House Judiciary Chair slams Trump administration over family separation, slow document turnover

"When a stranger rips a child from a parent's arms without any plan to reunify them, it is called kidnapping," he said.

Nadler's speech set the tone for the hearing, which is expected to be filled with testy exchanges between lawmakers and administration officials.

The panel will hear testimonies from administration officials, including the former director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is tasked with placing unaccompanied minors with sponsors in the US.

House Democrats have long denounced "zero tolerance," which called for the criminal prosecution of adults who illegally crossed the border and as a result, separated families.

The list of witnesses includes Nathalie R. Asher, from Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Carla Provost, from US Border Patrol; Joseph Edlow, from the Department of Justice; Commander Jonathan White, from Health and Human Services; and Scott Lloyd, the former director of ORR, an agency within Health and Human Services.

As evidenced by the list of witnesses and outlined by Nadler at the top of the hearing, the back and forth will touch on all facets of the "zero tolerance" policy -- from how it came to fruition, to who knew what when, to its eventual rollout, and efforts to reunify.

Those questions, Nadler noted, have become more significant in the absence of sufficient documents on the matter. Nadler criticized the administration for not turning over sufficient records in a timely manner.

"Even now months after the height of the crisis created by the implementation of its cruel and inhumane immigrant policies, basic questions remain unanswered," he said. "In part that is because the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security until last night stonewalled the legitimate requests by this committee that were made over six weeks ago."

He added: "That is absolutely inexcusable."

This story is breaking and will be updated.

Let's block ads! (Why?)