Norcross to Announce Legislation to Allow Immediate Visits to Separated Children

Following Personal Experience Being Disallowed to Visit Children in South Jersey, Norcross to Unveil Bill to Prevent Future Hold-Ups

The ‘Restoring Oversight for Members of Congress Act’ Will Remove Two-Week Waiting Period

WASHINGTON, DC – Tomorrow, Friday, June 29 at 11:00 a.m., Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01) will announce legislation he helped introduce to ensure that Members of Congress can fulfill their constitutional oversight duties by visiting federal facilities, like those run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), without delays or undue obstacles gaining access.

“At the end of last week, I found out that separated children are being housed in South Jersey and I immediately reached out to request to see the children. Unfortunately, HHS has a two-week notice policy they refused to waive in these extreme circumstances,” said Congressman Norcross. “The public’s representative has a right to visit these children and make sure they’ve been treated well and that efforts are being made to reunify them with their families. Right now, it seems easier to visit nuclear weapons sites than kids in my own district who have been forcibly taken from their parents – and that must change.”

The Center for Family Services, with offices in Camden, has been willing to accommodate the Congressman since his office first reached out and has a superb reputation in the community. The Congressman plans to visit a local site in July.

The Trump Administration has been enforcing a “zero-tolerance policy” that has immigrant children being inhumanely detained and then sent around the country to various facilities miles and miles away from their parents.

Norcross said: “Family separation is immoral and un-American. I am a father, a grandfather and like most Americans, the descendant of immigrants. In this country, diversity is our strength and compassion is our value. Ripping apart families goes against those virtues.”