The Cruelty Must Cease!

By Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson

The administration’s policy of indifferently dismantling and separating migrant families once they cross the southern borders of the United States is morally indefensible, psychologically damaging to children that are being brazenly taken from their mothers, and is in direct contravention to the values on which our country was founded, and pronounces.

Any suggestion by United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions that the action is biblically based demonstrates a profound misunderstanding and distortion of scripture.

In fact, what is occurring is mean-spirited, short-sighted and is causing serious damage to the respect that others in the world have for the United States as a welcoming country for seekers of a better life for themselves, and their families.

Thoughtful faith leaders in Texas and the nation are protesting what is being done in the name of the United States. Even conservative evangelicals such as Reverend Franklin Graham, a supporter of the president, have described separating mothers and their children as “disgraceful.”

At a meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas the organization adopted a resolution calling family unity a “priority” in a civilized society. One well-known member of the clergy at the convention said that he and his colleagues believed that migrants were made “in God’s image,” and as such deserved better treatment than that which they were receiving.

The leadership of the nation’s catholic community fully agrees with its Baptist brethren. At a convention held in Florida at the same as the Dallas conclave, a gathering of Roman Catholic Bishops sharply criticized the administration’s policy.

The group’s president, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo from Galveston, called families crucial to human existence. “They must stay together,” he said.

While the mothers and their offspring suffer in bewilderment and pain, the president blames the situation on the Democratic Party. He knows full well that is false. No administration before this one separated children from their mothers as they crossed our borders in search of American opportunities, and our way of life.

The Republican Party controls the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House. It is within their power to pass legislation that would reform our immigration policies, and stop this madness.

The party in power and the White House must cease this cruelty.  They can bring an end to the crying by mothers and their children whose tears are staining the soul of America.