Republican Lawmaker Says It’s Time to Bring Back Family Separation
A Republican representative on Wednesday made a shocking confession: “We want family separation.”
Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a freshman congresswoman from Florida, made the startling claim during a House hearing on immigration, in which she tried defending former President Donald Trump’s horrific family separation policy.
She questioned whether any real trauma took place when children were separated from their “quote unquote parents” under the program.
Cato Institute immigration expert David Bier, a witness in the hearing, apparently began laughing at her use of the phrase—which was enough to set off Luna.
“Why are you laughing?” she angrily yelled at Bier.
“Because you said ‘quote unquote parents,’ as if they weren’t really their parents,” he responded.
“You have no idea,” she immediately responded.
“I do have an idea. I’ve met with—”
“You have no idea if these people are their intentional parents or not. Really? Are you psychic? Have you won the lotto, Mr. Bier?”
It’s at this point that Luna revealed what she really thinks.
“The reason why we want family separation until we can confirm if they are their actual biological parents—”
“You want family separation?” Bier asked, stunned by her admission.
Rep. Luna has a heated exchange with a witness pic.twitter.com/MNqAemubRZ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 17, 2024
To be clear, Trump’s family separation caused lasting trauma to entire families. Under the 2018 “zero tolerance” policy, at least 2,000 children were separated from their parents at the border. Those children were placed in Health and Human Services (HHS) custody, while their parents were placed in detention and then prosecuted in federal court. Years later, hundreds of families still remain separated.
In 2019, a watchdog report documented some of the trauma on the children. “The little ones don’t know how to express what they are feeling, what has happened,” one program report told investigators. “Communication is limited and difficult. They need more attention.”
“According to program directors and mental health clinicians, separated children exhibited more fear, feelings of abandonment, and post-traumatic stress than did children who were not separated,” the report found, noting that many children cried inconsolably or experienced other physical symptoms of trauma. One child said that “every heartbeat hurts.”
Luna, by the way, is best known for likely fabricating her Jewish heritage. In a Washington Post report last year, many of her family members disputed her claim that she was raised Jewish. In fact, they noted, her grandfather served in the Nazi army.