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CAPAC Chairwoman Chu Amendment to Border Bill Would Prevent Children from being held at Former Japanese

June 24, 2019

Washington, DC — Today, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27) introduced an amendment to H.R. 3401, the supplemental border appropriations bill, that would prohibit any funds made available by the bill from being used to operate Fort Sill, a former Japanese American internment camp, as a detention center for minor children. This amendment is a response to the Trump Administration’s plans to relocate about 1,400 migrant children to the fort. Rep. Chu issued the following statement:

“Donald Trump should not be detaining children. Period. This is a policy he has implemented by choice, under the cruel assumption that abusing children already here will deter future immigrants from coming at all. Now, he is trying to take his cruelty one step further by bringing back relics of one of the most shameful periods in our history: the imprisonment of innocent Japanese Americans during WWII. Japanese Americans understand the costs of xenophobia. And so it is particularly painful for those who have endured this prejudice to once again see this facility used to deprive innocent individuals of their basic human rights. Donald Trump should not receive one single dollar to be used for placing immigrant children in unlicensed facilities. And this amendment goes further by preventing him from dredging up the ghosts of xenophobic policies past.”

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The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) is comprised of Members of Congress of Asian and Pacific Islander descent and Members who have a strong dedication to promoting the well-being of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Currently chaired by Congresswoman Judy Chu, CAPAC has been addressing the needs of the AAPI community in all areas of American life since it was founded in 1994.