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- Feb 13, 2013
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NCLR President: GOP Will Lose White House If Attitude On Child Refugees Continues
LOS ANGELES -- Janet Murguía, president of the country's largest Latino advocacy group, has a formal warning for Republicans: Help the child refugees at the border and act on immigration reform, or say goodbye to the idea of winning the White House.
Murguía, the head of the National Council of La Raza, the largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, delivered her remarks Monday afternoon at the Los Angeles Convention Center during day three of the NCLR's annual conference. On the subject of the current border crisis, Murguía said she was "sickened" by the hostile reaction of many Americans to the child refugees and blamed House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for Congress' inability to pass immigration reform.
More than 57,000 children escaping poverty and violence in Central America have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border since October, overwhelming local resources. Many of the children, upon arrival, are turning themselves in to authorities and attempting to seek asylum.
In late June, overcrowding at the Texas-Mexico border prompted the Department of Homeland Security to transfer many of the children to California facilities, where they were blocked by anti-immigration protesters in Murrieta.
"The plight of these child refugees has sadly brought out the worst in a lot of people," Murguía told an audience of hundreds on Monday. "I was sickened by the sight of angry protesters this month in Murrieta, California, blocking busloads of refugee children and shouting 'Go back to where you come from!' and 'No illegals!' ... When they cloak their hatred in patriotism, shouting 'USA! USA!' it made me angry."