Courtney Bourgoin, courtney.bourgoin@sierraclub.org
Washington, DC-- Today, following coverage of inhumane conditions in detention camps and the increasingly cruel practices of the Trump administration toward migrants on the US-Mexico border, Trump’s Acting Customs and Border Patrol Chief John Sanders has resigned. Sanders oversaw an agency constantly under fire for its practices on the border-- including the failure to provide basic hygiene products to children, killing of border community residents by agents, and controversial arrests of humanitarian volunteers for providing water to migrants.
In response, Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club released the following statement:
“Sierra Club members and volunteers working and living along the border have seen first-hand the growing and unchecked cruelty of the Trump administration’s Customs and Border Protection Agency and the immense and incalculable damage it has inflicted on border communities. Border communities have experienced racist targeting by agents, damage from border wall construction, and unjustified militarization in these places that are their homes. Chief John Sander’s reign is symbolic of how out-of-control and problematic this agency has become under the Trump administration.
“This is a critical moment and stresses the need for continued public pressure in calling the Trump administration to reverse its course on this anti-immigrant agenda, stop its inhumane treatment of migrant families, and abandon its dangerous push for a border wall. The nation and the world are watching and demanding justice for border communities and migrants.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.