Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) expressed what compassionate, non-bigoted Americans feels about the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy on immigration — “We are better than that.”
At the House Oversight Committee hearing with Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Tuesday, Cummings, a ranking member, slammed the policy that separates migrant families at the U.S. border. Videos of his emotional statements are widely circulating social media.
“Even if you believe immigration should be halted entirely we all should be able to agree that in the United States of America, we will not intentionally separate children from their parents, we will not do that,” Cummings said.
“We are better than that. We are so much better. We should be able to agree that we will not keep kids in child internment camps indefinitely and hidden away from public view. What country is that This is the United States of America.”
Also on Tuesday, in the midst of placing migrant babies and children in detention centers, an announcement was made that the U.S. will withdraw from the United Nations (U.N.) Human Rights Council, citing offenders like China, Russia, Venezuela and Iran.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, announced the decision.
Haley said, in part: “We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights.”
Former CIA Director John O. Brennan rebuked the Trump administration’s move. He tweeted on Tuesday:
– It is the height of irony that the U.S. is withdrawing from UN Human Rights Council when the Trump Administration is perpetrating such cruel human rights abuses involving children on our border. The Trump Administration is ruining America’s reputation for compassion & justice.
