June 22, 2018 • Local News
El Paso Times: US mayors meet in Tornillo to protest separation of immigrant children from families
A bipartisan group of mayors from coast to coast gathered at the Tornillo port of entry Thursday to demand that immigrant children be reunited with their parents and to call on the federal government to pass immigration reform.
About 20 mayors, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, were hosted by El Paso Mayor Dee Margo in a visit to the port of entry where the federal government has set up a tent shelter to house immigrant children.
The mayors had requested a tour of the tent shelter, but were told it would take about two weeks to get a response.
“It’s time to reunify families and fix a broken immigration system,” Garcetti said, adding that he has seen infants torn away from their mothers and toddlers changing diapers because they were separated from their parents by the Trump administration's “zero tolerance” policy.
Margo, calling El Paso the “poster child” for immigration and bicultural relations, said the process to resolve the issue is neither Republican nor Democrat, but needs to be handled in Washington.
“Immigration is all encompassing. It’s not just the fact that they are separating children in an inhumane manner; it’s the fact that we need to reconcile and resolve our immigration process with DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program), with the undocumented immigrants that are here today, and we need to improve our visa process,” Margo said.
The mayors, led by Columbia, S.C., Mayor Steve Benjamin, met at the Marcelino Serna Port of Entry in response to the Trump administration's policy announced in April that has resulted in at least 2,000 immigrant children being separated from their parents.
"As mayors, we see the cruel impact of unnecessary immigration policies on our cities," Benjamin said. "They create fear and uncertainty, which has a very real effect on the safety, health and well-being of all of our residents."
Referring to the separation practice as immoral and as a humanitarian crisis, Benjamin said the Trump administration needs to reunite the families as quickly as possible.
About 360 immigrant children were expected to be housed at the temporary tent shelter at the port of entry in Tornillo.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end the practice of separating families who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
Garcetti said, “We have over 2,000 children still far away from their parents and are still streaming into our cities."
Garcetti also criticized the federal government for not providing any information about the 100 children who have been transported to Los Angeles. He said activist groups have provided more information about the children than government officials.
De Blasio also said he was surprised to find out that 239 children have been transported nearly 2,000 miles to New York.
“We won’t tolerate an inhumane situation anymore,” De Blasio said.
The mayors agreed that the executive order issued Wednesday is a step in the right direction, but said it left many unanswered questions, including how the children would be reunited with their parents.
“Maybe enough babies have cried and enough mothers have shed tears and we are starting to see some change,” said Mayor Bryan Barnett, of Rochester Hills in the Detroit metro area.
Anaheim, Calif., Mayor Tom Tait said the outcome of the "zero tolerance" policy has been a tragedy.
"We need comprehensive immigration reform," Tait said. "We hope that this tragic event here will serve as a catalyst for comprehensive immigration reform."
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