18.128 A Resolution Denouncing and Demanding an End to President Trump's 'Zero Tolerance' PolicyIn the City Council, June 21st, in the Year Two Thousand and Eighteen
Upon the recommendation of Councilor Alisa F. Klein, Councilor Gina-Louise Sciarra, and Councilor Marianne L. LaBarge
R-18.128
A RESOLUTION
DENOUNCING AND DEMANDING AN END TO PRESIDENT TRUMP’S “ZERO TOLERANCE” IMMIGRATION POLICY
Whereas, the Department of Homeland Security announced that in the six-week period between April 19, 2018 and May 31, 2018, it separated 1,995 immigrant children from their parents at
the southern U.S. border, with many thousands more separated before that period and since; and
Whereas, this practice by the United States government of ICE and Border Patrol agents separating children from their parents and families with no government mechanism for reuniting
them is immoral, abhorrent, cruel, and inhumane; and
Whereas, the children who have been separated from their parents are being held in deplorable conditions, sometimes in cages and with bottled water and bags of potato chips as their
only sustenance; and
Whereas, the Trump administration’s “Zero Tolerance” immigration policy and the practice of separating children from their parents has caused immigrant parents to live in terror of
having their children torn from them and their children to live in terror of being separated from their families in such a manner; and
Whereas, separating children from their families is condemned throughout the world as a crime against children and constitutes a form of torture for both the children and their parents;
and
Whereas, the practice of separating immigrant children from their parents has been deemed “government-sponsored child abuse” by Dr. Colleen Kraft, the president of the American Academy
of Pediatrics; and
Whereas, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, called for an immediate halt to this practice, stating that “The thought that any state would
seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable;” and
Whereas, religious leaders representing diverse faiths issued a joint statement condemning this practice saying, “Tearing children away from parents who have made a dangerous journey
to provide a safe and sufficient life for them is unnecessarily cruel and detrimental to the well-being of parents and children;” and
Whereas, the separation of children from their parents can serve as a lifelong trauma and can be permanently debilitating, with this kind of trauma being linked to serious mental, physical,
and community health issues such as acute and posttraumatic stress disorder, harmful drug and alcohol use, depression, anxiety, suicidality, and higher mortality rates; and
Whereas, trauma of this nature lasts not just throughout these children’s and parents’ lifetimes but into the lives of successive generations, as we see from horrifying historical precedents
such as during slavery in the United States, the Trail of Tears, and the concentration and death camps of the Holocaust; and
Whereas, President Trump’s response to the public outcry against separating migrant children from their parents was to issue a June 20, 2018 “Executive Order Affording Congress an Opportunity
to Address Family Separation” calling for the detention of immigrant families as a unit; and
Whereas, this move on the President’s part is “not family reunification, [rather it] is family incarceration…and this is not a victory.”
Whereas, the Trump administration is accelerating the aggressive criminalization and prosecution of the parents of these children who are, in many cases, facing up to 20 years in prison
for “illegal entry” so that immigrant children could remain incarcerated with their parents for very long periods of time, thus violating a 2015 court decision on children’s rights
called the Flores Agreement that limits the ability of the government to detain children for more than 20 days; and
Whereas, despite the Executive Order, the Trump administration currently has no plans to reunite the thousands of children already separated from their parents, some of whom have already
been deported; and
Whereas, the federally-sponsored immigration raids that target these parents and children in their homes, at work, and in their neighborhoods are conducted without respect for civil
and constitutional rights.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of Northampton, Massachusetts condemns the shameful policy of separating immigrant children from their parents and families, the incarceration
of immigrant children and their parents, and the Trump administration’s “Zero Tolerance” immigration policy, and calls for restitution for, and reunification of, the families who have
been affected by it.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council of Northampton, Massachusetts calls for bipartisan support for the urgent passage of U.S. Senate Bill S.3036, the “Keep Families Together
Act.” Introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein and co-sponsored by Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, S.3036 prohibits the separation of children from their guardians
unless ‘‘danger of abuse or neglect at the hands of the parent or legal guardian’’ can be proven through multiple, evidence-based and trauma-informed steps that safeguard “a strong
presumption in favor of family unity.”
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council of Northampton, Massachusetts calls for federal immigration policy that is guided by humane and carefully considered laws that help protect
the people who come to the United States seeking asylum and relief.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Administrative Assistant to the City Council shall cause a copy of this resolution to be sent to President Donald Trump, United States Homeland Security
Secretary Kirstjen Neilsen, United States Attorney General Jefferson Sessions, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator Ed Markey, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congressman James
McGovern, and MA Governor Charles Baker.