HOUSTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The mayor of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas on Wednesday urged Congress to adopt comprehensive immigration reform.
Mayor of Houston Sylvester Turner made the appeal hours after U.S. President Donald Trump, facing domestic and international backlash, signed an executive order to halt the administration's controversial practice of separating migrant children from parents crossing the U.S. border illegally.
"Keeping families together is consistent with who we are as Americans. I appreciate the presidential executive order that does so," he said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the mayor voiced opposition to a plan to house migrant children separated from their families at the border in a private facility in his city, saying he doesn't want to be an "enabler" of the controversial practice.
Trump backed down and abandoned his policy of family separations on the U.S.-Mexico border after the practice has aroused outrage and sharp criticism from both home and abroad in recent days, denounced as cruel, inhuman.
The mayor said he will continue to take actions to protect children and all other residents of Houston as challenges to their safety arise.
"We are an inclusive city where we build relationships and bridges rather than walls. Our unique strength among American cities is the fact that one in every four Houstonians was born in another country," he said.
At a parade held Saturday to mark Freedom Day, Turner told reporters that he did not support the policy that requires officials to separate migrant children from their parents.
