President urged to address separation of Latino families

Latino Policy Coalition Seeks Presidential Executive Order To Reunite Children Separated From Detained/Deported Immigrant Parents

SACRAMENTO, CA. -- The Latino Policy Coalition (LPC) has requested that President Barack Obama issue an Executive Order that puts an end to the shattering of Latino families; and begins the process of reuniting American citizen children with their undocumented immigrant parents.

According to the Shattered Families Report in 2011, over 48,000 mothers and fathers of at least one U.S. citizen child were separated due to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detentions and deportations. 

The proposed Executive Order would require, as a first step, the establishment of a national registry of these children and their locations - so their parents can find them and reunify with them.

During sweeps of Latino neighborhoods, conducted by ICE, parents were unable to claim or make arrangements for their children to be returned to them, or to be cared for by close family members. Many children have been permanently separated from their parents' love by county foster care agencies. These federally-funded county programs have inadequate policies to address the distinctive circumstances that undocumented immigrant parents in detention or deportation proceedings face. 

Copies of the LPC letter to President Obama, and the proposed Executive Order, have been transmitted to: U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chair - Democratic National Committee; Linda Chavez-Thompson, Vice Chair - Democratic National Committee; Donna Brazile, Vice Chair of Voter Registration & Participation - Democratic National Committee; U.S. Rep. Charles A. Gonzalez, Chair - Congressional Hispanic Caucus; and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Chair of the 2012 Democratic National Convention; U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, Chair -- Senate Hispanic Task Force. 

The Latino Policy Coalition ( www.latinopolicycoalition.org ) is a national non-partisan non-profit consortium of the country's leading Latino research organizations and scholars. LPC is chaired by former San Francisco City and County Supervisor Jim Gonzalez, who is the first author of a City of Sanctuary Ordinance in the nation. Sixty other U.S. cities have passed similar legislation to protect the human rights of immigrant communities. 

SOURCE: Latino Policy Coalition