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CAPITOL HILL RELEASE OF FACT FINDING MISSIONS REPORT ON STATE OF CENTRAL AMERICAN CHILDREN
Nat’l Delegations Call On US and Central American Governments To Protect Children and Stop Human Rights Violations

WHAT:

Three Fact-Finding Delegations of Immigrant-Rights leaders – from Washington D.C., New York, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Houston, Oakland and San Francisco – will report at a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. preliminary findings of patterns of ongoing violence targeting children in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Delegation members encountered busloads of children and families forcibly returned to the region, after being detained in Mexico on the way to the U.S. Little information is available on the children and whether they qualified for international humanitarian protections.

Organized by the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC), delegation members and other allies will call on President Obama to act with compassion to save the lives of children and families seeking refuge in the United States. They will also call on the governments of the region to address development and governance failures at the root of the current exodus, and avoid additional violence through more militarization and weapons into the region.

WHO:
Press Conference speakers include national Delegation members to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador with immigrant families:

• Oscar Chacón, Executive Director, NALACC
• Linda Hartke, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
• Jose Guadalupe Ruelas, Casa Alianza, Honduras
• Lariza Dugan-Cuadra, Central American Resource Center, San Francisco
• Abel Nuñez, CARECEN-DC
• Boston Family from Honduras who will share a personal story
• Rev. Sarabeth Goodwin, Latino Missioner, St. Stephen and the Incarnation, Washington DC

WHEN:

Press Conference: 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Tuesday, September 16, 2014

WHERE:

National Press Club
529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC

WHY:

The nation was shocked this summer, as tens of thousands of children arrived in the United States seeking refuge from violence and insecurity in Central America. The President stated his intent to swiftly deport children and families appealing for humanitarian relief that led to immediate deportation of many and others being apprehended and swiftly returned from Mexico, with little review.

The recent deaths of five Honduran children illustrate how ill-equipped governments in the region are to re-integrate returning migrants, especially those with trauma to the same violent circumstances they fled in the first place and the problems at the root of the exodus remain intransigent.

About NALACC
NALACC is a network of community-based; Latino and Caribbean immigrant-led organizations in the US that seeks to raise the quality of life for immigrant communities in the United States, as well as communities in migrant-sending countries in Latin America. Over the years, NALACC has built close working relationships with key civil society organizations throughout Latin America.For more information go to www.nalacc.org and Facebook “nalacc2004”