Virginia U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined 25 of his Senate colleagues calling for an end to deportation raids targeting families and unaccompanied minors who have fled the rampant violence in Central America’s Northern Triangle. In a letter to President Obama, Kaine and the other Senators also urged the administration to designate Guatemala and re-designate El Salvador and Honduras for temporary protected status, allowing individuals from those countries to legally remain in the United States. “The solution to this regional humanitarian crisis is to address its root causes.

Deploying immigration raids upon this vulnerable population for the purpose of deterrence is an ineffective and unacceptable strategy,” the senators wrote. “Immigration raids create fear and insecurity among immigrant communities in the United States. They will deter students from attending school and parents from seeking medical care, but they will not deter terrified mothers and children from fleeing life-threatening violence in their homelands.”