CASA in Action
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

Contacts:
Fernanda Durand
Susana Flores
Jasmine Nazarett

Members of Congress and Hundreds of FIRM Action and CASA in Action Members Demand End to Cruel and Inhumane Detention of Families

WASHINGTON D.C. (WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2018) - The rain did not deter Congressman Luis Gutierrez along with 200 immigrant families, human rights advocates, and allies from marching on Capitol Hill today to send a clear message to the Trump Administration that the immigrant community will not stop fighting until families who have been separated at the border are reunited. The policy to separate children from their parents and detain families indefinitely is part of a long list of racist and immoral attacks on the immigrant community. 
 
During the rally at Freedom Plaza, children stood behind bars to represent those still separated from their parents while protesters held large signs with the faces of children. 

The event is intended to keep the pressure on Congress and the Administration until every family is reunited.
 
“Every single thing this President has done or said has been part of a racist plan to destroy our children and our community,” said Gustavo Torres President of CASA in Action. 

On Tuesday night, U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw issued a preliminary injunction requiring that nearly all children younger than age five be returned to their parents within 14 days and that older children be returned within 30 days. Rally participants demanded swift compliance with the court’s order for the well-being of the children.

“Trump’s zero-tolerance policy is actually a zero humanity policy that keeps kids in cages. For one of us to be free, we all have to be free,” said Kica Matos, spokesperson for FIRM Action. “We demand that charges against detained parents should be dropped and families reunited immediately. There is simply no place in America for the cruel treatment of children, families or anyone based on their country of origin or the color of their skin.”

For all of our differences, Americans have always put families first and believed that families should be kept together. The cruel forced separation of children from their parents at the border is an intentional political rip in the moral fiber of our country. The Trump administration supported by the GOP is putting children at risk and we all must stand up and demand that America return to its better self.

“Today I’m here to demand to stop separating families and stop deporting our community and to stop sending people to detention centers,” said Gabriela, a 10-year-old participant from Colorado. “I cannot imagine to feeling the separation, just the thought of it is pain”

America’s great strength comes from an ability to knit together people from different places and of different races into one united nation. In order for this country to remain a place of freedom for all, we must not let a few extremists divide us.

Our families, our allies, and our friends will not take this sitting down. Across the country, we are marching. We are talking to voters and registering new voters because no politician who stands by while this atrocious “zero tolerance” policy continues deserves the trust of American families.