"We have to follow the [US] refugee laws… The refugees are escaping death, escaping terror. They are choosing life over death," Huerta said. "They’re choosing that life here in the United States of America and we got to respond to that. We got to welcome them. We got to take care of them."
US President Donald Trump came under fire over the weekend for saying that anyone who enters the United States illegally should be immediately deported without due process.
READ MORE: US Plans to House Migrants at Military Bases Amid Trump Crackdown
As a country built by immigrants, the United States must not turn away refugees who face death and terror from whence they fled, she added.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order to halt the separation of families apprehended at the border after images of kids in cages went viral. A couple thousand immigrant children are still separated from their parents, according to the US Health and Human Services agency, as a result of the administration’s "zero-tolerance" immigration policy.
READ MORE: Trump Demands Immediate Deportations, Warns of 'Invasion' by Illegal Migrants
Huerta, an iconic Mexican-American activist, rose to fame as a civil rights leader in the 1960s by fighting to improve social and economic conditions for farm workers. She has also been a strong advocate for immigrant and women’s rights. In 2012, Huerta received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, from then-President Barack Obama.
