Saturday, September 06, 2014

Cleaver, delegation visit border for first-hand information on Trail of Fears

In a portion of his latest EC from DC report, Fifth District Congressman Emanuel Cleaver writes about his trip to the southernmost border between the U. S. and Mexico.

It has slipped from the headlines.

It is a political hot potato.

But it is something I simply could not get out of my mind.

Children, some as young as my own grandchildren, enduring what I call the “Trail of Fears”, as they cross the border from Mexico into the United States.

It is a humanitarian crisis, and one I felt I needed to see first-hand as Members of Congress prepare to make decisions on this issue of unaccompanied minors coming into this country, as well as comprehensive immigration reform, in general. It is my sincere hope that overall reform will begin to take shape soon, after stalling for months in the House of Representatives.

That’s why I worked to put together a first-of-its-kind intra-parliamentary delegation to tackle this issue in earnest, with eyes – and lines of communication – wide open. Joined by U.S. Representatives Mark Takano, Michelle Lujan Grisham, Dina Titus, and Mike Honda, I made the trip recently to the Southern-most part of our border to introduce ourselves to, and begin to work with, several members of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies.

After an operational security briefing on the ground, we toured a children’s facility, where so many of these kids are living, while answers to this issue continue to be difficult to find. And then we sat down together, face to face, and discussed how we can work together and what we can do to solve this problem at our country’s border.

It was a productive trip, and I have been commissioned to write a report for Congress about all we did, all we learned, and all we saw. That report will not only go to Congressional Leadership, but also to the President of the United States.

We are going to meet again in November, and hope to be joined by leaders from other countries, as well. I will continue to keep you updated as we move forward in finding a long-term solution for these children – and for our country.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Lie #1. This is a humanitarian crisis that was known was coming, encouraged and pre planned and orchestrated to use the image of children to push a failed political agenda.
Lie #2. These are unaccompanied children..NOT.. Most of them are not children per se. According to Pew Research, 83% oare teenagers and 80% male.
Lie#3. Unaccompanied... most had family members waiting for them in home towns such as yours.
Lie#4. Black leaders are lying outright to the black community. Blacks are the very first groups hurt by illegal aliens. The first to lose jobs are black teens where the unemployment rate in inner cities is as high as 60%!
Lie. #5. The Mexican chamber of Deputies represent only the interest of the Cartels, the Federales, the Oligarchial families who still own most of Mexico and keep its people in rags. For more information go to www.facebook.com/tpimmigrationcoalition