​Attending were Janet, Peg, Lance, Mike Youngren and Claudia.  We met with Hogan (Sen. Gardner's staff person).  Met at 2pm on Wed Jun 13

Mike brought in his video camera, and Hogan told Mike that they had a policy prohibiting the recording of meetings in the office.  Hogan said if we set up a meeting at some other venue, that recording would be OK, but he was taking this meeting in the Senator's office so no recording allowed.

Peg started by asking Hogan if he knew what Sen. Gardner thought of this policy that was separating children from families at the border.  Hogan said he did not know his position (but he is supportive of immigration reforms, like fixing the DACA situation).

Peg asked to share some notes she had prepared, including the poem "when they came from the socialists, I did not speak up....etc" by the man in Germany who initially supported Nazi leaders but ended up in a concentration camp.  Peg also referenced your letter to the editor, highlighting how we can relate the feelings in the poem from the 1940s to now (with treatment of Muslims, etc.).  Hogan said he did see your letter to the editor.   (Hogan also remembered hearing you speak at the suicide prevention event in town and remembered you were very articulate and thoughtful...)

Lance asked to share remarks he prepared, which included quotes by Jeff Sessions saying that when American citizens are found guilty of a crime, they are separated from their children (because the adults are incarcerated).  However, children and parents are being separated at the border before any legal due process.  Lance understands that these separations are happening as a direct result of the new "zero tolerance" policy at the border.

I mentioned that before this zero tolerance policy started, families were being kept together and were under the supervision of a "case management program" (described in an article Penny Youngren had shared with us).  Peg had dollar amounts from the article to quote - that it was a much more cost effective approach than the detentions that are happening now.  

Hogan listened and took notes of what we were saying.  Then he expressed that he did not think it was helpful to "call people Nazi's" or compare the situation now to Nazi Germany or North Korea..  I had mentioned hearing Sen. Gardner commenting on the human rights violations in North Korea on NPR this week, and that the US needs to hold ourselves to high standards in regards to human rights.  Hogan mentioned North Korea is in their own category for killing millions of their own people.

Claudia asked if she/we could find out what states the children are being held.  Hogan said he would look into that and could get back to her.  Claudia expressed if the govt is holding children there must be transparency on where the are.  I said that I had read that there was a maximum length of detention for children of 20 days (not sure if this is an international law?) and felt there needed to be some assurance that this was being enforced.  We mentioned seeing the video of Sen. Merkley asking to gain access into a facility in Brownsville, TX to see the conditions there.

We talked about how traumatic these separations are for the children and parents.  Peg mentioned research that has been done on the impacts on children  - including impaired emotional and social development.  She doesn't believe that children are being "well cared for" if housed with several hundred other children.  There would just be no way to meet all their needs appropriately.   We also wondered how children and families would be reunited; we expressed concern that some of the children could  end up in human trafficking.

Hogan talked a bit about the different statuses of people coming into the country (asylum vs. "economic migrants") and the legal criteria of asylum seekers.  He explained that if a country as a high percentage of people who do not follow the correct legal procedures, that the country would be allowed fewer "slots" for people seeking to come into the U.S.

That is the majority of the comments that I remember.....the others that were there may want to amend or correct me if they remember differently.   We thanked Hogan for his time, and Claudia asked if we could do anything differently for future meetings.  Hogan said he thought we were doing fine....Claudia said she appreciated his style.  He listened to our concerns and said he could "understand" many of our sentiments.   He said we should watch Sen. Gardner's website for any statements on his views of this policy.

Notes by Janet