May 11, 2018
Please join us in sending Mother’s Day cards to DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen pleading with her (in true MWEG fashion consistent with our Principles of Peacemaking) to stop unnecessarily separating mothers and children at the border.
Our op-ed in the Deseret News last week explained how the Department of Health and Human Services recently confirmed that, since October 2017, it has taken custody of more than 700 children at the U.S. border, including more than 100 children under the age of 4. (https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900017735/op-ed-breaking-up-families-is-antithetical-to-us-ideals.html)
DHS claims to be merely doing its duty to protect children, but such motives are called into question by the fact that many of these children languish indefinitely in the custody of nongovernmental organizations whose operators are unable to locate family members because the children arrive without any proper documentation. In fact, a top official at Health and Human Services testified before members of the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee on Thursday that more than 1,500 unaccompanied migrant children who had been entrusted to the care of the agency could not be located.
To make matters even worse, the US Attorney General announced this week that it would adopt an unprecedented policy of criminally prosecuting all parents who illegally cross the border with their children. That means the U.S. government will not just deport those parents in civil deportation proceedings, they will now be ordered to prosecute them in criminal courts and incarcerate them here at taxpayer expense. Because the children cannot be held in criminal detention with their parents, it remains unclear as to whether those children would be deported to their home countries without their parents or would remain in the custody of agencies in the U.S.
As an organization, we condemn in the strongest possible terms these unethical and inhumane measures employed to subdue and deter our sisters and brothers who are seeking safety and often survival for their children.
We believe in protecting the fundamental human rights of all children, no matter their race, ethnicity or legal status. Children in any situation are vulnerable and therefore deserve our protection and defense. But children fleeing physical danger are many times more vulnerable and need to be with their families. There is no moral justification for removing children from the emotional and psychological protection of their families.
We echo these sentiments expressed in a recent statement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “Immigration is a complex and sometimes divisive issue. As we have stated before, we believe that our first priority is to love and care for one another as Jesus Christ taught. Each nation must determine and administer its policies related to immigration. The Church does not advocate any specific legislative or executive solution. Our hope is that, in whatever solution emerges, there is provision for strengthening families and keeping them together. We also acknowledge that every nation has the right to enforce its laws and secure its borders and that all persons subject to a nation’s laws are accountable for their acts in relation to them. We welcome the sincere efforts of lawmakers and leaders to seek for solutions that honor these principles and extend compassion to those seeking a better life.” (https://www.lds.org/church/news/church-statement-supports-deferred-action-for-childhood-arrivals-daca?lang=eng)
Please take this opportunity to share your thoughts and feelings about the importance of mothers and families with Secretary Nielsen and call upon the better angels of her nature to change these tragic and unnecessary policies. There are better, more humane, more effective ways to address these complex immigration issues. You can read more about how heavy-handed immigration policies negatively affect us all at https://medium.com/on-common-ground/heavy-handed-immigration-policies-hurt-us-all-5b6a20951f42.
Please mail cards and letters to: The Honorable Kirstjen M. Nielsen Secretary of Homeland Security Washington, D.C. 20528
Alternatively, you may email DHSSecretary@hq.dhs.gov.
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Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) is a nonpartisan group dedicated to the ideals of decency, honor, accountability, transparency, and justice in governing. MWEG is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We do, however, fully sustain the leaders and doctrines of the Church.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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