REACTION TO PRESIDENT TRUMP'S EXECUTIVE ORDER

Congressman Gonzalez Issues Response to President Trump’s Executive Order on Family Separation

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) issued the following statement in response to the executive order, signed by President Donald J. Trump, that fails to end the administration’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy:

“Clarity. The American people and immigrant families, in danger of separation, need more than a haphazard promise – they need clarity,” Congressman Gonzalez said. “The President’s executive order is disguised as an end to the plight of so many immigrant families, but it is an empty promise. Congress is ready to solve the immigration crisis on all fronts. I expect the leader of the free world to be on the same page.”

Trump Executive Order Keeps Family Separations, Paves Way for Jailing Families Indefinitely

“Families belong together in communities, not cages.”

SAN JUAN, TX—President Trump today signed an executive order that would expand family detention and continue the “zero tolerance” policy that slaps families with federal charges for crossing the border to bring their children to safety. The order would continue the forcible separation of families at the border, only reuniting them in a jail cell after the parents go through the criminal proceeding they are subjected to under the “zero tolerance” policy.

In response, LUPE Executive Director Juanita Valdez-Cox released the following statement:

“Families belong together in communities, not cages. We know that the safest place for children is with their families in communities where they can receive the care they need. No one should be subjected to indefinite detention, much less families with children.

“Just like he did with immigrant youth when he ended the DACA program, President Trump is holding migrant families hostage in order to demand payment in the form of funding for the border wall, expanding immigration detention and his deportation force, and shutting the door to legal migration to the U.S.

“We will continue fighting for immigrant families, both those separated at the border and in our own communities. We must continue our outrage against this child abuse, now as the administration prepares to expand the practice of putting entire families in cages. Congress can put a stop to this abuse by defunding CBP and ICE now.”

This past Father's Day, LUPE was joined by National Domestic Workers Alliance, We Belong Together Campaign, ACLU, Americas Voice and others to bring messages of love and support to all the children held inside CBP facilities without their fathers and mothers.