In the News

On the same June day that a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to begin reunifying the thousands of migrant families it had separated under its “zero tolerance” immigration policy, an internal government watchdog began quietly investigating Department of Homeland Security facilities where those migrants were being held.

The 18-page report, conducted by the DHS Office of Inspector General, was issued on September 27 and made public in the following days. The watchdog agency documented the administration’s lack of preparedness, inability to internally communicate to track and reunite families, and government agencies’ apparent willingness to lie to federal investigators..

Other Democratic lawmakers not on the committee, including Representatives Eliot Engel of New York, Jimmy Gomez of California and Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, told Newsweek they, too, would support a congressional investigation.

Gomez, though not on the House Committee on Homeland Security, had two underlying questions: “Did administration officials know that agencies," such as Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration Customs Enforcement, "were not prepared to implement the ‘zero tolerance’ policy? And were they warned that they would have major problems when they implemented it?”

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