PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon’s attorney general is trying to figure out whether anyone impacted by family separations at the U.S./Mexico border is in Oregon.
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum issued a statement on Tuesday, announcing she is looking for anyone in the state who believes they may have family impacted by the Trump administration’s new policy to separate more families at the border.
"Right now, we have very limited information about who is impacted by the Trump administration's cruel decision to separate children from their families once they cross the border into the U.S. We do not know where these children are going, and we do not know the full extent of who is being impacted," Rosenblum said.
Rosenblum said anyone who thinks they have family members who may have been separated from their families and are coming to Oregon should call the attorney general’s office at 503-378-6002.
She also joined 20 other Democratic attorneys general in penning a letter to federal officials, demanding they end the practice of separating parents and children.
So far, about 2,000 children have been separated from their parents at the southern border between April 19 and May 31. The separations are part of the Trump administration’s new “zero tolerance” policy, which criminally prosecutes every adult who is captured after crossing the border illegally. That includes some asylum seekers who claim they are fleeing domestic or gang violence.
More than 100 asylum seekers are being detained at a federal prison in Sheridan, Ore. Several hundred people attended a vigil for the asylum seekers on Monday night.
KGW reporter Kyle Iboshi traveled to south Texas on Sunday, where hundreds of children and adults waited in cages after being detained. Some of the children were unaccompanied when they crossed the border, federal officials said.