Families Belong Together
Stop Family Separation!
"Use Your Words"
"Use your words!" We say it often as parents and educators of young children. We want to teach our children to speak their truth, to stand up for themselves and for others. We understand that what we do carries much more weight that what we say. So the real question is, what are we going to do?
Sincerely,
Michelle Ireland
Sign a Petition
Hi,
Recent news stories of children being torn away from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border are heartbreaking.
One story described a mother whose baby girl was yanked from her arms while she was breastfeeding her. The mother cried out and tried to hang on to her child as government agents forcibly separated them.
Hundreds of other families have been torn apart since the Trump administration enacted this brutal new policy.
This shockingly cruel, traumatic, and inhumane practice has no place in our country. It must be stopped immediately, and without holding these children hostage to pass other anti-immigrant policies.
We must speak loudly enough, and in large enough numbers, that the media stays focused on this story.
I've joined the National Domestic Workers Alliance to launch this petition. Please sign it and stay tuned for more ways to help these families.
That's why I signed a petition to Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate, which says:
"Stop tearing children away from their parents. Families belong together."
Will you sign the petition, too? Click here to add your name:
https://petitions.moveon.org/p/e_8xM_KfiN
Thanks!
Hi,
“I just want to know where my daughter is and that she is safe. She’s two years old, and it’s been two months since we were separated—I don’t know why we were separated. I don’t understand. We came here to seek help, we were afraid for our lives.”
-Father, seeking asylum and being held in an adult immigration detention center at the U.S. southern border in August 2017. Described as “very depressed” due to the separation by his housing mates to WRC.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under Secretary Nielsen’s leadership has been tearing children apart from their parents to scare others from coming to our borders.
There’s no justification for this practice. These families and children aren’t threats to our safety. They’re often fleeing unspeakable violence and persecution in their home countries. Many are from Central America, home to some of the most dangerous countries in the world.
The administration h as claimed that they must separate children from their parents to protect them. But policies exist for protecting children—and separating them from their parents is not the way. There’s no security crisis either. Border apprehensions are at decades-low levels, according to the government’s own data.
It’s cruel to punish parents who are doing everything they can to protect their children and to punish children by depriving them of their parents. Separating a child from a mother or father only leads to more trauma for all. Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare.
DHS shouldn’t play politics with families to try to discourage people from seeking protection, and there’s no legal basis for doing so either. Family unity is one of our core values and is reflected in our laws. Our government has a responsibility under U.S. immigration law to hear a person’s immigration or asylum case, not to try to scare them away from asking for help . Doing so puts these families at extremely high risk of experiencing further rights violations.
Separating families is also expensive. By some estimates, the government practice of detaining mothers and children apart from each other would cost taxpayers an average of $327 million per year. And keeping families locked up together is also expensive and cruel, when there are cost efficient and effective alternatives to detention. That money won’t make our country safer; it would only waste taxpayer dollars.
Separating families or keeping them locked up in detention is NOT a solution. It won’t make us safer or stop people from seeking protection when they have no other option. It’s not who we are.
Sign this petition to tell Secretary Nielsen to stop separating families at the border once and for all. Children belong with their parents in safe communities, not locked up in detention centers. We are better than this.
This petiti on is sponsored by Al Otro Lado, Alianza Americas, Amnesty International USA, Kids in Need of Defense, Latin America Working Group, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, MomsRising, National Immigrant Justice Center, Women’s Refugee Commission
That's why I signed a petition to Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which says:
"Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, abandon the cruel, costly, and unjustified practice of separating families seeking protection at our borders, including those who are fleeing persecution in their home countries. Children belong with their parents in safe communities, not locked up in detention centers."
Will you sign the petition, too? Click here to add your name:
https://petitions.moveon.org/p/e_8oc_KfiN
Thanks!
Keep Families Together Act SB3036
Action Call: [Your member of Congress]
Phone Number: (202) 224-3121
Not sure what to say...
Hello, my name is ___________ and I am calling as a voting constituent to urge [member of congress] to END the separation of families at the border.
Ripping children from their loving parents' arms is inhumane. We need to recognize that all people share a common humanity and treat everyone with dignity. Anything else is morally wrong and counter to my values.
What is [member of congress] doing to pass the Keep the Families Together Act now? My vote is on the line.
OR
I live in _________ and I support SB3036.
Find Your Representative
Who to Call
The trauma a child incurs from parental separation lasts a lifetime.
Chief of Staff: John F. Kelly (202) 456-1414
Attorney General: Jeff Sessions (202) 353-1555
DHS Secretary: Kirstjen Nielson (202) 282-8495
Acting ICE Director: Thomas Homan 1-866-DHS-2-ICE
HHS Secretary: Alex Azar (202) 690-7000
Acting Assistant ACF Secretary: Steven Wagner 1-877-696-6775
ORR Director: Scott Lloyd (202) 401-9246
Families Belong Together Vigil and Protest
8pm
Five Points Park
Click on the link below to RSVP to attend the event.