On June 20th, 2018, the current president of the United States signed an Executive Order to keep immigrant families from being seperated at the U.S./Mexican Border, reversing his administration’s stance on separating children from their asylum-seeking parents as part of his “Zero Tolerance” policy enacted earlier this year. This contradicts earlier statements from the president and his administration, who cited non-existent laws when claiming that they could not end the separation of families. The President’s Administration is now attempting to take credit for “finding a solution” to a problem that they chose to create. But make no mistake, this is simply replacing one crisis with another. Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc. strongly denounces all inhumane treatment towards immigrants in the U.S./Mexican border. We will continue to monitor the border crisis closely with the purpose of keeping our Brothers and community informed and encouraging action when necessary. While we are strongly against the separation of families, we also stand against the detention of asylum-seeking families. Children do not belong in jail whether they are with their parents or not.
We also demand that Border Patrol be held accountable for their unjust treatment towards immigrants. We call for an immediate federal investigation into the allegations found in the recent ACLU/University of Chicago International Human Rights Clinic report, “Neglect and Abuse of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children by U.S. Customs and Border Protection”. This 2018 report, using more than 30,000 government documents that the Border Patrol reluctantly released only after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, found more than 100 reported incidents of Border Patrol misconduct between 2009-2014, including physical and sexual abuse towards migrant children. In addition to these allegations, we are saddened by the many migrants who have been killed by Border Patrol, including 19 year old Claudia Patricia Gómez González, who was killed last May. We must treat these reports with the same seriousness, timeliness, thoughtfulness and care that we would if these were to occur within our own communities and to our own children. Border Patrol Officers are NOT above the law and immigrants are NOT exempt from international human rights.
Let us recognize that this Administration’s actions at the border, while shocking, are not new. Not even the separation of families. Our institutions are guilty of ripping Black children from their families for the purpose of slavery, of kidnapping Native American children and sending them to government boarding schools to “kill the Indian” within them, and for the continued deterioration of Black/Brown families due to the War on Drugs, which Black/Brown children pay the heaviest price for. The inhumanity at the border did not begin with the current president but we call on his Administration and the rest of the United States to stand for human rights and to ensure that these practices are never repeated.
Finally, we find it important to remind people why these families are seeking asylum and safety. To name a few, these include the deadly gangs created in American cities and later exported to Central America, brutally organized drug cartels that kill people for the purpose of controlling the American demand-driven drug trade, often using firearms of American origin, state-sanctioned death squads with weaponized American funding, and political instability orchestrated by U.S. interventionism like the 2009 Honduran coup d’etat. Most of these families have death waiting at their doorstep and have no time to legally apply for citizenship, which can take more than a decade. These families are doing what anyone would do if placed in the same situation: fleeing for their lives in search of peace, liberty and happiness. Seeking asylum in another country is universally recognized as NOT being a crime. We demand an end to the constant inhumanity at the Border. We demand that this Administration take steps towards healing the irreparable harm that these children have already suffered and to immediately reunite those who have already been separated. WE DEMAND JUSTICE. WE DEMAND BETTER.
We urge our membership and respective communities to stand with us as we continue to bring light to the border crisis along with the many other injustices that continue to happen in this country. We call on our brothers to stand firmly and continue to fight for the justice these children and their families deserve.
There are several grassroot efforts that are happening to aid in the border crisis. Below are a few steps you can take to help in the effort:
En La Union, Esta La Fuerza,
Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc.
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We would like to thank Brother Jimenez (Delta Eta Chapter, Spring 2015) for helping with the initiation of the statement along with the Committee on Social Activism (COSA). Please direct questions to the National Director of Community Affairs, Roberto C. Orozco at