Skip to main content
Statement

Moms Leader Urges Trump Administration to Refrain from ‘Another Heartless Attack on Immigrants’

November 4, 2017
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 Washington Postreport that the Trump administration is about to put some 300,000 Haitians and Central Americans living in the United States at risk for deportation
“The report yesterday evening, that the State Department has told the Department of Homeland Security that it would be justified in withdrawing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from 300,000 immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and Honduras, is deeply disturbing. These immigrants are parents to nearly 273,000 children who have known no other home than the United States and who would suffer terribly if their families were torn apart.
 
“TPS recipients are our mothers, neighbors, caregivers, business owners and community members. We urge the Department of Homeland Security to ignore the State Department guidance and instead extend TPS for these immigrants. Failure to do so would be one more heartless attack on immigrants and one more jolt to our communities and our economy — and it would cause further turmoil in the world. It would be an inhumane decision that makes no economic sense. Removing TPS recipients from the country would cost employers nearly $1 billion in immediate turnover costs. It would cost our country an estimated $164 billion in gross domestic product. It would destabilize housing markets. It would be especially devastating to fragile communities that are struggling to recover from hurricanes in Florida and Texas, where TPS recipients are on the frontlines of rebuilding communities.
 
“America’s moms do not want to tear apart the families of 273,000 children. We must not turn our backs on families that have found safety from disaster and genocide on our shores. Our country is better than this.”
 

# # # #

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.