On March 6, 2019, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen testified before the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Regrettably, Secretary Nielsen’s testimony calls into question her commitment and that of the U.S. Government to promote humane immigration and pro-family policies at the U.S.-Mexico border.
During the hearing, Secretary Nielsen
- Insisted that the cages used by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to detain migrant and asylum-seeking kids “aren’t really cages.”
- Confirmed that some parents were deported without their children.
- Stated that 3 children have died “so far” this year while in CBP custody.
These three facts alone are unacceptable not to mention other concerns ranging from the treatment of asylum seekers to the effectiveness of the proposed border wall. At LIRS, we are committed to ending these practices.
In addition to the 2,700 family separations that the administration acknowledges, it turns out there were thousands more children who have been separated from their parents and detained by CBP last year due to the ‘zero tolerance policy’. And data released by the government last month indicates the practice is still prevalent. We cannot turn a blind eye on this sad chapter in U.S. history as some of the parents are still wondering when if ever they will see their children.
Now is the time to express public outrage about the Administration’s treatment of children. Tell Congress that children don’t belong in cages and families belong together!
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We are not taking care of the immigrant children of families fleeing huge troubles at home and hope for a life in the US. Putting any child in a cage is unacceptable. Please keep families together until we can decide how to deal with them. Love one another is a great commandment we as Americans need to do.
If any American families, no matter their documentation, were detained this way on foreign soil it would be an outcry! Imagine the reaction if Americans were deported from countries without their children. Imagine if American children were exposed to abuse, disease, mistreatment and death on foreign soil the way we are exposing these kids to such atrocities on American soil.
It is never okay to separate children from their parents, not to mention that “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group” is a literal part of the definition of genocide according to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
If we claim to be a nation based on Christian values, we need to take a long look in the mirror. Our government needs to understand that we are all God’s children, regardless of documentation or status, and to remember Matthew 25:35!
Lord, have mercy on blind leaders who have no heart.
Children belong with their families.
The “zero tolerance policy” of the Trump administration is the worst policy ascribed to the United State of America – EVER!! How can we, the people of the United States allow this to go on without a national outcry??? I don’t hear it, America!! We are so concerned with our own lives, our own wealth, our own education, general welfare, that we don’t care about others of the world, who have suffered so much, and then… on top of all that … we are silent, (with bouts of news coverage here and there) … so we are complicit (choosing to be involved with others in an illegal or wrongdoing) — yes we are — by our silence, by our not speaking out – by our not raising the issue with our Congress representatives — we are allowing this horrific policy to continue!! We should all be writing our Congress women and men – our state legislators – writing opinion pieces in our local newspapers!! Why do we the people of the land of the free and the home of the brave allow little children, teens and their parents and families to be locked away in cages – like an animal?? Please, America – speak out – speak up!!
An administration that believes in caging children and fight to keep them in even though covid19 is spreading does not represent me. People of goodwill need to put politics aside and follow what they know is the right thing to do.
This is not a political issue it is a humane issue. I have voted both republican and democrat in my long life and have sometimes disagreed with both parties, but this is not acceptable. God bless America and protect all children!!