Latino Policy Coalition Files United Nations Human Rights Complaint Against the United States of America for Removal of Children From Undocumented Immigrant Parents

USA - English

• Latin America - español

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Latino Policy Coalition (LPC) submitted an official complaint for the Universal Periodic Review by the United Nations Human Rights Council regarding the human rights record of the United States of America.

The 10 page complaint charges the U.S. with routinely and consistently violating human rights by officially causing the de facto misappropriation and removal of at least an estimated 46,000 children from their immigrant parents. These practices condoned by the United States government violate six Articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and nine Articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

"During 2011, 46,000 mothers and fathers of U.S. citizen children were deported, and these children were forced into county foster care custody. Many infants have been put up for adoption, thus making the practice of shattering undocumented working families a new standard procedure in the United States," stated Jim Gonzalez, LPC Chair.

"We need to move on the national and international level to reunite these families; and end these blunt violations of perhaps the oldest and most fundamental of human rights: a parent's right to raise and care for their own child," concluded Gonzalez.

The LPC complaint asks the United Nations to press for immediate steps and remedies from the United States to begin the process of reunification of affected families to include:

The issuance of a United Nations Writ of Habeas Corpus requiring that the President of the United States produce a complete and detailed list of children who have been removed from the custody and care of their parents as a result of detention or deportation proceedings initiated against immigrant parents.

Requesting U.S. President Barack Obama- to issue a Presidential Executive Order to identify the affected children for reunification with their parents; and to end the practice of governmental jurisdictions within the USA engaging in the arbitrary removal of children from the custody and care of their immigrant parents

The Latino Policy Coalition is a national non-partisan non-profit consortium of the country's leading Latino research organizations and scholars. LPC is chaired by former San Francisco Supervisor Jim Gonzalez, the author of the nation's first City of Sanctuary Ordinance to protect the rights of undocumented immigrants.

SOURCE Latino Policy Coalition