FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2016
LATINO LEADERS TO OBAMA: NO MORE INHUMANE DEPORTATION RAIDS
NHLA Writes President Obama to Condemn Another Reported Round of Raids Targeting Women and Children from Central America
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 40 of the nation’s preeminent Latino organizations, today wrote a letter to President Obama condemning reports that ICE will soon commence another so-called “surge” of raids with the goal of deporting hundreds of women and children who came to the United States from Central America.
“We are deeply disappointed that the President and his Administration continue to conduct inhumane and unwarranted raids on women and children from Central America. The ‘surge’ planned by ICE will target families who have come to America to escape violence and extreme poverty. Our letter urges the President to abandon this destructive strategy and instead offer shelter to Central American refugees,” said Hector E. Sanchez, NHLA Chair and Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.
“These announced raids are another deplorable example of the Obama Administration’s Jekyll-and-Hyde immigration enforcement policies,” stated Thomas A. Saenz, NHLA Vice Chair and MALDEF President and General Counsel. “Our nation demands better – sensible and humane enforcement policies free of bias and consistent with our national values and principles; the raids on refugee mothers and children should cease immediately.”
“Hispanic Federation calls on the Obama Administration to immediately end these raids on Central American women and children,” Jose Calderón, NHLA Immigration Committee Co-Chair and President of the Hispanic Federation. “It is a shameful action on the part of this Administration that betrays the very values it publicly espouses. The raids tear at the fabric of our community – increasing fear and instability in Latino families across the country. They must end now!”
“Facts alone tell us that staggering levels of violence and persecution are forcing people to flee their homes and their countries, causing them to embark on a hellish journey. When children and mothers are rounded up from their homes overnight, trauma, separation and anxiety are inevitable results. Not only do these refugee families face more unjust and deplorable treatment than the very same conditions they sought to escape, but the U.S. government is setting a dangerous precedent for the future handling of refugees and other vulnerable individuals around the world. It is deplorable to send women, children, LGBTQ individuals and other refugees back to conditions of endemic violence and abuse and, oftentimes, to face certain death. The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH) knows that ICE raids are felt in a visceral way by people and communities, adding stress and instilling fear that forces Latino/a families and especially immigrant women further into the shadows. We condemn the actions proposed by the Administration today and demand that refugees and asylum seekers be treated as such, not as criminals,” said Ann Marie Benitez, member of the NHLA Latina Task Force and Senior Director of Government Relations of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.
NHLA issued a letter to the Administration, which can be found here: https://nationalhispanicleadership.org/images/advocacy_letters/5-13-16_NHLA_Opposition_to_ICE_raids.pdf