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HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The separation of children from their mother or
3father, or from both, is a violation of the human rights that
4should be afforded to all children; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The just struggle to protect the right of children
6to stay with their families is at the core of the struggle in
7this country to complete our imperfect but developing democracy
8from its original perpetration during the genocide of the
9native American and the holocaust of slavery when children were
10ripped from their mother's breast and the guidance of their
11fathers; and
 
12    WHEREAS, This struggle is inspired by our spiritual,
13cultural, and democratic ideals of what is right and just; and
 
14    WHEREAS, In the reality of the failure of the U.S.
15Congress, then-President Barack Obama was urged to issue
16executive orders to at least temporarily prevent deportations
17that separate families with U.S. born children or DACA eligible
18children; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The alternative to separation is the de facto
20deportation of U.S. citizen children and children raised side
21by side with U.S. citizens for the greatest part of their young

 

 

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1lives to countries they know nothing about, and, in which, they
2are placed in the most disadvantaged and dangerous positions,
3denying their rights as U.S. citizens and their universal
4rights as children; and
 
5    WHEREAS, President Obama did issue executive orders that
6provided the deferral of deportation and the provision of work
7permissions for undocumented individuals brought to this
8country as minors and also provided the same deferrals of
9deportation and working permissions to undocumented parents of
10U.S. citizen children or such minors; the executive orders
11further established the practice of prosecutorial discretion
12to defer such deportations in order to prevent the unjust
13separation of families or the de facto deportation of U.S.
14citizen children until the Congress could arrive at a permanent
15solution; and
 
16    WHEREAS, The courts reached no final resolutions on the
17constitutionality of these executive orders, and Congress
18still has not reached any comprehensive solution for millions
19of families caught in the system of undocumented labor, which
20has operated for decades in this nation; and
 
21    WHEREAS, In spite of the continuing threat of injustice to
22children, the current administration has cancelled those
23executive orders without Congress having established any

 

 

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1alternative; and
 
2    WHEREAS, These provisions, previously adopted to protect
3the right of children to have the support of their parents,
4represented a just and much needed temporary adjustment and
5should be restored by an act of Congress; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Those in government who looked the other way at
7this system, those companies who used undocumented labor, and
8those who benefitted from the billions of dollars collected
9from the paychecks of undocumented workers to fill the coffers
10of social security have been asked to pay no price; and
 
11    WHEREAS, The children of those undocumented workers, who
12came and worked honestly in this country and formed families
13and raised children, are the least culpable and the most
14vulnerable victims of the system of undocumented labor and are
15being forced every day to endure the unimaginable pain and
16damage of family separation or de facto deportation; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Those parents with U.S. citizen children who were
18given protected status through prosecutorial discretion and
19who reported regularly to ICE as they were required were among
20the first to be deported under this administration; and
 
21    WHEREAS, There has been a 250% increase over the last year

 

 

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1in deportations of those with no criminal records, most of whom
2have families and children, with the likelihood that these
3numbers will continue to increase; and
 
4    WHEREAS, At least 325,000 Salvadorans, Nicaraguans,
5Hondurans, and Haitians who have lived in this country for many
6years and have established families with 273,000 U.S. born
7citizen children, as well as other children brought here at an
8early age (22% of original entrants were under 16) who have
9known no other country, now face the cancellation of Temporary
10Protected Status (TPS) and are being deported, separating
11children from their parents or de facto deporting U.S. citizen
12children; and
 
13    WHEREAS, U.S. policies have contributed to the continuing
14conditions of instability, poverty, and violence in the
15aforementioned countries, and, morally, these children of TPS
16families should not be returned to endure those conditions; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The psychological, educational, health, economic,
18and mortality effects of separation from their parents or their
19de facto removal from this country are documented violations of
20the human rights accorded universally to children; and
 
21    WHEREAS, The separation of families at the border for those
22seeking asylum is a violation of human rights; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The passage of a clean DACA bill will further
2prevent the separation of families; therefore, be it
 
3    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
4HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
5we urge the U.S. Congress to pass legislation that provides the
6right to visas for the undocumented parents of U.S. citizen
7children or DACA eligible children and TPS recipient parents
8with U.S. citizen children or children brought here before the
9age of 16, which allows them and their children to stay and
10work legally in this country to provide for the economic,
11physical, and spiritual security and development of those
12children; and be it further
 
13    RESOLVED, That those visas and work permits should be
14issued on proof that there are no criminal convictions of these
15individuals and proof of the existence in residence of U.S.
16citizen or DACA eligible children under the age of 25; and be
17it further
 
18    RESOLVED, That those visas should be renewable every three
19years on proof of the continued verification of the original
20conditions of issue; and be it further
 
21    RESOLVED, That we urge the U.S. Congress to pass

 

 

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1legislation to immediately stop this violation of the human
2rights of children and their rights as U.S. citizens; and be it
3further
 
4    RESOLVED, That five million U.S. citizen children and two
5million children brought to this nation as infants, raised here
6among U.S. citizens, should not be deprived of the sacred right
7to family and parental guidance and support because of the
8nation's political paralysis in correcting and taking
9responsibility for past mistakes of immigration policy and
10practice but, instead, should be protected and afforded the
11most basic human right, which is afforded through the creation
12of family and guaranteed by the innate and irreplaceable
13responsibility of parents; and be it further
 
14    RESOLVED, That we urge the U.S. Congress to pass a clean
15DACA bill that gives eligible recipients immediate security and
16a road to citizenship; and be it further
 
17    RESOLVED, That we urge the U.S. Congress to maintain and
18extend family-based legal immigration; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
20delivered to the President of the United States, the U.S.
21Senate Majority Leader, the U.S. Senate Minority Leader, the
22U.S. Speaker of the House, the U.S. House of Representatives

 

 

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1Minority Leader, and all members of the Illinois Congressional
2Delegation.