Children and families already suffering irrevocable harm

Alianza Americas calls on people of conscience to stand together against hate-driven policies, and create circles of protection in our communities.

Chicago, July 12, 2019 — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced massive migration raids starting this weekend. In response, groups across the nation are coming together in defense of their immigrant neighbors.  The threatened raids are scheduled to start on the very weekend when local rallies have been planned to close the migration concentration camps on the US border.

Oscar Chacón, Executive Director of Alianza Americas, had the following statement:

“It strains credulity that DHS would argue that it is pursuing the rule of law, knowing that 90% of the people with orders of deportation have received them in absentia—many of them with clear violations of due process. In reality, this is just another example of a hate-driven action, aimed at sowing fear and division in communities, and rousing the base for his electoral campaign.

The Trump Administration was already caught in a lie this week about its motivations for the citizenship question on the census.  Perhaps Mr. Trump is hoping to divert attention from that or from the horrors that our policies are wreaking on asylum-seeking families now waiting in danger in Mexico, or detained in the United States. Or perhaps the corporations that have become rich on the misery of detaining migrants simply demand even larger profit margins.

Last week, Congress- with support of Democrats and Republicans- passed an irresponsible budget supplemental bill giving the Administration a blank check for billions of dollars toward border security and migration enforcement.   We cannot turn a blind eye to the actions being taken against our immigrant neighbors, and against those who seek our protection. The real crisis is the one created by our own policies– both the practice of turning away legitimate requests for humanitarian protection and the long-term impacts of economic and social exclusion that our nation has played a central role in putting in place. 

Now is the time for people of good faith all over the country to stand up and stand together.  Yes, we must close the concentration camps. We must stop the raids and protect people seeking safety.  But that is just a start. Decades of failed US policies and interventions have contributed to the very conditions driving people in Central American nations to flee in search of a safe haven. Let’s get started today on the long-term hard work of radically changing our immigration policy so that it is in sync with the realities of the 21st Century, recognizing the vastly positive role of immigrants and refugees. We must also embrace a new generation of people-centered development initiatives able to transform Central American nations into places where people can live in dignity and safety.” 

Alianza Americas is a network of 50 immigrant-led organizations representing more than 100,000 families across the United States. It is the only US-based organization rooted in Latino and Caribbean immigrant communities that works transnationally to create an inclusive, equitable, and sustainable way of life. Learn more at alianzaamericas.org.