NYC Council Urges Congress: Pass the Child Citizen Protection Act, Fix Broken Deportation System
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2008
Contact:
Betsy Dewitt, 917 609 6682
NYC Council Urges Congress:
Pass the Child Citizen Protection Act, Fix Broken Deportation System
Last Wednesday evening, the New York City Council passed through a near-unanimous voice vote a resolution in support of the Child Citizen Protection Act (H.R. 1176). Sponsored by Council Members Inez Dickens and Joel Rivera, Resolution 1250 is the strongest admonishment by local elected leaders on the federal deportation system: “Although a person born in the United States automatically obtains citizenship status, there are millions of U.S. born children whose parents are not citizens. Should the non-citizen parents be subject to removal, deportation or exclusion, there is a risk of destroying the family unit.”
The Child Citizen Protection Act was introduced in the US House of Representatives by Congressman Jose Serrano. This legislation would not remove anyone from the deportation rolls. It would simply give immigration judges the authority to consider the best interest of an American-born child before deporting an immigrant parent, so long as the immigrant is not deportable for security reasons or has not engaged in sex trafficking. It has 31 sponsors in the House. It has not yet been introduced in the US Senate.
Betsy Dewitt, an organizer for Families for Freedom, testified at the City Council hearing about how her own husband’s deportation has devastated her three American-born children. She rejoiced at the resolution’s passage: “The Child Citizen Protection Act has been the best kept secret in the immigration debate. We hope that our City Council’s stand moves our Senators to introduce the bill in the Senate. Deportation is the cruelest, most broken part of the nation’s immigration system.” Families for Freedom is working with a growing number of partners against raids and deportations and to pass similar resolutions in large cities around the country.
Rose, an elementary school student born and raised in the Bronx, testified at the City Council hearing about how immigration agents tried to take away her father. Upon the resolution’s passage, she said, “It means a lot to me because a lot of families are getting broken up. Some kids don’t really understand how it feels to think your family may be broken up. With the Resolution, we can tell more kids about deportation.”
Juan Carlos Ruiz, coordinator of the faith-based New Sanctuary Movement, stated: “All relationships are sacred, especially the relationship between parents and children. We have faith that this resolution will signal the change that is needed to respect the holy bond of our families and communities.”
Raquel Batista, Executive Director of Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, congratulated the City Council: "In the last four years the New York City Council has time and time again shown its' commitment to immigrants in New York City. As New York City moves into a time of economic and political challenges, courageous resolutions as this one will show the rest of New York State and the Nation that true justice is standing to keep our families together and strong."
* For more information on the New York City Council Resolution 1250, visit http://www.nyccouncil.info/html/legislation/legislation.cfm.
* For more information on the rights of American-born children in deportation