What you can do today to protest the policy of immigrant family separation!
American Civil Liberties Union
As a mother, human being, and as an American, I am heartbroken and sickened by the current U.S. policy of family separation, under which ICE, Border Patrol, and Homeland Security is separating immigrant parents and their children who have been caught attempting to cross into the United States "illegally" or without documents. Children are being separated from their parents and sent to shelters across the United States, with the explicit intention of using these families as examples to deter immigrants from attempting to cross the border.
Regardless of your politics or stance on immigration policy, we should all be able to agree that separating children from their parents is NOT the way to fix our immigration system. The Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy of "deterrence" is cruel, morally reprehensible, and un-American.
So, what can we do today about this disgraceful policy?
1) Educate ourselves on this policy.
Start by checking out the following list of news articles, but a simple search for "immigrant family separation" will yield you many more articles as well.
CBS News, June 18, 2018, "Poll: Most Americans oppose immigrant family separation"
New York Times, June 16, 2018, "How Trump Came to Enforce a Practice of Separating Migrant Families"
New York Times, June 17, 2018, "Leading Republicans Join Democrats in Pushing Trump to Halt Family Separations"
San Antonio Express News, May 13, 2018, "Border agents now removing children from their immigrant parents"
The Washington Post, June 19, 2018, "The facts about Trump’s policy of separating families at the border"
2) Contact our representatives in Washington.
Respectfully call on your U.S. Congresspeople to pursue efforts to end the policy of family separation and reunite separated children with their parents. Find your representatives here. Also, please consider making your views known by calling the White House Comment Line at 202-456-6213 and the Department of Justice Comment Line at 202-353-1555.
*I live in Texas and called my three Congresspeople and left messages or spoke with a staffer to share my views. I also called the White House Comment Line and the DOJ Comment Line. This took me ~15 minutes.
3) Sign a petition against the policy of family separation.
There are many petitions making the rounds that need more signatures. Please consider signing one or many. *I signed several. This took me ~10 minutes. For example:
4) Donate money to one of the organizations working to help these immigrant families.
If you are trying to figure out which organizations to support that are working on this issue, check out the New York Times Editorial Board Opinion article "Seizing Children From Parents at the Border Is Immoral. Here’s What We Can Do About It," which provides a list of organizations providing legal and humanitarian aid to immigrant families. Other organizations to consider: Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, Migrant Center for Human Rights, and Human Rights First.
*I donated to the Texas Civil Rights Project, Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, and RAICES. This took me ~10 minutes.
5) Talk to our family and friends and encourage them to act now against this policy as well.
*I wrote this blog post and will distribute on Facebook and Instagram. This will take an estimated two hours in total.
We can all do something today to call for the end of family separation. Take a few minutes, please. #endfamilyseparation #endfamilydetention #keepfamiliestogether
All the best to you and yours,
Esha/Enriched Family