United and American Airlines want no part in separating children from their families at the U.S./Mexico border.
Both airlines spoke out on Wednesday to ask government officials to refrain from using their flights to transport migrant children who have been removed from the care of their parents under the current“zero tolerance” immigration policy.
“We have . . . requested the federal government to immediately refrain from using American for the purpose of transporting children who have been separated from their families due to the current immigration policy,” the airline said in a statement released Wednesday. “We have no desire to be associated with separating families, or worse, to profit from it.”
The airline has a contract with the federal government to provide transportation for various purposes, and the government in turn, does not have a responsibility to disclose what they are, United clarifies in the statement. However, they say, “We have every expectation the government will comply with our request and we thank them for doing so.”
The release states, “The family separation process that has been widely publicized is not at all aligned with the values of American Airlines — we bring families together, not apart.”
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United’s controversial CEOOscar Munozfollowed with a similar statement on behalf of his company.
He added, “Based on some research we have done internally and public reports, we have not seen evidence these children have been flown on United aircraft.”
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The message says in part: “We are trained yearly in hundreds of possible scenarios as attendants. Something like this isn’t remotely one of those. I had only met one of my crew a few years earlier, the rest never. Thank God, we had one another to lean on to not only get through the flight, but also maybe some glimmer of hope for those babies.”
The statements come amid an overwhelming backlash against the currentimmigration policythat has resulted in 2,342 children being separated from their parents since May after crossing the Southern U.S. border.
On Wednesday, President Trumpsaid he would sign an executive orderreversing the policy.
source: people.com
