Sherrill calls Trump border policy cruel and un-American at Morristown rally

Immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
Immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
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President Trump’s executive order halting the separation of immigrant children from their parents at the Mexico border does not go far enough to reverse government “cruelty” against these children, Congressional candidate Mikie Sherrill said at an immigration rally in Morristown on Friday.

Congress has failed to pass a bill to reform the immigration system, the Democratic primary winner said outside the office of Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), whose seat she hopes to fill.

“Let’s be very clear about what’s happening. This decision to separate families is a decision made in Washington, and a decision to inflict cruelty on children. And it does nothing to secure our borders,” said Sherrill, a mother of four who served in the Navy and was a federal prosecutor. 

“It’s a decision that is contrary to every single thing this country stands for. It is a decision that is contrary to every single moral code that we live by,” said the Montclair resident.

Candidate Mikie Sherrill calls Trump immigration policy cruel and immoral; video by Bill Lescohier for MorristownGreen.com:

Sherrill said she is losing sleep wondering how the government will reunite immigrant families amidst reports that officials cannot account for all the migrant children separated from parents at the nation’s southern border.

Her opponent this fall is Jay Webber, a Republican Assemblyman from Morris Plains. Frelinghuysen, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, is retiring after 12 terms in Congress.

Slideshow photos by Bill Lescohier:

Immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
Activists at immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
Sign at immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
Anti-Trump poster at immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
Activist Stacey Gregg at immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
Teddy bears at immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
Wind of the Spirit at immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
Young speaker at immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
Demonstrators at immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
Placard at immigration rally outside Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen's Morristown office, June 22, 2018. Photo by Bill Lescohier
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Activists in Morristown also heard from New York University psychologist Spyros Orfanos, who said separation from parents “is devastating on children, whether the children are 4 months old or 16 years old.” 

“The body remembers everything…  the consequences are really quite remarkable,” said Orfanos, a Montclair resident who called Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy a disaster. “It’s cruel, what we’re doing to children.”

Orfanos’s uncle, an undocumented immigrant, was beaten at Riker’s Island before being deported to Greece in the early 1960s, according to Physicians for Human Rights.

Psychologist Spyros Orfanos addresses the trauma inflicted on migrant children when Border Patrol officers split up undocumented families.  

Alondra Pegueros, a youth member of Morristown’s Wind of the Spirit Immigration Resource Center, recounted her perilous crossing from Mexico as a 5-year-old. Her mother paid a man to carry Pegueros on his shoulders.

“We almost died of dehydration” in the desert, she said.

On the U.S. side, Border Patrol agents separated Pegueros from her mother for about 24 hours. Ever since that day 14 years ago, Pegueros said, the family has lived in the shadows. Her mother, who fled domestic violence in Mexico, has worked three jobs, cleaning and cooking to scrape by.

Things only have gotten worse for other immigrants making the same desperate journey, Pegueros said.

“What you are seeing now is children in cages, families in detention centers, and children taken from their families. However, this is not new,” she said, citing families of slaves and Native Americans among other groups torn apart by the U.S. government.

Pegueros said she could not remain silent and allow Trump’s immigration policies to become the norm.

“As our federal government becomes more oppressive we need our state to stand up and fight back. When will New Jersey become a sanctuary state, and when will New Jersey offer pro bono lawyers for parents in detention?” asked Pegueros, leading chants of Stand up, Fight Back! 

Morristown Green correspondent Bill Lescohier contributed to this report.

Immigrant Alondra Pegueros remembers crossing the desert to reach America; video by Bill Lescohier for MorristownGreen.com:

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1 COMMENT

  1. Yes, the policy needs to be changed. Why are you blaming President Trump? His administration is enforcing the laws that are existing. It is not “his law.” Your energies are being misdirected. Perhaps you and others that are passionate about the problem contact your legislators and have them change the law.

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