United Nations Writ of Habeas Corpus Sought by Immigrant Advocacy Group

Proposed Writ seeks to reunite thousands of American children removed from their undocumented parents by the U.S. Government

SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Latino Policy Coalition (LPC)  has issued an urgent appeal demanding that the United Nations General Assembly issue a UN Writ of Habeas Corpus to locate tens of thousands of American citizen children who have been removed from their immigrant parents' care due to their parents' detention or deportation.

The UN Habeas Corpus appeal demands that the United States of America disclose the location of over 48,000 American citizen children of detained and deported immigrant parents.

The appeal for a UN Writ of Habeas Corpus is contained in a LPC letter transmitted recently to Dr. Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The language of the UN Writ of Habeas Corpus would require "on behalf of Misappropriated, Removed, and Missing Children" that:

"The President of the United States through the Secretary of State of the United States of America, the Secretary of Health and Human Services of the United States of America, and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security provide to the Human Rights Council a complete and detailed list of children being held in county, state, or federal custody systems who have been removed from the care of their parents as a result of detention or deportation proceedings initiated against undocumented immigrant parents."

Precedent exists for the UN to issue Writs of Habeas Corpus on behalf of individuals detained because of human rights violations.  On May 16, 1952 the UN Human Rights Commission forwarded to the government of Czechoslovakia the UN Writ of Habeas Corpus on behalf of William N. Otis, an American citizen who had been denied access to his consul or access to American Embassy personnel.

"No one has the right to separate a child from the parent they love.  Nobody.  The United Nations, acting as the preeminent universal guardian of human rights and the rights of children, has the moral and legal authority to act now to begin the process of reunification for these shattered families," stated Jim Gonzalez, Chair of the Latino Policy Coalition.

The Latino Policy Coalition is a national non-partisan non-profit consortium of the country's leading Latino research organizations and scholars.  LPC is chaired by former San Francisco City and County Supervisor Jim Gonzalez, who is the first author of a City of Sanctuary Ordinance in the nation. Sixty other U.S. cities have passed similar legislation to protect the human rights of immigrant communities.

SOURCE Latino Policy Coalition