Kaine Joins 21 Democratic Senators To Express Concern Over Immigration Raids On Central American Families

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined 21 of his Senate Colleagues to express profound concern in a letter to President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson regarding DHS’s targeted immigration enforcement operations against mothers and children from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

“We are troubled by the priorities reflected in these enforcement actions,” the Senators wrote. “Given the particular risks faced by these mothers and children, the tactic of using widely publicized, aggressive removal operations – often in the wee hours of the morning – is shocking and misguided. These raids have created widespread fear in immigrant communities around the country, and damaged trust in local law enforcement... We ask that you stop these aggressive raids against children and their families and rely on more appropriate approaches to fulfilling court orders.”

The letter was co-authored by U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy, Richard Durbin, Patty Murray, Cory Booker, Mazie Hirono, Chris Murphy, Al Franken, Robert Menendez, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Ed Markey, Brian Schatz, Tammy Baldwin, Richard Blumenthal, Kristen Gillibrand, Ben Cardin, Gary Peters, Barbara Mikulski, Michael Bennet and Jeff Merkley. ‎Full text of the letter can be viewed here.

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