Boise Mayor Dave Bieter and members of the Boise City Council called upon Idaho’s congressional delegation to end the Trump administration policy separating immigrant children from their parents at the nation’s southern border.
Dear Idaho Congressional Members:
On behalf of the City of Boise, we request that you immediately reverse the Trump
administration policy that has resulted in the forced separation of innocent immigrant
children from their parents at our southern border.
This policy is, to put it bluntly, un-American. It is barbaric. It is a shameful betrayal of the
humanitarian values on which our great nation was founded. It undermines our
standing as world leaders in the causes of justice and liberty.
It is inflicted without just cause upon families that in many instances are fleeing
unimaginable violence and oppression in their home countries—families that, in their
most desperate hour of need, deserve our kindness, not further punishment.
For us to make such a request of you, regarding an issue with no direct impact on the
municipal government of Idaho’s capital city, might seem unusual. But Boise is indeed
affected. Our city has for many years been designated a refugee resettlement
community; we welcome those fleeing war, violence, and oppression, no matter where
they come from. We recognize that Boise, and Idaho, and America, are stronger thanks
to the contributions of the many smart, industrious, and compassionate people from
around the world who have found their way to our shores and have chosen to call this
place their new home. For communities across the country, the refugee experience has
been similarly positive.
Thus, as elected representatives, and as human beings, we cannot in good conscience
remain silent in the face of the administration’s unacceptable policy and its sheer
offensiveness to our community’s moral and ethical standards, and those of our nation.
The Department of Homeland Security confirms that, in a six-week period ending May
31, some 2,000 children—an average of almost 50 per day—were separated from their
parents or adult guardians at the U.S.-Mexico border. In many instances this separation
has amounted to thousands of miles, with these children, some little more than infants,
reportedly being flown as far away as New York; some parents are given no information
about where their children have gone or when they will see them again. Visits to
detention centers by your congressional colleagues have revealed children kept in
groups in chain-link enclosures resembling large dog kennels, with only blankets on the
floor to sleep on and nothing resembling a safe, nurturing environment. This treatment is
causing trauma that does untold harm to blameless, vulnerable children. They and their
families are being denied the due process rights to which every human being is entitled.
The separation of children from their families at the border has been condemned by
members of both political parties. It has been condemned by all five living First Ladies,
including the current occupant of the White House. It has been condemned by the
leaders of a wide range of religious faiths. And polls show it has been condemned by a
majority of the American people.
Condemnation is not enough, though; we must, as a nation, move immediately to do
the right thing, the compassionate thing, and protect these children from the
mistreatment that we are, by choice, visiting upon them. President Trump has the
authority to end the inhumane separation of families at the border today. If he will not
do so, it is incumbent upon you to use every means available to you – legislative,
political, and persuasive – to end this intolerable practice now.
