Refugee Justice League leaders today issued the following statement in response to the ongoing crisis on the United States’ Southern border:
“The separation of children from their asylum-seeking parents is wrong. It offends the valued and inalienable principles of basic decency and human rights upon which our nation is founded. The measure of who we are, as a people and as a nation, is revealed in how we treat and respond to those who are the most vulnerable and needy amongst us.
A telling measure of who we are is how we respond to the plight of children. We condemn in the harshest terms the incarceration of innocent children in massive forced retention centers. We condemn in the harshest terms possible, the division of families. The practice is inexcusable. It is inhuman, it is abhorrent. It is offensive. It is immoral. It is a practice that cannot be quietly tolerated. Though public outcry has now caused a reversal of the separation policy, the prompt reunification of separated children with their parents remains unaccomplished. That reunification is a humanitarian imperative that must not be delayed.
We condemn rhetoric that is misleading and that devalues and demeans the unprivileged, the disparate and the unrepresented.
The Refugee Justice League calls upon every free person, every person of privilege, every citizen of our state and every citizen of our nation, to join in a voice that cannot be muted – to join in a voice that declares again that all are equal, that all are of value, and that those practices that promote hatred and divide us must end.”
The Refugee Justice League is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) charitable organization of Utah lawyers and leaders volunteering their time and expertise to defend the rights of refugees. To donate, or for more information about the League and its mission, please visit www.refugeejustice.org.
