Contributor

As the Trump administration doubles down on enforcing its executive policy of separating children from parents detained at the border, state Senate Democratic Leader Oscar Braynon (D-Miami Gardens) on Tuesday called on Florida Governor Rick Scott for action.

“As a staunch campaign and financial supporter of Donald Trump who maintains a close bond with the president, Governor Scott maintains a measure of influence he could easily deploy to end this catastrophic and inhumane situation,” said Leader Braynon. “At the same time, Governor Scott holds a great deal of power over the state’s complicity in this tragedy. Unless he agrees with the president, he has a duty to act quickly.”

Leader Braynon said Governor Scott should ask President Trump to reverse his executive order and is strongly urging the governor to:

• Call on the President to allow elected officials into federal detention facilities where children who were separated from their parents and immigration detainees in general are being housed so they can inspect the conditions under which they are being housed.
• Join the growing number of Republican and Democratic governors refusing to allow their National Guard units to be used if the federal government calls on them to go the U.S.-Mexican border for further illegal immigration enforcement.
• Join Colorado in forbidding state agencies from using state resources to separate children from their parents or legal guardians on the sole ground of immigration status.

“There is nothing in federal law compelling the separation of these children and parents,” said Leader Braynon. “It took the stroke of a pen to initiate this atrocity. It takes the stroke of a pen to undo it.”