7/10/2018

BORDER/CHILDREN/HHS/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday [7-10-18] that his department was performing ‘one of the great acts of American generosity and charity’ in its care of immigrant children. Repeatedly pressed by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on ‘The Situation Room’ about why HHS won’t allow media cameras into facilities housing children, Azar said, ‘We have nothing to hide about how we operate these facilities…’ The Trump administration has faced international outcry since it implemented a ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy that resulted in thousands of undocumented families separated at the border, criticism that only intensified amid a snail’s pace of reunifying those families. Physicians’ groups have criticized any practice of separating children from their parents as potentially causing lifelong damage. In the interview, Azar praised the workers and facilities housing the children. The facilities mostly house children who came to the US by themselves, as well as children separated from parents at the border…Azar dodged multiple questions from Blitzer about why the reunifications were taking so long, given that many of the children may have been in custody for months. As of late Tuesday evening, 38 of 102 children identified for the deadline had been reunified with their parents, according to administration officials.”

-Marc Rod, “HHS secretary: We’re performing great act of ‘generosity and charity’ for immigrant children,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, July 10, 2018 9:33 pm