“The horrifying attacks on immigrant families that Republican leaders have unleashed are harming families across this country, undermining our already-struggling child and home care systems, and weakening our economy while terrifying, and too often unnecessarily and cruelly, separating, the immigrant families who make our communities and our economy stronger. It is punitive, cruel, and counterproductive to take away legal status from so many immigrants who have lived and worked in the United States for years by ending Temporary Protected Status for many countries like Haiti, Venezuela, and South Sudan, where there are widespread humanitarian crises; halting and re-litigating asylum decisions; and more. 

“America’s moms know right from wrong. We know no community should ever be called ‘garbage’ by anyone—and certainly not by the president of the United States. We are horrified by the racism that is driving immigration enforcement in our country right now. We know the Trump administration is wrong to force families to face racial profiling by ICE and CBP agents conducting indiscriminate raids in their communities, which is harming the health and economic security of entire communities, including by causing pregnant immigrant moms to miss much-needed medical appointments and families to keep children home from the schooling they need. The fact that Congress is funding these atrocities by taking our tax dollars away from the health, education, child care, food and nutrition, and other programs working families rely on adds insult to injury.

“Moms know immigrants are essential to our families, our communities, our care infrastructure, and our economy.  We recognize that our country needs a safe and orderly immigration process that balances compassion and security, not cuts to health and education, and not senseless cruelty.”

-Statement of Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO, MomsRising

“This week, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) took a step to restore sanity and compassion to our immigration policies by re-introducing The Dream Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for people who have lived in the United States for most of their lives while contributing to our economy and communities. There is strong public support for this legislation, passage is long overdue, and bipartisan members of Congress in both chambers should prioritize its passage. DREAMers are caregivers, health care providers, small business owners, homeowners, entrepreneurs, and valued members of our communities. They deserve the path to citizenship this bill would provide.

“We also urge Congress to pass the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. It would repeal mandatory detention; prohibit the detention of children and families in family detention; impose a higher burden of proof to detain primary caregivers, pregnant women, people with serious mental or physical illness or disability, LGBTQ individuals, and others; phase out use of private detention facilities and jails; and in other ways protect the human rights of people in our country. The barrage of deeply disturbing reports of inhumane treatment makes this legislation essential. America’s moms want every immigrant and every asylum-seeker to be treated with dignity, compassion, and respect.”

-Statement of Linda Stone, Senior Director for Immigration, MomsRising

NOTE: MomsRising has English- and Spanish-speaking experts available to discuss these issues.