Issued July 23, 2014
WASHINGTON, DC - After Congresswoman Kay Granger (TX-12) released the House Working Group's outline of recommendations on the current situation at the border, the Service Employees International Union's (SEIU) Executive Vice President, Rocio Saenz, issued the following statement:
Let's remember we are talking about young children, alone and afraid, who have come to us for help. We are a nation that believes in compassion. It's one of our greatest values and it's what makes us such a beacon of hope. The Republicans are asking America to turn their backs on children. That's just not right.
"Chairwoman Granger and her colleagues in the working group are singing a very familiar tune. These 'recommendations' continue to play to their extreme anti-immigrant base. From the absurd deployment of the National Guard to the callous indifference of the dangers from which the children have fled, the GOP agenda ignores our country's core values. It attempts to use euphemisms to deport children back to the violence they risked their lives to escape without first checking whether they have a right to remain under our asylum laws.
"This isn't who we are as nation and we certainly won't accept such recommendations."