Groups slam Kraninger for lack of finance, banking regulation, or consumer protection experience, as well as for her “central role in administering the inhumane and un-American policy of separating thousands of children from their parents—for some, perhaps permanently—along our southwest border.”
Washington, D.C. — As the U.S. Senate prepares to consider the nomination of Kathy Kraninger to serve as the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, more than 100 national, state, and local organizations are urging senators to reject Kraninger’s nomination—not only for her lack of experience in finance, banking regulation, or consumer protection but also because of the central role she played in “administering the inhumane and un-American policy of separating thousands of children from their parents—for some, perhaps permanently—along our southwest border.”
“In her current role as a program associate director at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Ms. Kraninger oversees both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, the two federal agencies most directly responsible for the administration’s decision to separate more than 2,600 children from their parents at the border. Still today, more than 100 days after the administration was required to reunite every separated family, children remain apart from their parents,” the letter reads. “To date, not a single person in the federal government has been held accountable for this policy, including Ms. Kraninger who had a role in its implementation.”
As the letter explains, Kraninger “acknowledges that she has participated in meetings on immigration and border security policy since the beginning of the administration and that OMB ‘has an extensive role’ in working with agencies as they carry out their policies.”
The letter concludes: “A vote to confirm Ms. Kraninger to head the CFPB is a vote to approve or excuse the conduct of one of the central figures in the family separation debacle thus minimizing the extent of this harmful and cruel policy. The Senate should reject her nomination.”
Groups signing the letter include: 32BJ SEIU, AFL-CIO, Al Otro Lado, Alianza Americas, Allied Progress, America’s Voice, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), American Federation of Teachers, APANO, Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Casa Esperanza, Casa San Jose, Center for American Progress, Center for Employment Training, Center for Popular Democracy, Center for Responsible Lending, Center for the Human Rights of Children – Loyola University Chicago School of Law, CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers, Church Women United in New York State, Cleveland Jobs with Justice, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Coalition on Human Needs, Community Visions Burien, Consumer Action, CREDO, Culinary Union, Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council, Inc., Democrats for Education Reform, Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries, EDGE, Emgage Action, Equality California, Equality North Carolina, Faith in Public Life, Families Belong Together, Families Rights Network, Florida Consumer Action Network, FORGE, Inc., Friends of Broward Detainees, Generation Progress, GreenLatinos, Herd on the Hill, Humanity, Immigrant Families Together, Immigration Hub, Indivisible, Indivisisble Eastside – WA, International Institute of New England, InterReligious Task Force on Central America and Colombia, Irish International Immigrant Center, Japanese American Citizens League, Jobs With Justice, Latin America Working Group (LAWG), Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Legal Aid Justice Center, Main Street Alliance, Mi Familia Vota, Mississippi Center for Justice, NAACP, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), National Association of Social Workers, National Black Justice Coalition, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Immigration Law Center, National Institute for Reproductive Health, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), National Network of Abortion Funds, National Organization for Women, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, New York Immigration Coalition, NM Dream Team, Ohio Immigrant Alliance, Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, People For the American Way, PFLAG National, Pride at Work, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, Reformed Church of Highland Park, Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network, Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center, SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network (SIREN), Sisters of Mercy South Central Community, Sisters of the Presentations, South Asian Fund for Education, Scholarship and Training (SAFEST), T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, The LGBT Center OC, Tzedek DC, UndocuBlack Network, UnidosUS, United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, United We Dream, URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO), Voto Latino, Wallingford Indivisible, Wayne Action for Racial Equality, Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center, WOLA, and the Yemeni American Merchant Association.
Click here to read the letter.
For more information or to speak with an expert, contact Allison Preiss at [email protected] or 202.478.6331.