Thread by @TXCivilRights

‼️ TODAY ‼️ TCRP and members of the Rio Grande Valley Welcoming Committee will meet with Department of Homeland Security Secretary @SecMayorkas at 3 pm.

The Committee issued the following statement in advance of the meeting:

“Today, we are sitting down with @SecMayorkas so that he hears what people in the Valley actually need. Leaders from our communities are the ones doing the work day-in-and-day-out to build back better, as @POTUS has promised to do after the cruelty Trump left at our border."

"We hope that Secretary Mayorkas sees today’s meeting as the beginning of a partnership and two-way dialogue in which DHS...meaningfully consults with us to develop policies that accurately reflect the vision and needs of migrants and border communities."

"Those of us in the Valley know the United States is more than capable of welcoming children, families, and adults with dignity, when they arrive at our border seeking protection – because we’ve been doing it for years."

"We have concrete steps @SecMayorkas and the administration can take now to ensure that all those seeking protection have access to a fair and dignified asylum process. Together, we can reimagine our immigration system and our asylum system"

"– and we have an abundance of humanitarian support groups and advocates at the ready, who have the experience we need to get this done. We’ll discuss with Secretary Mayorkas that achieving this vision must start with the Biden administration ending Title 42 expulsions."

"There’s an urgent need to stop the recent flights removing families to southern Mexico — these flights result in expulsions by Mexico into dangerous and remote parts of Guatemala, with no chance for asylum by either country and no humanitarian support."

"These are families who our country has an obligation to welcome. Our work is dishonored by preventable trauma caused every day by the U.S. government returning vulnerable people, including children, to further trauma & violence without a chance to seek protection and safety.”