Day after day, we learn more egregious details on how the Trump administration is handling the arrival of immigrant children: separating them from their families without providing guarantees they will reunite in the future with their parents or other close relatives.

This week’s Tiny Action: Stop DHS from separating families and pressure Congress to take action to #EndFamilySeparation once and for all.

Tell your Senators and Representatives to use their authority to stop separating families at the border and to demand oversight hearings into border patrol tactics and records of abuse.

Hi, my name is [NAME] and I'm a constituent who votes in [CITY/STATE] but I’m calling from [LOCATION], where I currently live.

I’m calling today to tell [Senator/Rep] to speak out against the Trump administration’s separation of immigrant families at the border. This policy is cruel and inhumane and must stop.

For starters, I’d like the Senator/Rep to cosponsor the HELP for Separated Children Act, which strengthens protections for immigrant families and children.

I also need the Senator/Congress(wo)man to support Congressional oversight hearings into this traumatic and unnecessary tactic, as well as a robust investigation into the allegations of ICE and Border Patrol agents abusing detainees. It is unacceptable for our country to allow migrants and asylum seekers to be treated so dreadfully.

Thank you for your time and attention.

[IF LEAVING A VOICEMAIL: please leave your full voting address to ensure your call is tallied]

 

WHY IT MATTERS

Right now, the Trump administration is causing hundreds of immigrant children severe damage all for the sake of enforcing a xenophobic agenda, and we see no signs that this situation will improve without congressional intervention.

In previous administrations, parents who were caught at the border were allowed to stay with their children in shelters while their cases were being adjudicated. Sometimes they were ultimately removed from the U.S., but the point is that they were allowed to stay together.

In May, AG Jeff Sessions declared that the Department of Justice would seek "100% prosecution" of all who enter the U.S. illegally and separate parents from children instead of keeping them in a detention center together. In the first two weeks after the policy was implemented, over 600 children have already been ripped away from their parents, including those as young as 18 months old being placed in shelters, with parents not knowing where their children are or whether they are doing ok.

1,475 children may not be “missing” but that doesn’t make the issue any less urgent. (Indivisible)

What Separating Migrant Families at the Border Actually Looks Like (Vice)

Anguish at Southwest border as more immigrant children are separated from parents (NBC News)

Republicans’ inhumanity at the border reveals their grand scam (WaPo)

Immigrant families separated at border struggle to find each other (Houston Chronicle)

 

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As always, our aim is to turn tiny actions into big results, so we hope we can continue to count on your help! Be sure to forward and share this action with other activists, and send suggestions for our next tiny action to info at democratsabroad dot org.