Amended in Assembly August 22, 2014

Amended in Assembly August 14, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

House Resolution No. 51

Introduced by Assembly Member V. Manuel Pérez

begin insert

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Garcia)

end insert

August 4, 2014

House Resolution No. 51—Relative to immigration.

WHEREAS, Inscribed on our nation’s Statue of Liberty are the
words, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming
shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp
beside the golden door!”; and

WHEREAS, The number of unaccompanied Central American
children fleeing violence and entering the United States has resulted
in 52,000 apprehensions by United States Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, with a projected total of 90,000
apprehensions of unaccompanied minors expected by the end of
September 2014; and

WHEREAS, Approximately 28 percent of the children detained
this year have been from Honduras, 24 percent from Guatemala,
and 21 percent from El Salvador, countries whose respective
murder rates are among the top six highest murder rates in the
world; and

WHEREAS, The prevalence of gang violence, sexual assault,
political corruption, as well as poverty in Central American
countries has prompted unaccompanied minors to leave their home
countries and immigrate to the United States; and

WHEREAS, The President of El Salvador and Minister of
Foreign Relations of Guatemala acknowledge that pull factors,
such as family reunification, economic opportunity, and improved
quality of life are driving unaccompanied minors to immigrate to
the United States; and

WHEREAS, The Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees urges the United States to grant
refugee status to Central American children who have crossed the
border, estimating that 60 percent of the children who have fled
into the United States have been forcibly displaced, qualifying
them for asylum under international law; and

WHEREAS, In accordance with the William Wilberforce
Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, begin insert and
other laws, end insert the United States must ensure that these unaccompanied
children have access to due process, lawyers, a judge, and justice;
and

begin delete

WHEREAS, Central American governments take full
responsibility for the flow of unaccompanied children to the United
States, recognizing that their respective countries could and should
do more to mitigate the push factors driving so many children to
flee to the United States, including lack of economic development
opportunities, rampant poverty, and political corruption; and

end delete begin delete

WHEREAS, Central American countries acknowledge their
responsibility to ensure successful integration for the
unaccompanied children who are repatriated back home; and

end delete begin delete

WHEREAS, Central American countries are working toward
improving their socioeconomic conditions by implementing
measures that will, over time, help improve the quality of life of
their people and curtail mass immigration. These measures include
increased access to education by implementing longer school days,
access to school uniforms and lunch programs for children, health
clinics, and grants and loans to farmers to develop the agricultural
economy; and

end delete

WHEREAS, The Assembly supports both state and federal
efforts to formulate strong partnerships with Central American
countries to promote economic development, education, and the
rule of law as a means to improve, stabilize, and democratize their
institutions, which will in turn help promote public safety and
curtail mass immigration; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the
Assembly declares that all Californians, as residents of the United
States, have a civic responsibility to respect the human dignity of
immigrants seeking refuge in the United States and to ensure that
those immigrants are afforded due process and equal protection
under the laws of the United States, including safe passage to
medical care, as well as access to a mode of communication to
facilitate their repatriation back to Central America when doing
so begin insert is consistent with their rights and end insert does not endanger their lives
and safety; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the Governor, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, the State Library, and the California State Archives.