Statement of Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA) regarding the humanitarian crisis of

immigrant children and families

New Haven, CT, July 3, 2014 This morning several children and adolescents, residents of
New Haven and members of Unidad Latina en Accion, met with US Senators Murphy and
Blumenthal in Hartford to talk about their recent experiences in detention centers at the border.
The dehumanizing experience of these children should awaken the conscience of our leaders in
Washington DC to the disastrous cost of treating immigrant men, women and children as
criminals rather than human beings with rights.

Since October of last year, the Obama administration has detained 52 thousand migrant children
at the border and now is asking for 2 billion dollars from Congress to speed up the deportation
process of these minors. By doing this, the Obama administration would eliminate due process,
roll back bipartisan reforms enacted during the George W. Bush administration, and violate
international laws protecting the rights of children.

Mr. Obama is correct that he can and must take executive action to address flaws in our
immigration system given the inaction of Congress, but this is a humanitarian crisis that requires
a humanitarian response. Instead of further criminalizing migrants and repeating policies that
have failed, Mr. Obama must reduce detentions and deportations and expand due process, both
on the border and in places like Connecticut.

According to Rosario Caicedo, one of the members of Unidad Latina en Accion who is helping
these migrant children rebuild their lives in New Haven,

"Through my work with hundreds of immigrant children and their families during 25 years as a
social worker in the New Haven Public Schools, I listened to horrifying stories describing not
only the crossing of the border but stories of the MIGRA, of immigration officers detaining
parents right in front of their terrorized children. Stories like those one never forgets--- never---
especially when one sees the consequences of such awful actions in the daily lives of the children
--- recurring nigtmares, depression, and crying that would not stop. I will always remember a
beautiful girl, a kindergartener, who stopped talking for months after her father was arrested at
his place of work and immediately deported."

"This is happening in the 'land of the free,' a country proud of its immigrants up to a point, it
seems. I am expressing these thoughts a day before July 4th, the day when this country celebrates
the words of the Declaration of Independence, words that changed forever the political map of
many continents, beautiful and profound words that should be put into practice inmmediately:
All men and women and children are created equal and deserve to be treated with dignity and
respect by the government which holds these truths to be self evident. Protect the children and
their parents. Stop the deportations now. Not one more."

Here are some of the things that Mr. Obama can do without Congress to address the situation:

1. Improve the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) program which Congress created to
protect abused and abandoned immigrant children by providing them with a path to permanent
residency. The President can direct the Department of Homeland Security to affirmatively
exercise prosecutorial discretion for eligible youth. DHS should have mandatory screening for all
immigrants between the ages of 18 and 21 to determine eligibility.

2. Curtail the practice of detaining immigrants and eliminate the quotas requiring 1,100
deportations per day and 30,000 prison beds filled per day. These quotas serve no public safety
purpose.

3. Address abuses in detention centers including sexual assault, lack of adequate medical care,
psychological torture through solitary confinement, and slave labor, which have caused recent
prisoner hunger strikes from Washington to Texas to Massachusetts.

4. Terminate federal contracts with private prison corporations. Not only are these corporations
not subject to public oversight, but also, until they are banned, they will have a financial
incentive to lobby for increasing the incarceration of immigrants without end.

5. Revise ICE's enforcement priorities and expand the "low priority" criteria. The detention and
deportation of people convicted of minor crimes, those with old removal orders, and those who
re-enter following deportation do nothing to advance ICE's "public safety" mission. These people
should not be classified as "high priority" for removal.

6. Expand Deferred Action to the fullest extent of the law, to as many people as possible.
Expanding deferred action for undocumented adults, as President Obama did for undocumented
youth, would provide protection from deportation, keep families and communities together, and
allow people to work without suffering slavery-like labor conditions.

7. Expand the use of humanitarian parole to ensure that people previously deported can apply to
return to the United States for a compelling humanitarian reason. Until this happens, millions of
deportees torn from their families will risk their lives and serve lengthy sentences in federal
prison for attempting to re-enter.

8. Renegotiate trade agreements to eliminate provisions that cause displacement of communities.
The statements of President Obama and Vice President Biden about improving the economies in
Latin America are in direct contradiction with the actual US trade policies that have left millions
jobless and under increasing pressure to migrate.

For a full list of recommendations that are supported by ULA, please see the attached document
by the Not One More Deportation campaign of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

--
ULA is a grassroots organization defending the human rights of immigrants and workers in
Greater New Haven since 2002.
www.ulanewhaven.org
www.facebook.com/ulanewhaven
(203) 606-3484 or (203) 479-2959