Rep. Grijalva responds to Trump Administration’s new immigration rule

U.S. Representative Raul M. Grijalva was in Yuma Thursday, just a day after the Trump Administration announced new changes when it comes to detaining migrant families.

The 1997 Flores Settlement sets standards for migrant living conditions while they’re detained and places a holding limit of 20-days.

The White House describes Flores as a loophole, while Rep. Grijalva thinks otherwise.

The administration says the new immigration rule was originally implemented to keep families together during immigration proceedings and improve living conditions.

Rep. Grijalva believes the new rule is a campaign strategy for the Trump Administration to control the narrative that there is an immigration crisis at the southern border; which he doesn’t believe.

He believes more resources could make the nation’s immigration issues manageable.

” We need to have the staffing and personnel to do this. Add judges too, so that we don’t have those protracted waiting periods, those agonies of family divisions, ” Rep. Grijalva said.

The congressman believes the true crisis is the President’s dehumanizing and criminalizing immigrant rhetoric, saying, ” To divide this country to the point that we’re all fearful of each other. I think it’s a very dangerous direction. ”

Rep. Grijalva is calling on communities of faith and schools to step up as local trust centers to regulate conversations about cultural and racial differences in the community.

He believes this will relieve some fear and division in the country.