[rtt-abq] Fw: Letter from Members of Congress to ICE regarding calls between immigrant parents and separated children

From: "Cheryl Passalaqua" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "nmcheryl" for DMARC)
To: "rtt-abq@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <rtt-abq@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2018 23:12:28 +0000 (UTC)

From our friend Karen and Sen. Udall's office.


Contact:

Jessica Bralish (Polis), 720-899-0182

Kerry Arndt (Murray), 202-224-2834

Douglas Rivlin (Gutierrez), 202-225-8203



More than 145 members of the House and Senate speak out against charging
migrant parents up to $8/min. to speak with their kids

Washington: Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep.
Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., rallied 143 other members of Congress to demand
immigration detention facilities immediately end their practice of charging
migrant parents as much as $8 per minute to speak with their children by
telephone. More than 2,400 migrant parents have been separated from their
children under the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy.

In a letter to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), the
members wrote:

“We write to urge you to implement immediate, nationwide changes that will
permit individuals who have been separated from their children to make phone
calls regularly and at no expense to them. […] No one–not private detention
facilities, nor the federal government–should be in any way enriched by
detained parents trying to speak with their children.”

Read the entire letter here.

ICE detention standards state that immigration detention facilities shall
permit detainees to make direct or free calls to “immediate family or others
for detainees in personal or family emergencies [....]”

“Nobody should profit off of the suffering of separated migrant children and
parents. The callousness of President Trump’s family separation policy knows no
bounds. These mothers, fathers, babies, and young children came here with
nothing to their names, seeking refugee. We shouldn’t allow them to be
exploited by private corporations in order to simply locate and speak with
their children by phone. ICE should follow its own stated policy, and allow
migrant parents to call their children freely,”said Polis.

“As if the Trump administration’s decision to separate families wasn’t cruel
enough, the idea there would be any barriers to basic communication is
outrageous, and must be corrected immediately. And in the meantime, I am going
to be doing everything in my power to hold President Trump’s feet to the fire
until every family is back together and he drops this heartless effort to harm
children and their parents,” said Sen. Murray.

“Parents fleeing violence to save their children’s lives should be treated like
refugees and protected, but instead we treat them like profit centers to be
nickled and dimed. As a country we can do better and we must,” said Rep.
Gutierrez.

The letter was backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigrant
Justice Center, National Council of Jewish Women, Human Rights First, NETWORK
Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Anti-Defamation League, Friends Committee on
National Legislation, MomsRising, Franciscan Action Network, Young Center for
Immigrant Children’s Rights, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health,
and Center for Law and Social Policy.

Joining Rep. Polis, Sen. Murray, and Rep. Gutierrez were 35 Senators and 108
Representatives, including Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael F. Bennet
(D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory A. Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH),
Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Thomas R. Carper (D-DE), Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA),
Christopher A. Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth
(D-IL), Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand
(D-NY), Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Margaret Wood Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich
(D-NM), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Patrick Leahy (D-VT),
Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-OR),
Bill Nelson (D-FL), Gary C. Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernard Sanders
(D-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie
Stabenow (D-MI), Tom Udall (D-NM), Elizabeth Warren D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse
(D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Reps. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Mark DeSaulnier
(D-CA), Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), John Yarmuth (D-KY),
Donald M. Payne (D-NJ), Salud O. Carbajal (D-CA), Michelle Lujan Grisham
(D-NM), Elizabeth H. Esty (D-CT), Dan Kildee (D-MI), Jimmy Panetta  (D-CA), Ted
W. Lieu (D-CA), Mike Doyle (D-PA), Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), A. Donald McEachin
(D-VA), Pramila Jayapal (D-TX), John Lewis (D-GA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Colleen
Hanabusa (D-HI), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Joseph P. Kennedy, III (D-MA), James P.
McGovern (D-MA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Sean Patrick
Maloney (D-NY), J. Luis Correa (D-CA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Debbie Wasserman
Schultz (D-FL), Donald S. Beyer Jr. (D-VA), Scott Peters (D-CA), Pete Aguilar
(D-CA), Tim Ryan (D-OH), Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), Brenda Lawrence
(D-MI), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Bill Foster (D-IL), Jimmy
Gomez (D-CA), Sander Levin (D-MI), Grace Meng (D-NY), Nanette Diaz Barragán
(D-CA), Beto O'Rourke (D-TX), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Michael E. Capuano (D-MA),
Katherine Clark (D-NY), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Darren Soto (D-FL), Tulsi Gabbard
(D-HI), Anthony G. Brown (D-MD), Kathleen M. Rice (D-NY), Tony Cárdenas (D-CA),
Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Marc Veasey (D-TX), Derek Kilmer (D-WA), Carol
Shea-Porter (D-NH), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Hakeem
Jeffries (D-NY), Grace F. Napolitano (D-CA), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), John
Delaney (D-MD), Norma J. Torres (D-CA), Niki Tsongas (D-MA), Yvette D. Clarke
(D-NY), James R. Langevin (D-RI), G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), Jerrold Nadler
(D-NY), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR),
André Carson (D-IN), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Danny K. Davis (D-IL),
Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY),
Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (D-GA), Karen Bass (D-CA), David N. Cicilline
(D-RI), Gwen Moore (D-WI), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Adam
Smith (D-WA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), Peter Welch
(D-VT), Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA), Albio Sires (D-NJ),
Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), José E. Serrano (D-NY), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Adam
B. Schiff (D-CA), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-GA), Rosa L.
DeLauro (D-CT), Judy Chu (D-CA), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Suzan K. DelBene
(D-WA), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Brian Higgins (D-NY), Dina
Titus (D-NV), Jackie Speier (D-CA), Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Eddie Bernice
Johnson (D-TX), Kurt Schrader (D-OR), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX).

###

Attachment: ICE Telephone Policy Letter - FINAL SIGNED.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document

[rtt-abq] Fw: Letter from Members of Congress to ICE regarding calls between immigrant parents and separated children

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