Washington, DC – On Tuesday, May 20, Janet Murguía, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) – the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S. – will testify at a congressional hearing about the impact of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace raids on children, families, and communities throughout the nation.  The Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee will hold the hearing, which will take place at 10:00 a.m. in room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

 

Murguía will discuss how increased immigration enforcement by the federal government is jeopardizing the health, well-being, and economic security of our nation’s children.  She will present findings from a recent NCLR report, Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America’s Children, which addresses how our nation's immigration enforcement policies are undermining our broader goals for children. The report also focuses on how such policies place undue burden on the social institutions – schools, child care centers, and social service agencies – which are charged with protecting and nurturing America’s children.   

 

Approximately five million children have an undocumented parent; however, the vast majority of these children are U.S. citizens and under the age of ten.  Despite efforts to mitigate harm to children by changing the manner in which raids and other immigration enforcement actions are conducted, children continue to be placed in harm’s way.

 

Following the hearing, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will hold a press conference at noon on the Cannon Terrace.  Speakers include Sisters of Mercy Kathy Thornton and Kathy Thill, who helped families in the aftermath of the largest ICE workplace raid in U.S. history, during which an estimated 400 workers from the Agriprocessors, Inc. meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, were arrested.