On Tuesday the Chula Vista City Council approved a revised resolution in support of keeping immigrant families together at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The resolution, which passed 3-1, serves as a strong response against the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy of referring all border crossings for federal criminal prosecution, which leads to children being separated from their families as parents or relatives are sent to jail.
Republican Councilman Mike Diaz was the lone vote against the resolution saying this policy should be taken care of in the higher branches of government.
“I’ve always believed that we are a nation of laws, and if we don’t like the laws we change them,” he said. “Congress can fix this problem. They are doing nothing to fix it.”
District 1 Councilman John McCann recused himself on the advice of legal counsel because he is a member of the U.S. Navy Reserves; the item involved is an executive order from the commander- in-chief.
Democratic Councilwoman Patricia Aguilar brought the resolution forward last week saying that although this is a federal policy, it directly affects the Chula Vista community as 31 percent of its residents are foreign born.
Aguilar said she felt compelled to propose a resolution after seeing news reports of children being ripped away from their families crossing the border.
“This is the United States of America and in the United States of America that I know, we don’t separate children from their families,” she said Tuesday. “We just don’t. Silence is complicit.”
The proposed resolution co-written by Mayor Mary Casillas Salas states: Whereas, separating children from families, especially when the family is merely invoking their right to seek asylum in the U.S., is inconsistent with the values of the city of Chula Vista; and Whereas the Chula Vista City Council believes it has an obligation to take a stand against government actions that it believes are immoral and inhumane.”
The resolution calls on four actions: It opposes policies resulting in separation of immigrant children from their families. It supports non-criminal processing of immigrant families, and calls on the United States government to immediately reunite families separated at the U.S. border with Mexico, especially in cases where the family is exercising its right to apply for asylum, or in cases when the only offense committed is crossing the border illegally. Lastly, it directs the mayor to forward the resolution to U.S. Reprsentatives Susan Davis and Juan Vargas, U.S. Senators Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and President Donald Trump.
The city council is working on final wording of the resolution after public discussion Tuesday.
