Separation Of Families At The Border

On September 4th, Catholics and supporting faith filled persons participated in a march from St. Mary's Abbey in Newark to the Federal Building to give voice to their beliefs in the inhumane treatment being given especially to children in the policies of our government on family separation. Several hundred men and women, including a great number of Sisters mobilized by their Leadership Conference (LCWR) participated. Several dozen persons witnessed their beliefs by participating in a planned civil disobedience act. Speakers, including Archbishop Tobin of Newark Diocese delivered passionate expressions of their commitment to advancing justice especially regarding the crisis at the border and the inability of our laws to give just and merciful attention to the "cries of the poor" .

US Bishops Speak: June 2019 www.cbsnews.com/news/catholic-bishops-statement-on-trump-immigration-policies-family-separation-border

More than 300 Catholic bishops from across the U.S. gathered Wednesday for their Spring Assembly in Fort Lauderdale, where they made a strong political statement against several immigration policies of the Trump administration, CBS Miami reports. A statement, read by Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield on behalf of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, said the bishops take issue with Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to limit asylum seekers who are fleeing domestic abuse or gang violence from trying to stay in the U.S.

"These vulnerable women will now face return to the extreme dangers of domestic violence in their home country. This decision negates decades of precedence that have provided protection to women fleeing domestic violence," Blandsfield read.

The bishops also said the Trump administration's policy of separating parents from their children at the U.S.-Mexico border needs to stop.

From NPR news www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621065383/what-we-know-family-separation-and-zero-tolerance-at-the-border

Since early May, 2,342 children have been separated from their parents after crossing the Southern U.S. border, according to the Department of Homeland Security, as part of a new immigration strategy by the Trump administration that has prompted widespread outcry.

President Trump signed an executive order reversing his policy of separating families - and replacing it with a policy of detaining entire families together, including children, but ignoring legal time limits on the detention of minors.

Did the Trump administration have a policy of separating families at the border?

Yes.

In April, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered prosecutors along the border to "adopt immediately a zero-tolerance policy" for illegal border crossings. That included prosecuting parents traveling with their children as well as people who subsequently attempted to request asylum.

White House officials have repeatedly acknowledged that under that policy, they separate all families who cross the border. Sessions has described it as deterrence