Chicago City Wire

Cook County Human Relations Committee met March 19. 

Here is the agenda as provided by the committee:

      NOTICE AND AGENDA

There will be a meeting of the Committee or Subcommittee of the Board of Commissioners of Cook County at the date, time and location listed above to consider the following:

      PUBLIC TESTIMONY

Authorization as a public speaker shall only be granted to those individuals who have submitted in writing, their name, address, subject matter, and organization (if any) to the Secretary 24 hours in advance of the meeting. Duly authorized public speakers shall be called upon to deliver testimony at a time specified in the meeting agenda. Authorized public speakers who are not present during the specified time for public testimony will forfeit their allotted time to speak at the meeting. Public testimony must be germane to a specific item(s) on the meeting agenda, and the testimony must not exceed three minutes; the Secretary will keep track of the time and advise when the time for public testimony has expired. Persons authorized to provide public testimony shall not use vulgar, abusive, or otherwise inappropriate language when addressing the Board; failure to act appropriately; failure to speak to an item that is germane to the meeting, or failure to adhere to the time requirements may result in expulsion from the meeting and/or disqualify the person from providing future testimony.

                                                           19-2320

COMMITTEE MINUTES

Approval of the minutes from the meeting of 02/19/2019

                                                           19-1971

Sponsored by: ALMA E. ANAYA, Cook County Board of Commissioners

PROPOSED RESOLUTION

URGING THE U.S. CONGRESS TO PROVIDE EMERGENCY LEGISLATION TO PREVENT THE DEPORTATION OF RECIPIENTS OF DEFERRED ACTION FOR CHILDHOOD ARRIVALS (DACA) AND TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS (TPS) TO STABILIZE THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIO-EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF IMPACTED YOUTH AND THEIR FAMILIES

WHEREAS, the separation of children from their parents is a violation of the human rights; and

WHEREAS, the rights of children should be protected so that they stay with their families; this is a core value of the democratic ideals of this country; and

WHEREAS, the current situation is forcing many U.S. citizen children to leave their communities and struggle to begin anew in their parents’ countries of origin. Often, they are placed in situations in which their rights as U.S. citizens are denied as well as their universal rights as children; and

WHEREAS, the five million U.S. citizen children and two million children brought to this nation as infants, and raised here among U.S. citizens, should not be deprived of the sacred right to family and parental guidance and support upon unnecessary separation; and

WHEREAS, President Obama issued executive orders which provided the deferral of deportation and the provision of work authorization for undocumented individuals brought to this country as minors and further established the practice of prosecutorial discretion to defer deportations until the Congress could arrive at a permanent solution; and

WHEREAS, in spite of the continuing threat of injustice to children, the current administration has cancelled those practices without Congress having established any alternative; and

WHEREAS, these provisions represented a just and much needed temporary relief and should be maintained by act of Congress; and

WHEREAS, the children of those undocumented individuals are being forced every day to endure the unimaginable pain and damage of family separation or deportation; and

WHEREAS, parents with U.S. citizen children who were given protected status through prosecutorial discretion and who reported regularly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as they were required were among the first to be deported under this administration; and

WHEREAS, there has been a 250% increase over the last year in deportations of those with no criminal records, most of which have families and children, with the likelihood that these numbers will continue to increase; and

WHEREAS, at least 325,000 Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, and Haitians have lived in this country for many years and have established families with 273,000 U.S. born citizen children, as well as other children brought here at an early age who have known no other country, now face the cancellation of TPS and are being deported; and

WHEREAS, the psychological, educational, health, and economic effects of separation from their parents have long-term effects on a child’s quality-of-life.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Cook County Board President and the Cook County Board of Commissioners resolve this day that Congress should pass legislation that provides the right to visas for the undocumented parents of U.S. citizen children or DACA eligible children, and of TPS-recipient parents with U.S. citizen children or DACA-eligible children; and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED, that these Visas should be renewable every three years on proof of the continued verification of the original conditions of issue; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the Cook County Board of Commissioners urge our congressional representatives to pass such legislation with all deliberate speed to immediately stop this violation of the human rights of children and their rights as U.S. citizens.

Legislative History : 2/21/19 - Board of Commissioners - refer to the Human Relations Committee

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