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Sec. Castro, Immigrant Advocates, Blast GOP for Using Children as Political Props During Trips to the Border

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Urge Support for Biden-Harris Plan to Achieve Humane and Durable Solutions

You can hear a recording of the call here

Today, with Republican lawmakers led by Rep. Scalise at the Southern border in McAllen, TX, former HUD Secretary and San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro joined Jess Morales Rocketto of Care in Action and Frank Sharry of America’s Voice to resoundingly condemn Republicans’ latest political stunt. The groups blasted the Republican legislators for using migrant children as political props and for doubling down on their inhumane, ineffective and deeply unpopular policies.

The advocates and leaders who joined today’s press call highlighted the Biden administration’s efforts to safely and humanely process migrants and asylum seekers coming to the Southern border, imploring conservatives in Congress to stop playing political games with children’s lives and to support the Biden-Harris administration’s ten-step plan to achieve durable solutions.

“We have Republicans at the border today that are using these children—these unaccompanied minors who are desperately seeking a better life—to blame the Biden administration for a system that Donald Trump tore apart. These Republicans have no interest in making sure that these children are treated humanely. They have been silent the last four years as Donald Trump inflicted cruelty on migrant children and families like the ones President Joe Biden is trying to make sure have a better life,” said Sec. Castro. “Republicans can be part of the solution, and they can support immigration reform so that we can fix this system.”

“It’s infuriating that the same Republicans that have been prancing around for a photo op today are the same people that are politicizing children—children who are fleeing countries by themselves to seek asylum. These Republican lawmakers have failed to provide any kind of solution to our immigration system, and they’ve continued to sabotage it,” said Jess Morales Rocketto, Executive Director of Care in Action. “The [Biden-Harris administration] is working very hard to untangle the mess that the Trump administration created, and to do it as safely and humanely as possible. The fact that they now have a plan that provides solutions…for the long term is exactly what we need to make our immigration fair, humane, and functional.”

America’s Voice released a memo yesterday ahead of the GOP lawmakers traveling to McAllen cataloguing how Republicans have used their positions of power to consistently sabotage immigration reforms and defend cruel policies implemented by Donald Trump and Stephen Miller.