New York, NY, May 21, 2019 — The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds this afternoon to the latest revelations on U.S. family separations and the ongoing situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Ellen Beattie, Senior Director Program Quality & Innovation, US Programs –
“It’s with great humanitarian concern and sadness that the IRC learns that the Trump Administration likely separated even more children from their families than the government had previously self-reported.
“This revelation underscores the cruelty shown toward those impacted by the administration’s family separation policy. A policy that harms the lives of vulnerable children.”
On Monday Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez became the fifth Guatemalan minor to die in U.S. custody since December – a deeply tragic testimony to the lack of urgency and humanity on the part of the administration to address these issues.
Beattie continued, “The U.S. has both the capacity and resources to humanely and effectively offer protection to people in need. Instead, the administration’s continued negligence is having drastic and, indeed, life-threatening consequences.”
The IRC calls upon the U.S government to swiftly adhere to its promise to reunite all families separated by its policies, including the more than 1,700 additional children who we now know may also have been separated from their families.