The thought of children being torn away from their families and locked up strikes at the heart. Surreal that it happened to asylum seeking families. Thanks to the law, the courts stopped it. But now, government is in motion to allow that to happen again.
Currently, the Homeland Security (DHS) & Health and Human Services (HHS) has a proposed rule in the hopper – Apprehension, Processing, Care, and Custody of Alien Minors and Unaccompanied Alien Children. It attempts to remove time limits for detention (jail) time for vulnerable children and use federal facility licensure instead of state licensure to warehouse immigrant children. Given the history of abuses in federally contracted facilities, like Southwest Key Programs, condoning a policy under the same faulty judgment opens the door for more traumatization. Let’s work toward connecting asylum seeking children to family or sponsors during processing and allowing local control over facility licensure. Tell our elected officials “no” and do the right thing – for the children.
To see the proposed rule, go to: https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2018-19052.pdf
Jana Lynn Granillo
Tempe
“Feds prepare to inflict more trauma on asylum-seeking kids”
Arizona Republic, November 7, 2018
