"If you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem."
The U.S -Mexico border policies that have been created is striking a chord with the public. It truly has with us and we have some things you should know:1. The first thing you must do is to call your Congresspeople and tell them to end to the Zero-Tolerance policy. Remember, asking an end to family separation is not enough. It will create bad bills like one by Ted Cruz for Senate! He's proposing that would keep families together... IN DETENTION. No child should be in prison. Period.
2. We don't know what's going to happen to these children. We are facing a whole new class of immigrant minors-they have been forcibly removed and classed as unaccompanied. Where will they go from here? Will they have their own immigration court hearing? How is a five year old supposed to decide if they want to stay or leave?3. The repercussions of this policy will last with us for a very long time. The media may be covering the kids now, but then they will move on. These kids will still be stuck there. They will be forced into foster care or even shelters. They may not even have real representation. This crisis will not end with the end of the policy which created it.These organizations listed below will do whatever they can to help these children:
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project
- Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project
- Human Rights First
- Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
- La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE)
- Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES)
- United We Dream Action
- We Belong Together
- Womens Refugee Commission
We are in this for the long haul. Help them maintain their work.
"Members of Congress are calling the policies inhumane and unconscionable; advocates say they're malicious and a brazen violation of human rights. Now average citizens — numbered by the hundreds of thousands — are coming forward as one collective voice of outrage and disgust. Here are ways to join the cause:"
- This ACLU petition demands that the Department of Homeland Security “end the vicious and inhumane practice of separating children from their families.” So far 107,799 people have signed on — the ACLU wants to see that number at 150,000 and beyond.
- The National Domestic Workers Alliance is targeting the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, saying the agencies are “unfit to be in charge of children.” They have gathered 50,546 signatures so far and need just a few hundred more to reach their goal.
- Organizers for the Women’s March take aim at Ivanka Trump, who has promised that women’s empowerment is, like, her thing. They are 30,149 signatures into their goal of 51,200.
- Credo Action has already topped 146,881 signed petitions. If you need any more of a reason to sign, they have a number of personal stories of immigrants who were torn from their children who were as young as 18-month-old.
- Daily Kos has another 125,040 petitions gathered. The campaign calls out DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for the “cruel, costly, and inhumane practice.”
- America's Voice is just getting started with a letter to Alex Azar, Director of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The message: Playgrounds are not "prison camps" for immigrant children.
- Latin America Working Group is also pressuring Nielsen to end her department's family-separation strategy. So far 105,995 people have signed on agreeing there is no legal basis for tearing children away from their parents.
- Amnesty International wants to turn attention to the children who are already locked up in detention. For years the Berks family detention center, located in Pennsylvania, has been housing young children and their mothers. Amnesty wants to see those families be released.
- Kids in Need of Defense warns of the significant trauma for children who are separated from their parents, even temporarily. Their petition against DHS has garnered 51,562 signatures so far.
