IMMEDIATE ADOPTION
Number
190557
Version
ORIGINAL
Reference
Sponsor
COMMON COUNCIL
Title
Resolution urging the United States Congress to introduce and pass legislation that would create a three-year renewable visa program for spouses and parents of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status recipients.
Analysis
This resolution urges the United States Congress to introduce and pass legislation that would create a three-year renewable visa program for spouses and parents of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status recipients.
Body
Whereas, The practice of separating children from their families is an arbitrary interference in family life, and the separation of children from their parents is a violation of human rights; and
Whereas, The United Nations human rights office has stated that the Trump administration’s practice of separating children from migrant families entering the United States violates their rights and international law, and the United Nations urges an immediate halt to the practice; and
Whereas, The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in San Diego, calling for a halt to the practice of separating children of migrants from their parents and for reunification of families; and
Whereas, The struggle to protect the rights of children to stay with their families is deeply embedded in our nation’s history from its original perpetration during the genocide of native Americans and the holocaust of slavery when children were torn from their parents; and
Whereas, The U.S. Congress previously urged former president Barack Obama to issue executive orders to temporarily prevent deportations that separate families with U.S.-born children or children eligible for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA); and
Whereas, President Obama issued executive orders that provided the deferral of deportation and the provision of work permissions for undocumented individuals brought to the country as minors and also provided the same deferrals of deportation and working permissions to undocumented parents of U.S. citizen children or such minors; and
Whereas, These executive orders further established the practice of prosecutorial discretion to defer such deportations in order to prevent the unjust separation of families or the de facto deportation of U.S. citizen children until the Congress could arrive at a permanent solution; and
Whereas, The courts reached no final resolutions on the constitutionality of these executive orders, and Congress still has not reached any comprehensive solution for millions of families caught in the system of undocumented labor, which has operated for decades in this nation; and
Whereas, In spite of the continuing threat of injustice to children, the Trump administration has cancelled those executive orders without Congress having established any alternative; and
Whereas, These provisions, previously adopted to protect the right of children to have the support of their parents, represented a just and much-needed temporary adjustment and should be restored by an act of Congress; and
Whereas, The children of those undocumented workers, who came and worked honestly in this country and formed families and raised children, are the least culpable and the most vulnerable victims of the system of undocumented labor and are being forced every day to endure the unimaginable pain and damage of family separation or deportation; and
Whereas, Those parents with U.S. citizen children who were given protected status through prosecutorial discretion and who reported regularly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as they were required, were among the first to be deported under the Trump administration; and
Whereas, There has been a 250% increase over the last year in deportations of those with no criminal records, most of whom have families and children, with the likelihood that these numbers will continue to increase; and
Whereas, At least 325,000 Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, and Haitians who have lived in this country for many years have established families with 273,000 U.S.-born citizen children, as well as other children brought here at an early age who have known no other country, now face the cancellation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and are being deported, separating children from their parents or deporting U.S. citizen children; and
Whereas, U.S. policies have contributed to the continuing conditions of instability, poverty, and violence in the aforementioned countries, and, morally, these children of TPS families should not be returned to endure those conditions; and
Whereas, The psychological, educational, health, economic, and mortality effects of separation from their parents or their removal from this country are documented violations of the human rights accorded universally to children; and
Whereas, The passage of a clean DACA bill will further prevent the separation of families; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, By the Common Council of the City of Milwaukee, that the Common Council urges the United States Congress to pass legislation that provides the right to visas for the undocumented parents of U.S. citizen children or DACA-eligible children and TPS recipient parents with U.S. citizen children or children brought here before the age of 16, which allows them and their children to stay and work legally in this country to provide for the economic, physical, and emotional security and development of those children; and, be it
Further Resolved, That those visas and work permits should be issued on proof that there are no criminal convictions of these individuals and proof of the existence in residence of U.S. citizen or DACA-eligible children under the age of 25; and, be it
Further Resolved, That those visas should be renewable every three years on proof of the continued verification of the original conditions of issue; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Common Council urges the U.S. Congress to pass legislation to immediately stop this violation of the human rights of children and their rights as U.S. citizens; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the millions of U.S. citizen children and children brought to this nation as infants, raised among U.S. citizens, should not be deprived of the sacred right to family and parental guidance and support because of the nation’s political paralysis in correcting and taking responsibility for past mistakes of immigration policy and practice, but, instead, should be protected and afforded the most basic human right, which is afforded through the creation of family and guaranteed by the innate and irreplaceable responsibility of parents; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Common Council urges the U.S. Congress to pass a clean DACA bill that gives eligible recipients immediate security and a road to citizenship; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Common Council urges the U.S. Congress to maintain and extend family-based legal immigration; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Department of Administration - Intergovernmental Relations Division is directed to lobby for passage of this legislation; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the City Clerk shall send a copy of this resolution to the President of the United States, the U.S. Senate Majority Leader, the U.S. Senate Minority Leader, the U.S. Speaker of the House, the U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader, and each member of the City’s Congressional delegation.
Requestor
Drafter
LRB174596-1
Tea Norfolk
7/3/2019