Serrano Appalled at Family Separation Statistics

Statement

In response to a new report out today on families separated by deportation, Congressman José E. Serrano expressed his profound disgust with a system that has left more than 5000 citizen children in foster care because their parents were deported. Serrano called the policies "un-American" and "deeply troubling."

The report, entitled Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System, was released by the Applied Research Center and found "there are at least 5,100 children currently living in foster care who are prevented from uniting with their detained or deported parents" among other findings. It can be accessed here: http://www.arc.org/shatteredfamilies.

"An immigration policy that separates children from their parents is inhumane and un-American, and should not be an outcome of our immigration policy," said Congressman Serrano. "Keeping families united is a basic human right, and a fundamental principle in our nation. I am troubled that our nation is implementing policies which could end up permanently separating families and causing children to end up in adoption proceedings.

"When I introduced the Child Citizen Protection Act for the first time several years ago, I warned that a rigid deportation policy would end up separating children from their parents for no good reason. Today we have learned that that dire prediction is turning out to be true.

"Today I call on DHS Secretary Napolitano to immediately halt and review any and all deportation proceedings where a child is being held by child protective services as a result of ICE actions. This indiscriminate and harmful policy outcome is wrong, and it must end immediately. A parent should never lose their child simply because of deportation proceedings."

Source