FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Congressional Progressive Caucus Center Condemns Threatened ICE Raids and Mass Deportations

Last week the Trump Administration announced planned mass raids targeting immigrant families and President Trump tweeted that his goal is to deport “millions” of people. Following widespread outrage, President Trump tweeted that he will delay these plans for two weeks.  A delay is not enough.  The Congressional Progressive Caucus Center calls on the Trump Administration to abandon this cruel and reckless approach.  

Mass raids will only terrorize immigrant communities and separate families. These raids will do nothing to solve the humanitarian crisis the Trump Administration created at our border and they will waste millions in taxpayer dollars.  

The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly refused to provide humane conditions for the families at our border. Every day we wake up to a new page in the unfolding horror story. A two-year-old in detention with no diaper covered in mucus and crying non-stop while girls between the ages of ten and fifteen do their best to care for him. An eight-year-old girl in detention trying to convince a four-year-old boy in her care to take a shower. A four-month-old in detention. A seventeen-year-old trying to keep her premature newborn warm with nothing but a dirty sweatshirt. Children shivering under aluminum blankets while attempting to sleep on concrete floors. No toothpaste. No soap. Essential medicines denied.  

We know that separating children from their families is inflicting trauma on children from which they may never, ever recover.  Across this country, kids are worried that their parents will be taken while they are at school.  These actions violate of our deepest values.

President Trump and his hardline advisors lack a basic understanding of the immigration crisis, and they are utterly lacking in compassion.  We must respond with brains and with heart. 

A smart immigration policy will respond to the underlying causes of migration:  families are fleeing persecution in Central America.  We must support policies that help to stabilize the region.  A compassionate policy will ensure human rights and due process for people who seek asylum in our country.  

This heartless, political stunt engineered to rile up xenophobia will backfire. We thank those elected leaders, including members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who moved swiftly to condemn the Administration’s plans for mass deportation. We will continue to stand with our friends in the progressive movement, calling on President Trump to abandon this inhumane mass deportation plan once and for all.  Families belong together.   

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Contact: Jessica Juarez Scruggs, jessica@progressivecaucuscenter.org, (206) 321-0803