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Statement

Bad and Worse: Moms Leader Urges House to Reject Both Republican Immigration Bills

June 19, 2018
Immigration

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Statement from Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRising, a national online and on-the-ground organization of more than 1 million mothers and their families, on the two immigration bills the House of Representatives is expected to consider this week:

"The two immigration bills expected to come before the House of Representatives this week are both tremendously destructive – to immigrant and asylum-seeking families, to children and families whose health and well-being are being imperiled by the Trump administration’s cruel policies, and to our country.

"It is an outright lie to suggest that either of these bills would provide any significant help to families seeking refuge in our country. Speaker Paul Ryan's Border Security and Immigration Reform Act of 2018 -- the supposedly more moderate bill – would result in children being detained indefinitely in worse conditions than they are being held in now, followed by their near-immediate return to the life-threatening conditions they fled. It would gut our country’s asylum laws, damage our immigration system and allow the appalling practice of taking children from their parents to continue. In fact, it would enhance the danger for at-risk children by jailing them for longer periods of time.

“And as hard as it is to believe that this is possible, the bill Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia) is sponsoring is even worse.

“From Laura Bush to Melania Trump to more than a million MomsRising members, the moms of America are horrified by what this administration is doing to families who come to the United States to escape violence and natural disaster. It is cruel, dangerous and absolutely immoral.

“What is happening at our borders must end. Congress must not allow President Trump to use children as hostages to advance his anti-immigrant agenda. Members must reject both Republican bills and instead act quickly to protect the safety and dignity of every family.

“The United States of America, as we know it today, was founded in part by people who were seeking refuge in a new land. Our nation’s aspirational founding ideals, contained in our Constitution, were that everyone should have freedom from oppression and persecution, as well as liberty and justice.  

“Those ideals haven’t been met yet. It’s time to reach for that 'more perfect union,' not tear it apart, not intentionally separate babies from their mothers, and not close the door to opportunity for all of us. We can’t allow human rights abuses in the name of immigration enforcement to continue to happen -- and we also can’t turn our backs on one another now.”

 

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.