Senator blocks Trump nominees over 'horrendous conditions' for kids in detention camps

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) announced that she would block two of Trump’s nominees for positions in the Department of Homeland Security, citing the “horrendous conditions” the Trump administration is forcing children to endure in border detention camps.

“Seeing babies and toddlers separated from their families and being detained in U.S. government facilities in horrendous conditions is simply unacceptable,” Rosen said in a statement on Friday.

“I am placing a hold on Department of Homeland Security nominees Chad F. Wolf and Troy D. Edgar until the inhumane and substandard conditions for children at DHS processing and detention facilities improve significantly.”

Wolf has been nominated for undersecretary for strategy and policy, and Edgar was nominated for the position of chief financial officer.

Rosen placed the holds before the Senate left for the nine-day July 4 recess. She says the holds on the nominations would remain until a nongovernmental third party certifies DHS compliance stops mistreating children at the facilities.

A report in May from the Inspector General for Homeland Security unearthed excessive overcrowding and unhygienic conditions at the El Paso Del Norte Processing Center in Texas.

The report described “dangerous overcrowding,” where 900 migrants have been crammed into a facility designed for 125 people.

Detainees are “wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks,” the report noted, and people are being held in standing-room-only conditions for weeks.

Trump administration officials have known about the conditions for weeks but have done nothing in response.

Trump has made abuse and cruelty towards immigrants — particularly immigrant children — one of the hallmarks of his presidency. But Democratic lawmakers are doing all they can to keep him from getting away with it.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.