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Statement

Justice Denied as Court Allows Trump Administration to Put Nearly 300,000 Immigrants at Risk for Family Separation and Deportation

September 15, 2020
Immigration

Lisa Lederer, 202/371-1996

Statement of Donna Norton, executive vice president of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision yesterday to allow the Trump administration to put hundreds of thousands of people with temporary protected status (TPS) at risk for being separated from their families and deported, and on the whistleblower complaint about horrific medical malpractice at the Irwin County Detention Center:

“Yesterday’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling to allow the Trump administration to strip hundreds of thousands of TPS holders of their legal status and tear them away from their families is a grave and harmful miscarriage of justice. Some 130,000 TPS holders are on the frontlines of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and more than 273,000 are parents of children who are U.S. citizens. Many have lived here for decades and make substantial contributions, pay taxes, and create businesses and jobs in their communities.

“Moms recognize that families belong together, and that immigrants make our country stronger. We want our government to treat every immigrant and asylum-seeker with dignity, compassion and respect. We urge the U.S. Senate to help keep families together by passing the Dream and Promise Act, which would create a path to citizenship for TPS holders and DREAMers.

“Like so many Trump administration actions, deporting TPS holders would leave our country immeasurably weaker and less prepared for the future. It must not be allowed to happen.

“In addition, we urge immediate action to hold ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) accountable and protect detainees at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia in light of the deeply disturbing whistleblower complaint from a medical professional. The complaint charges a large number of unnecessary hysterectomies at the facility, as well as life-threatening medical neglect. The facility is operated by the private prison company LaSalle Corrections. Mothers across the country are horrified and outraged by these accounts. Our government must act immediately to protect all detainees at LaSalle and other detention facilities and ensure that all detainees have access to quality medical care. We all have the right to have children, not have children, be together with our children and be free, regardless of where we come from.”

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.