Councilmember David Grosso announces the scheduling of a public roundtable of the Committee on Education on the school health services program coordinated by the Department of Health. The hearing will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 in Room 123 of the John A. Wilson Building.
Viewing entries in
health
Grosso Calls on Obama Administration to Cease Raids Targeting Central American Immigrant Communities
For Immediate Release
January 29, 2016
Contact: Keenan Austin
(202) 724-8105
Grosso Calls on Obama Administration to Cease Raids Targeting Central American Immigrant Communities
Washington, D.C.—Today, D.C. Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large) released the following statement on the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and deportations targeting Central American immigrant communities:
“Today I am calling on President Barack Obama and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to cease the policy of targeting Central American immigrant communities for detention and deportation. As a young man I traveled to Honduras and El Salvador to accompany refugees seeking to return to their homes and I saw firsthand the violence affecting these communities. I know that that the legacy of that war and instability continues today.
As the Chairman on the Committee of Education, I am particularly concerned about the impact of these raids and deportations on our students and their families, filling them with fear and causing emotional distress. Trauma, whether stemming from families being raided by ICE, gun violence plaguing our streets, or economic inequality that keeps children in poverty, stand as a significant barrier to the success of the students in our schools; I have made addressing such adversity a top priority for the Committee. Families, unaccompanied minors, and workers fleeing violence and persecution in Central America need our support and care, not fear of detention and removal.
Just last summer I stood with immigrant communities and Congresswoman Norton to oppose fear-mongering and draconian legislation proposed in Congress to overturn local policies in D.C. and other jurisdictions which seek to protect human rights of immigrants. Migration is a fundamental human right recognized by the United Nations. Our federal government should focus its efforts on fixing our broken immigration system, not on breaking up families and sowing panic. President Obama should cease these ill-conceived actions immediately. In D.C. we stand for the human rights of everyone, including of our immigrant neighbors regardless of legal status.”
###
Good afternoon. The time is now 2:07pm, we are in Room 123 of the John A. Wilson Building, and I am calling this additional meeting of the Committee on Education to order.
I’m David Grosso, Chairman of the committee on Education. I’d like to recognize the presence of a quorum. We have two items on our agenda today.
First on the agenda is Bill 21-361, the Youth Suicide Prevention and School Climate Survey Amendment Act of 2015. This legislation was introduced by myself and Councilmembers Allen, McDuffie, Bonds, Cheh, Nadeau, May, Todd, Silverman, and Chairman Mendelson.
On Thursday, October 1, 2015, Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie, Chairperson of the Committee on the Judiciary, and Councilmember David Grosso, Chairperson of the Committee on Education, will hold a public hearing on Bill 21-0243, the “Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Automated External Defibrillator Requirements Amendment Act of 2015”. The hearing will be held in Room 412 of the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., at 2:00 p.m. The hearing will be immediately followed by a related hearing on the State of Emergency Medical Services in the District of Columbia and Bill 21-0290, the “Office of Unified Communications Training, CPR, and Modernization Amendment Act of 2015”.