CHICAGO _ A Chicago nonprofit said Friday it is housing 66 migrant children who have been separated from their parents under the "zero tolerance" policy in the last six weeks.
Evelyn Diaz, president of Heartland Alliance, welcomed Sen. Dick Durbin for a visit to one of the organization's nine shelters that is accommodating the children _ two-thirds of whom are younger than 13. Heartland provides housing and legal assistance to immigrants.
After the tour, Diaz and Durbin condemned the practice of separating children from their parents at the United States' southern border.
"These children are scared when they arrive at our doors," Diaz said at a news conference in Edgewater. "And I can tell you my staff _who are clinicians, teachers and family reunification specialists _ are doing everything in their power to make a horrible situation less scary, to provide comfort and support to the children, and to reunite them with their families as quickly as possible."
Uncertainty has surrounded the fate of the more 2,300 migrant children who have been separated from their parents since Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy last month. Children crossing the border with their parents have been separated because adults illegally entering the country are charged criminally under the policy.
Earlier in the week, Trump signed an executive order halting the practice and permitting migrant families to remain together in detention. However, that measure has been challenged in federal court by immigration advocates who fear it would eliminate the previous 20-day limit that children could be detained, per a 1997 consent decree.
"Is 'zero tolerance' America's policy? I don't think so," Durbin said. "Two-thirds of the American people of all political faiths have rejected this initiative. We've got to stand up and speak up for these young people and their families. They make these deadly, dangerous journeys to our country _ not because they are looking for a vacation. They are coming for safety."
This comes one day after military officials declared the United States is preparing to house thousands of migrant children on United States military bases.
