AMCD Approves Resolution Calling for Path to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants on 9/16/2014
WHEREAS, the purpose of the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD) is to identify and work to eliminate conditions which create barriers to the development, health, and wellness for people of all cultural and ethnic groups; and
WHEREAS, the American Counseling Association code of ethics (2014) call for professional counselors to advocate for the removal of barriers that inhibit the growth and development of individuals at the individual, group, institutional, and societal levels; and
WHEREAS, 20,000 undocumented minors are currently being detained without adequate mental or physical health care, education, or due process; and
WHEREAS, 11 million undocumented immigrants currently reside in a state of legal limbo, lacking access to many basic rights and a path for how to obtain said rights; and
WHEREAS, undocumented immigrants regularly face discrimination in employment, education, and in the public sector due to their lack of legal status in the U.S.; and
WHEREAS, undocumented immigrants suffer for depression, acculturative stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder due to being the target of discrimination and due to there lack of legal status in the U.S.;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the AMCD Executive Council calls for (1) the United States to undertake comprehensive immigration reform, which includes the closure of detention centers for unaccompanied minors and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently residing in the U.S., (2) the provision of government funding to support professional counselors in providing mental health services to undocumented communities, and (3) for the American Counseling Association to endorse a similar call for immigration reform.