(Press Release) This rally is to protest the mass incarceration of asylum-seeking refugee families entering the United States, and the Trump administration’s proposal to incarcerate migrant children separated from their parents and families on military bases.
Protestors will rally in front of the U.S. Embassy (in San Jose, Costa Rica) to denounce the cruel policies of the Trump Administration against migrants fleeing horrors in their home countries.
WHAT: RALLY FOR REFUGEE RIGHTS AND AGAINST FAMILY SEPARATION
WHEN: SATURDAY, JUNE 30TH, 2018 AT 11 AM
WHERE: IN FRONT OF THE U.S. EMBASSY IN PAVAS, SAN JOSE (Vía 104, Calle 98)
We strongly believe that refugee asylum seeking families should not be separated, children should never be detained, and the use of military bases to hold migrant children and families is a grave violation of human rights.
Since October 1, 2017, at least 2,700 children have been taken from their parents. The vast majority were separated after US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a zero tolerance policy to criminally prosecute every adult who enters the US without documentation.
Sending parents to federal prison or to detention centers means separating them from their children — including parents who have proven parentage and are seeking asylum. Photographs of hundreds of children in cages with foil sheets for blankets sparked such a public outcry that President Trump signed an executive order replacing his administration’s policy with a new one.
The new policy, instead of detaining children in separate facilities away from their parents, holds families in detention together — indefinitely. This is punitive, inhumane and unnecessary.
Further, the Trump administration does not appear to have a plan for how to reunite parents and children who have already been separated from each other — or an answer to critics who point out that the Flores settlement agreement prohibits holding migrant children in custody for more than 20 days.
The rally is being organized by the Liga Internacional de Mujeres pro Paz y Libertad – Costa Rica, (LIMPAL) a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in San José.
