Barnett joins mayors’ protest in Texas

Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett on Thursday, June 21, joined a delegation of non-partisan mayors from around the country in Tornillo, Texas, to protest the Trump administration's family separation policy.

Barnett, who serves as the vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USMC), joined 10 other members of the group in Texas, including Columbia, South Carolina Mayor Steve Benjamin, who serves as president of the conference; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who chairs the USCM's Latino Alliance; and Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, co-chair of the USCM's Immigration Task Force; along with others.

The USCM at its 86th annual meeting in June passed a resolution registering its strong opposition to separating children from their families at the border. It called on the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to immediately reverse the policies and to allow families apprehended to remain together to the extent possible, to help avoid trauma of forced separation.

The resolution also urged Congress to take action to ensure the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security are prohibited from any separation of children from their families at the border.