Date/Time
Date(s) - 06/22/2018
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location
Department of Justice
Category(ies) No Categories
EMERGENCY RALLY AT THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO PROTEST FAMILY SEPARATION AND DETENTION
WHAT: Tell Attorney General Jeff Sessions that seizing children form their parents should not be used as leverage to indefinitely detain immigrant families.
After massive public outcry over the administration’s policy of seizing children from their parents at the US/Mexico border, President Trump singed an Executive Order on June 20th that would end the forced separations by placing children in detention facilities with their parents while their cases move through the courts, a process that could take months or years with immigration courts backlogged. In doing so, the President exposed the fact that this was his policy that he could change at any time and without congressional action. Moreover, the fact still remains that thousands of children have been separated from their parents with inadequate infrastructure in place to reunite them.
Indefinite detention of children is in violation of a 1997 Consent Decree known as the Flores Settlement that prohibits the government from detaining children longer than 20 days even if they are with their parents. It is no secret that the Trump administration has chafed under the requirements of this decree and is now using its own manufactured crisis of family separation as an excuse to push this policy change. In fact, the President’s EO specifically requires Attorney General Sessions to return to federal court to modify the Consent Decree.
This situation is unconscionable. Parents fleeing violence with their children should be given a safe harbor while their claims move through the courts not forced into accepting the jailing of their families as an alternative to long-term and even permanent separation from their children. Tell AG Sessions to respect the Flores Decree and keep families together and out of detention.
WHO: Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO), Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights (VACIR), Legal Aid Justice Center, DREAMers Mothers in Action (DMIA), Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP)
WHERE: The Department of Justice Building, 950 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, D.C.
WHEN: Friday, June 22, 11am -12pm
CONTACT: Please contact Edgar Aranda at 703-772-1555 or [email protected] for more information.
#StopFamilyDetention
#KeepFamiliesOutofDetention