FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2018
Contact: Steve Smith 510-326-4644
ssmith@calaborfed.org

Statement by California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski

President Trump’s executive action today addressing his own abusive policy of separating families at the border doesn’t end this humanitarian crisis. By doubling down on his immoral ‘zero tolerance’ policies, today’s action makes the situation worse. Putting families seeking a better life in cages is never the answer. What does it say about our values as a nation when our government imposes cruel, punitive measures on children? This is how democracies die.

No decent person should sit idly by while people’s human rights are trampled. The California Labor movement demands an immediate end to Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy that interns families, including small children, to brutal detainment facilities.

Now is not the time for partisan gamesmanship. We urge every member of California’s congressional delegation, regardless of party, to roundly reject any efforts to continue these abusive policies and, instead, support real solutions that reflect our shared values and humanity. We won’t rest until this stain on our nation’s moral fabric is removed and fully support and will participate in upcoming actions in California to protest these abhorrent Trump Administration policies.

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The California Labor Federation is made up of more than 1,200 unions, representing 2.1 million union members in manufacturing, retail, construction, hospitality, public sector, health care, entertainment and other industries.