Friday, Jun. 22, 2018
United Way of the Columbia-Willamette is deeply concerned about the separation of young immigrant children from their parents at the U.S. border. No one, especially children, should be treated this way. We are encouraged by the recent executive order ending the separation of families. We urge our leaders to always adopt humane, child and family centered approaches. The research is clear: traumatic experiences like family detention and separation cause irreparable harm, and have lasting effects on the health and well-being of any child involved.
We stand with our colleagues and early childhood experts at the Latino Network, Apano, Centro Cultural, Children First of Oregon, IRCO, and hundreds of other organizations across the region calling for a better solution to keep families together and facilitate their access to a fair and just asylum system, especially those who have already endured so much trauma.
United Way is a non-partisan, non-political organization and believes that Americans must work together to find a longer term solution to this urgent matter.