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Outrage At Family Separation Policy

Commentary: Few policies of our federal government have drawn as much outrage as the recent decision to separate parents and children who come to the United States border with Mexico seeking asylum.  Reports of children screaming in terror as they are torn from their parents’ arms strike at the heart of every citizen who has put their trust in the United States as a humane nation.

As a member of the League of Women Voters, I am proud of the League’s positions on pressing national issues.  In respect to immigration, the League supports and promotes the reunification of immediate families and policies that ensure the fair treatment of individuals facing political persecution or humanitarian crises.

There is nothing fair in the current policy that separates children from their parents, placing them in separate detention facilities.  Parents don’t know where their children are taken and live in fear that if they are eventually deported that their children will not be returned to them.  As a mother, I can only imagine my desperation if my daughter were taken from me.

Separating families at the border has failed as a deterrent to parents who leave their home countries because the reasons they are leaving are most often about ensuring their own and their children’s safety.  Traveling on foot across national borders facing countless dangers along the way has become necessary for thousands of parents in Central and South America.

The conditions at our border recall earlier times in history when citizens aware of unconscionable actions felt unable to stop them.  We live in different times with tools and resources unavailable to previous generations. Please contact your representatives in Washington and ask that they take action to change our policy to keep families seeking asylum together.