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Sanders
has told the Obama administration, "I urge you to immediately cease these
raids and not deport families back to countries where a death sentence awaits.”
(Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
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Sanders
claims the Obama administration’s raids of Central American families and
children are inconsistent with American values—and must be stopped. Hillary
Clinton’s past support of such deportations sets her apart.
In a letter sent today from Sanders to Secretary
Johnson, the Democratic candidate states unequivocally that, “Raids are not the
answer. We cannot continue to employ inhumane tactics involving rounding up and
deporting tens of thousands of immigrant families to address a crisis that
requires compassion and humane solutions.”
Sanders
claims that rather than deporting these families, the administration should
seek to provide them protection and employment within the United States. A
statement from his campaign explains:
“Citing the
extreme violence that these families face, Sanders urged the administration to
use executive authority to protect those fleeing unsafe countries in Central
America by extending Temporary Protected Status. By granting Temporary
Protected Status, the Department of Homeland Security could provide employment
authorization and protection from deportation for a significant portion of
these vulnerable people.”
Democratic
presidential candidate Martin O’Malley has also called for the United States to
extend temporary protective status to these migrants, claiming that the raids “are not consistent
with who we are as a country. We must stop ripping families apart and once and
for all put an end to these mindless deportations.”
[See editorial from New York Times below]
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The
fact that the U.S. government is now forcing these families who survived the
horrendous journey and settled in America to deport back to the same horrific
conditions which led them to flee their home countries has immigration
activists up in arms.
This past
November, with dozens of Republican governors calling for Syrian refugees to be
denied entry into the Unites States, President Obama stood firmly in defense of
admitting those fleeing violence and the terrors of war. During a speech at the
G20 economic summit in Antalya, Turkey on Nov. 16, he said: “Slamming the door in their faces
would be a betrayal of our values.”
Yet this
month, the Obama administration launched a devastating sweep of large-scale raids of
Central American migrants in the United Sates, aimed at rounding-up and
deporting families and unaccompanied children who crossed the border seeking
refuge from violence and terrors in their own home countries.
This policy
has been defended by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson who stated that “individuals who constitute
enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be
removed.” And it has gained the smug approval of Republican presidential
candidate and known-bigot Donald Trump, who tweeted, “Does everyone see that the Democrats
and President Obama are now, because of me, starting to deport people who are
here illegally. Politics!”
But another
presidential candidate has now officially called for the Obama administration
to end these deportation raids of Central American migrants and “defend vulnerable
immigrant families”: Bernie Sanders.
In a letter sent today from Sanders to Secretary
Johnson, the Democratic candidate states unequivocally that, “Raids are not the
answer. We cannot continue to employ inhumane tactics involving rounding up and
deporting tens of thousands of immigrant families to address a crisis that
requires compassion and humane solutions.”
Sanders
claims that rather than deporting these families, the administration should
seek to provide them protection and employment within the United States. A
statement from his campaign explains:
“Citing the
extreme violence that these families face, Sanders urged the administration to
use executive authority to protect those fleeing unsafe countries in Central
America by extending Temporary Protected Status. By granting Temporary
Protected Status, the Department of Homeland Security could provide employment
authorization and protection from deportation for a significant portion of
these vulnerable people.”
Democratic
presidential candidate Martin O’Malley has also called for the United States to
extend temporary protective status to these migrants, claiming that the raids “are not consistent
with who we are as a country. We must stop ripping families apart and once and
for all put an end to these mindless deportations.”
Hillary
Clinton’s campaign is not currently calling for an end to the policy, though
her spokesperson Jorge Silva has voiced opposition to “large-scale raids and
roundups.” Her campaign has stated that the candidate has “real concerns
about these reports.”
The
Washington Office on Latin America has called
the plight facing Central American migrants “one of the most severe
humanitarian crises in the Western Hemisphere”.
Many of
those currently facing deportation entered the United States as part of the “surge”
of Central American migrants during the summer of 2014. As Joseph Sorrentino reported for In These Times in June,
the tens of thousands of families fleeing dire poverty and violence in
Honduras, Nicaragua and other Central American countries face routine rape,
assault, extortion, abduction and murder as they cross Mexico to reach the
United States. And, as the New York Times confirmed, the Obama
administration has given the Mexican government tens of
millions of dollars to make sure that these migrants are not allowed to make it
to the American border.
The fact
that the U.S. government is now forcing these families who survived the
horrendous journey and settled in America to deport back to the same horrific
conditions which caused them to flee their home countries has immigration activists
up in arms.
Frank
Sharry, a leading advocate for immigration reform with America’s Voice, tells the Atlantic, “I think the
administration’s approach is fundamentally flawed. They are treating a
refugee crisis as an immigration enforcement issue.”
A letter to
Secretary Johnson signed by more than 100 immigrant advocacy groups across the
country claims that “a very high proportion of the
Central American mothers and children now targeted for ICE raids have survived
sexual assault or other forms of extreme violence and have mourned the loss of
close family members to particularized violence.” The letter continues,
claiming: “Mothers and children who witnessed and survived arrest, torture, and
murder of family members, and attempts on their own lives, will be grossly
re-traumatized by ICE raids.”
Already, the
nation's highest immigration court has announced that it will temporarily halt the
deportations of 12 Central American women and children following claims that
raids were carried out in the night without ICE agents properly presenting
warrants or allowing legal counsel. Yet the Obama administration plans to carry
on with the controversial policy.
President
Obama has gained a reputation as “deporter-in-chief” for
his record of having deported more immigrants than any other president in U.S.
history. As his second and final term nears a close, these mass raids may serve
to cement his legacy as a president who chose deportation over compassion to
guide American immigration policy.
But 2017
will see a new occupant of the White House. And two of the Democrats vying for
the position—Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley—have now made clear that they
believe this policy of raiding and deporting those fleeing violence is unjust
and inhumane—and should be ended. The Hispanic vote will be crucial in the
upcoming election, and while Clinton still remains the front-runner, her previous statements that deporting Central
American migrant children would send a “responsible message” to deter families
from sending them to the United States may come back to haunt her this primary
season.
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