It appears that no matter whether political views fall on the right or the left, when it comes to current immigration policies and child detention centers there is agreement in the opinion that something needs to be done to correct the current situation our nation is facing.
After President Donald Trump signed an order Wednesday ending the separation of children from parents at the border, legislators spoke to The Era about their views.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., a vocal critic of Trump, was the most outspoken.
“It is long overdue for President Trump to amend the most egregious element of his cruel and inhumane policy of ripping migrant children from their parents,” Casey said. “But substituting a lesser form of cruelty for a greater form is still cruelty. Family detention is far from the only or best solution for the majority of families at the border.
Casey said the damage is already done for thousands.
“Nearly 2,000 children have been subjected to what the American Academy of Pediatrics has called, ‘toxic stress’ and ‘amounts to child abuse.’ These medical experts have said that the long term impacts of this barbaric treatment could be lifelong health problems, such as heart disease and substance abuse disorders,” Casey said.
He added, “the Administration, aided by the complicity of extreme congressional Republicans, made a proactive decision to enact a policy that has harmed children, told falsehoods about the origin and scope of the policy and for days held the fate of these children hostage in order to extract policy concessions. This hellish policy was a choice and there must be a full measure of accountability for those officials who ordered it, defended it and carried it out.”
In a final thought from Casey, he stated, “the Administration has an obligation to ensure that children whose health has been adversely impacted by this policy receive appropriate medical services. Congress must demand that the Administration take steps to reunite every child that has been separated from their parents. There are no excuses. Every child that was cruelly separated from their parents, from months-old babies to young teenagers, must be reunited with their families.”
While U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said it was right for Trump to stop the practice of separating children, he added that it shows a change in law is necessary.
“But this problem can only be permanently fixed by a change in law. Congress must stop talking past one another and find a solution that enforces the law and keeps families together while their immigration cases are being resolved,” Toomey said. “Legislation like the bill offered by Senator (Ted) Cruz is a good starting point. It ensures that migrant families can stay together and seeks to streamline the processing of asylum claims.”
The bill spoken of is being offered by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Toomey is a co-sponsor. The bill is called the Protect Kids and Parents Act (S. 3091). This bill mandates that immigrant families be kept together while their immigration status is determined; with limited exceptions to protect children, such as evidence that a child is the victim of parental abuse, neglect, or human trafficking. Additionally, this legislation authorizes new family shelters so that children can remain with their parents while their claims are being processed, provides an expedited process to require that immigrants with children have their asylum claims processed within 14 days, and doubles the number of federal immigration judges from roughly 375 to 750, who will prioritize processing claims of individuals who are here with children.
U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., stated on Wednesday that “the President signed an Executive Order to keep families together at the southern border, which I support. While this Executive Order remedies this specific situation, I still believe Congress must act to reform our immigration policies.”
Thompson continued, “The House of Representatives is set to consider two immigration bills this week, and each will secure our border and punish bad actors who try to elude our nation’s laws. I look forward to this debate and urge timely action on strengthening our country’s immigration laws.”
Meanwhile, Susan Boser who will be running for Congress on the Democratic ballot challenging Thompson in this November’s election, had this to say: “Long answer short, I believe we need comprehensive immigration reform to create humane policies that will keep families together, allow law-abiding immigrants to stay in our country without constant fear of deportation, a pathway to citizenship, a streamlined visa program, all the while protecting and continuing to fund the security of our borders.”
She continued, “This does not mean everyone gets an invitation to the U.S.; we will still have rules, conditions, and standards for who gets to stay and who simply must go back home, but there is a way to do this where we model compassion and fairness.
“I read today that morality must cross party lines, and that’s exactly what this issue comes down to: morality and our identity as a nation,” Boser said. “When our political system is using the tears of children as a bargaining chip for a border wall, we’re doing something wrong. When our policy decisions have the potential to traumatize an entire generation of Latino children, we’re doing something wrong. From here, we should move as quickly as possible to reunite those children with their parents and families. We can do better. We must do better.”
