Skip to main content
Statement

'The Cruel Treatment of Families Seeking Asylum Must End'

November 26, 2018
Immigration

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Statement from leaders of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on our government’s use of force against asylum-seeking women and children:

“This weekend we became a country that uses tear gas on moms and babies seeking refuge at our borders. The cruel treatment of families trying to apply for asylum is horrifying and shameful, and it must end. 

“We do not need to militarize our border. We do not fear moms and children. The Trump administration’s response was disproportionate and utterly without justification.

“Welcoming immigrants is one of our core values as a country and a source of our strength and prosperity. Congress must step in, immediately, to ensure that every asylum-seeker is treated with dignity, compassion and respect.”

-- Statement from Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO, MomsRising

“The Trump administration has shut down ports of entry to asylum seekers, creating a humanitarian crisis that could and should have been avoided. Now our government is using tear gas on babies in diapers and the moms who are desperate to protect them. This is not what our country wants and the moms of America will not accept it.

“The United States has the capacity to process asylum-seekers, and policies in place to do so -- and we must use them. We reject the Trump administration’s violent and cruel practices, which endanger people so desperate for peace, safety and opportunity that they walked across a continent in search of a better life. President Trump has long politicized and demonized migrants, instead of looking for real solutions. That must change. The violations of laws and basic human rights must end.”

-- Statement from Khadija Gurnah, Campaign Director for Immigration, MomsRising

# # # #

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.