Ahead of Mother’s Day, Haaland Highlights Trauma of Family Separation Policies on House Floor

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

Published May 11, 2019

WASHINGTON – Ahead of Mother’s Day, Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-01) highlighted the trauma of family separation policies on the House Floor. Specifically she mentioned the hundreds of children who will not be with their mothers on Mother’s Day because of the harmful Trump Administration policy.

 WATCH: Haaland Calls for Continued Work Until Every Family Separated at the Border is United

Haaland’s House Floor Speech as prepared for delivery is below:

Madam Speaker, I rise today to stand in solidarity with families suffering from this administration’s inhumane policy of separating children from their parents.

Earlier this week was the one year anniversary of this Administration’s family separation policy.

Today, Hundreds of families are still separated. That means hundreds of children will not be with their mothers this Mother’s Day.

This week I visited a “Families Belong” Together art installation outside the Capitol, by Paola Mendoza.

It depicted a mother reaching out in anguish for her child who was in a cage.

Rep. Deb Haaland

That is the reality for these families.

And they will feel this trauma for the rest of their lives, and far into the future.

Native Americans know all too well the long lasting trauma of government-enforced family separation – our communities still struggle with the lasting impact that cruel assimilation policy has had.

This trauma cannot be undone.

Earlier this year I visited the border and met with parents who have been torn from their children.

I saw the fear that they carry long after they have been united with their children – and they told us that their children are not the same after they’ve been separated.

We cannot let this administration forget the chaos that it has created in so many people’s lives. And we must stop the racist policies it continues push.

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