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Austin mayor, council members travel to border detention facility to protest policy

City leaders join U.S. mayors delegation in Tornillo

Bipartisan Group Of US Mayors Visits Border Crossing Near El Paso, Texas
A pile of shoes and a teddy bear are seen in front of a fence where private security along with a Department of Homeland Security Police officer stand to keep mayors and the media out of the Tornillo-Guadalupe Port of Entry on June 21, 2018 in Fabens, Texas. 
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Austin Mayor Steve Adler and several City Council members traveled to migrant detention facilities in Tornillo, Texas, today to “bring additional attention and focus” to the effects of the country’s current “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, according to a statement from the mayor’s office. The city leaders joined a delegation from the United States Conference of Mayors to demand an end to the separation of immigrating children from families currently being practiced on the Texas-Mexico border.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and were among the other mayors visiting the center and protesting the policy. Austin City Council Members Greg Casar and Sabino “Pio” Renteria joined the group as well. Mayors were asked to join the delegation, which Adler helped facilitate, on the basis of their leadership on immigration issues; the Austin City Council was invited on the same basis.

Adler tweeted from the Tornillo-Guadalupe International Bridge Thursday that he was “proud to be standing with my mayoral colleagues from around the country from both sides of the aisle to stand against this moral and humanity crisis.”

According to a Thursday Austin American-Statesman report, Garcetti and de Blasio also spoke at the gathering.

Austin City Council members visit tent encampment at Tornillo [AAS]