For immediate release

Los Angeles, CA -- On Thursday, over 100 organizations signed onto a letter to President Obama demanding an independent inquiry into government leaks about ICE raids targeting Central American refugees. The raids strategy has been widely criticized for sparking widespread terror in immigrant and refugee communities.  

The organizations, which included leading Central American groups such as CARECEN, Alianza Americas, and CISPES, called for an immediate investigation by the White House and DHS Inspector General into the leaks and their “source, purpose, content, and whether they were sanctioned by the White House.”

“When the U.S. government is using morally repugnant and legally questionable tactics to to instill fear in those fleeing violence, we must demand answers,” said NDLON Executive Director Pablo Alvarado, himself a refugee from El Salvador. “We hope that a thorough investigation into these leaks will help clarify, and ultimately rectify, President Obama’s failed response to the humanitarian crisis in Central America. It’s time for relief, not raids.”

The letter states, in part: [T]hose who have leaked rumors of these raids must be held accountable for the unnecessary terror that they have inflicted among immigrant families and for the damage done to the rule of law… It is not clear whether these leaks are intentional or unintentional, but it is very clear they are unacceptable and unbefitting of a federal law enforcement agency.

On Wednesday, 26 U.S. Senators called on President Obama to end the strategy of immigration raids and instead to immediately offer Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to the population fleeing violence in the Northern Triangle. To see the full letter from the Senators click here

To read the full letter sent to President Obama click here

Media release re-posted from the National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON). For media inquiries, please contact: Armando Carmona, [email protected], 951-966-6500