Clarke calls for compassion for immigrant children
Says kids deserve basic legal rights
The tens of thousands of children who are streaming across the southern border of the U.S. from countries in Central America should be treated with compassion — not like criminals, according to one Brooklyn congresswoman.
U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, who is the daughter an immigrant, urged her colleagues in the House of Representatives to maintain basic legal protections for the children s the nation grapples with what to do about the humanitarian crisis at the border with Mexico. Clarke’s mother, former Councilwoman Una Clarke, was born in the West Indies and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s.
More than 50,000 children from Central America are currently being detained by the U.S.
“I believe we have a responsibility to demonstrate compassion toward these children, who are entitled to due process of law in their immigration hearings,” Clarke (D-Central Brooklyn) said in a statement.