oppose President Donald Trump's cruel efforts to indefinitely detain migrant children. Durbin's speech on the Senate floor comes one day after a federal district court's deadline for reuniting children under the age of five that were separated from their parents under Trump's "zero tolerance" policy. Yesterday, the Trump administration notified the court that it had identified 102 separated … Continue Reading
June 29, 2018
Durbin Calls On Trump Administration To Comply With Court Order, Reunite Families Separated By Trump's "Zero Tolerance" Policy
EAST ST. LOUIS-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on President Donald Trump to immediately announce his intention to fully comply with a federal district court's order to return children separated under his Administration's "zero tolerance" policy to their parents within 30 days, and within 14 days for children under age five, and to regularly update Congress on his progress towards meeting the court's deadlines. Durbin's letter to President Trump follows yesterday's … Continue Reading
June 27, 2018
Durbin Statement On Court Order Blocking Trump Child Separation Policy
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement on a preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court judge in San Diego against the Trump Administration's child separation policy: This ruling is clear: the Trump Administration's child separation policy harms kids and must be stopped. It's time to close this embarrassing chapter in our nation's history once and for all. Kids … Continue Reading
June 26, 2018
Durbin: No Law Required Trump's Child Separation Policy, And We Don't Need Any New Laws To Reunite Families
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today spoke on the Senate floor about the Trump Administration's cruel policy of separating children from their parents who arrive at the Southern border of the United States seeking protection from horrific violence in the Northern Triangle region of Central America. Durbin discussed his recent visit to a facility in Chicago that houses children who have been separated from their parents due to the President's 'zero-tolerance' policy … Continue Reading
June 26, 2018
Durbin Calls On Trump Admin To Answer Questions About Children Forcibly Separated From Parents At Border
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today pressed Alex Azar, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for detailed information on the health and well-being of children forcibly separated from their parents as part of the Trump Administration's "zero tolerance" policy. The nation's medical community has uniformly warned about the catastrophic health effects of this Administration's family separation policy on children, and expressed strong … Continue Reading
June 26, 2018
Durbin Statement On Supreme Court Ruling On Trump's Muslim Ban
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold President Trump's revised Executive Order banning travel from certain Muslim-majority countries: I agree with Justice Sotomayor: this decision upholding President Trump's Muslim Travel Ban fails to safeguard the principle of religious neutrality embedded in our Bill of Rights. History will not be kind to this president's policies or the Supreme Court Justices … Continue Reading
June 21, 2018
Durbin: Trump Executive Order On Child Separation Calls For Locking Up Children And Their Families Indefinitely
WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate Floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) blasted President Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and the Trump Administration's cruel policy of separating children from their parents who arrive at the Southern border of the United States seeking protection from horrific violence in the Northern Triangle region of Central America. Durbin criticized the President's Wednesday Executive Order that doubles down on his "zero-tolerance" policy and … Continue Reading
June 20, 2018
Durbin Statement On Trump Order To Continue 'Zero Tolerance' & Detain Children Indefinitely
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after President Trump signed a new executive order attempting to overturn the Flores Settlement, a 1997 court order that set minimum standards for the detention, housing, and release of non-citizen children who are detained by the U.S. government, and requires the government to pursue a general policy of releasing children. Repealing the Flores Settlement was a key component of President Trump's own … Continue Reading
June 19, 2018
Durbin Calls On Republicans In Congress To Tell Trump To End Family Separation Today
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on Senate Republicans to have the courage to speak up against the Trump Administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the border. Durbin made remarks with other members of the Democratic Leadership outside the Senate chamber. President Trump will huddle with Congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill later today. "The President with his lying tweets. The Attorney General hiding behind his Bible. The … Continue Reading
June 13, 2018
Durbin Calls On Republicans To Stand Up And Stop Trump Policy Of Family Separation At The Border
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Trump Administration's cruel policy of separating children from their parents who arrive at the Southern border of the United States seeking protection from horrific violence in the Northern Triangle region of Central America. "Some mothers were told, 'we're going to give your child a bath. Oh, we're going to give your child a meal,' and then the child was snatched away. That is the … Continue Reading
June 07, 2018
Durbin, Duckworth, 38 Senators Call On Trump To End Policy Of Separating Children From Their Parents At The Border
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today joined U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), and 38 of their Democratic colleagues to call on the Trump administration to stop further traumatizing children and end Trump's inhumane policy of separating innocent boys and girls from families who cross the Southwest border seeking asylum in the United States. Citing the American Academy of Pediatrics, the senators stressed the short- and long-term … Continue Reading
June 05, 2018
Durbin Blasts Trump Administration Policy Of Separating Children From Their Families At The Border
WASHINGTON-In a Senate floor speech, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today blasted the Trump Administration's cruel policy of separating children from their parents who arrive at the Southern border of the United States seeking protection from horrific violence in the Northern Triangle region of Central America. "In March, we learned in my office in Chicago about a seven-year-old girl and her mother, who came from the Democratic Republic of Congo…they were separated for … Continue Reading
May 23, 2018
Durbin Again Asks Consent To Pass The Dream Act
Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked unanimous consent that the Senate pass the bipartisan Dream Act. Republican leaders and President Trump have rejected multiple bipartisan offers to address the DACA crisis created by the President on September 5th, 2017. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) objected. "On September 5, 2017, President Trump announced his repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. As a result of that, hundreds of thousands of … Continue Reading
May 23, 2018
Durbin Questions Trump Administration's Cruel Crackdown On Children Fleeing Persecution
U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, today grilled members of the Trump Administration from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on its treatment of unaccompanied children apprehended at the U.S. border who are fleeing horrific violence in Central America, and its cruel policy of family separation at the U.S. border, which will result in a dramatic … Continue Reading
May 02, 2018
Durbin Raises Questions About Possible Collusion Between U.S. & Texas Attorneys General In Termination Of DACA
CHICAGO-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to provide detailed information about the Trump Administration's possible collusion with the State of Texas to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and nine other state attorneys general threatened to sue the Trump Administration unless the Administration agreed to "phase out" DACA by September 5, 2017. Sessions … Continue Reading