[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|36px|0px|false|false” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”27px|0px|0px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_blurb admin_label=”Quick Action” title=”Quick Action” use_icon=”on” font_icon=”%%82%%” icon_placement=”left” content_max_width=”809px” use_icon_font_size=”on” icon_font_size=”65px” _builder_version=”3.12.2″ header_font=”|700||on|||||” header_text_align=”left” body_text_align=”left” body_text_color=”#efb217″ background_color=”#00417f” custom_padding=”15px|15px|15px|15px” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_starting_opacity=”20%” animation=”right”]<\/p>\n
While more than 100 children have yet to be reunited with their parents, Trump is radically changing asylum rules, moving thousands of unaccompanied children into internment camps, and deporting the family members who come to claim them. Keep the pressure on your MoC to demand investigations and oversight, block Trump’s nominee to lead ICE, and give to the organizations providing direct legal support.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_text admin_label=”Issue, Action” _builder_version=”3.12.2″]<\/p>\n ICE’s acting director, Ron Vitiello, has been tapped by Trump to be the agency’s permanent director. He now faces an imminent confirmation vote in the Senate. Vitiello has overseen the targeting of undocumented immigrants who have no criminal record beyond crossing the border illegally, including parents of American citizens.\u00a0In his confirmation hearings, Vitiello did not rule out renewing family separation<\/a><\/span>, and indicated the policy was an effective deterrent.\u00a0In 2015, he tweeted<\/a><\/span> from his personal account that the Democratic Party should be renamed the \u201cLiberalcratic party or the NeoKlanist party.\u201d<\/p>\n Immediately following the midterm election, Trump announced sweeping new changes to asylum rules<\/span><\/a>, prohibiting anyone crossing between ports of entry from applying. The new policy\u00a0forces asylum seekers to choose between having to wait for weeks or longer at overloaded ports of entry<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and risking immediate deportation by crossing illegally and turning themselves in to Border Patrol.\u00a0The policy and the judge issued a temporary restraining order to halt the policy before it is heard again in December. has already been challenged in court by the ACLU<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0the judge issued a temporary restraining order to halt the policy before it is heard again in December.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Hundreds of unaccompanied children continue to be quietly moved under cover of darkness and without warning from shelters around the country to an internment camp<\/span><\/a> in Tornillo, TX in late September. The “tent city” is unregulated, and the children are not provided schooling or regular access to legal services. More than 1,600 have already been moved there, and the camp was recently expanded to hold a total of 3,800 children. The total number of unaccompanied immigrant children in federal custody is now more than 14,000<\/span><\/a>. To make matters worse, the Dept. of Health and Human Services recently began allowing ICE to check the immigration status of adults who come to take custody of children, and deporting any they find to be undocumented<\/span><\/a>. Sen. Kamala Harris has\u00a0introduced the Families, Not Facilities Act<\/span><\/a> that would end the practice (it’s also listed among the “bills to support” below).<\/p>\n As many feared, the Trump administration announced its plans to withdraw from the Flores Settlement<\/span><\/a>, the court agreement that sets rules for the treatment of children in federal custody. Withdrawing will enable the government to indefinitely detain immigrant families and unaccompanied children in unlicensed internment camps, including those being planned on military bases.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>Once it removes the regulations that limit the amount of time families can be held in detention, the Trump administration is prepared to implement a new family separation policy<\/span><\/a>, this time offered to parents as a “binary choice” between separation and long-term family detention in internment camps.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A recent story by The New Yorker showed that some amount of family separation has continued<\/span><\/a> even after the policy was ordered to end, and children as young as five are being forced to sign away their rights before being lost in the shelter system for months.\u00a0A recent AP investigation<\/span><\/a> also showed that some separated children whose parents were deported without them are being adopted by American families without their parents’ knowledge or consent.<\/p>\n A new report<\/span><\/a> by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General confirms that the Trump administration’s Zero Tolerance Policy was purposefully intended to separate children from their parents. It also shows widespread and continuing dysfunction and chaos as a result of the policy’s implementation and the resulting court ordered reunification. Among the findings:<\/span><\/a> hundreds of children were held in chain-link pens without beds beyond the maximum 72 hours allowed by law, the government did not maintain any kind of database of the children it separated or even provide identifying information like ID bracelets to babies and toddlers. It also found that Customs and Border Patrol purposefully restricted the flow of asylum seekers at legal points of entry.<\/p>\n In July,\u00a0the Trump administration failed to meet its court-ordered deadline<\/span><\/a> to reunify the 2,634 children separated from their parents since its “zero tolerance” policy was implemented in May. More than 100 children remain in government custody<\/a>.<\/span> Most were forcibly stranded in the US when their parents were deported without them.\u00a0Other parents are still being vetted or are classified as “ineligible” to regain custody \u2014 sometimes as a result of minor and years-old offenses. The government says it will not retrieve deported parents, but will allow them to reapply for asylum<\/span><\/a>. An unknown number of children\u00a0who arrived with an adult other than their parents also remain separated and misclassified<\/span><\/a> as “unaccompanied minors,” and may have completely disappeared within the disorganized government system.<\/span><\/p>\n \u21d2\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Click here to jump to our Family Separation Q&A<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u21d2\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Click here to jump to actions you can take<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n The Trump administration’s official\u00a0\u201czero tolerance\u201d<\/a><\/span> policy was rolled out in May, and calls for criminal prosecution of all adults entering the US without authorization at the Southwest border,\u00a0even those seeking asylum and those attempting to apply at ports of entry.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0As a result, thousands of children between the ages of nine months and 18 years were forcibly taken from their parents and sent to far-flung states where they remained separated for months at a time.\u00a0<\/span>Reports abound of parents unable to locate or contact their children<\/span><\/a>, toddlers forced to appear in court alone<\/span><\/a>, children being drugged without parental consent<\/span><\/a>, internment center employees being ordered not to touch or comfort distressed children<\/span><\/a>, children stranded in the US alone after parents are deported<\/span><\/a>, and parents being told that the only way they will see their children again is if they agree to\u00a0deport<\/span><\/a>. Legal experts note that the forced separation policy meets the legal definition for torture<\/a><\/span> and violates federal and international law.\u00a0The administration’s policies prompted widespread outrage and condemnation from the United Nations,<\/a> the American Academy of Pediatrics<\/a>, mental health professionals<\/a>, retired U.S. military officers<\/a>,\u00a0Pope Francis<\/a>, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops<\/a>,\u00a0a coalition of other religious leaders<\/a>,\u00a0evangelical leaders<\/a>, legislators<\/a>, airlines<\/a> and business leaders<\/a><\/span>. A lawsuit filed by the ACLU<\/a><\/span> resulted in a court-ordered reunification of all separated families by the end of July. The Trump administration did not meet the deadline<\/span><\/a>, and more than 100 children have yet to be reuinited with their parents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Of the families that have been reunited, some are reporting receiving children who are traumatized, angry, and confused<\/span><\/a>, and the children report scenes of desperation and isolation<\/a><\/span>\u00a0in the internment centers. Numerous reports of sexual abuse of children as young as six<\/span><\/a> have been documented. The judge that oversees the Flores settlement announced that the court would appoint a special monitor to oversee detention facilities<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and investigate allegations of abuse<\/span><\/a> and inhumane conditions, and ruled that detention facilities must stop drugging children without parental consent<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0Meanwhile, the military is moving forward with plans to detain 20,000 unaccompanied children in internment camps on military bases<\/span><\/a>, and the administration is seeking approval to expand that plan to include 15,000 beds for families. Multiple lawsuits are still underway, brought by the ACLU<\/span><\/a>, a coalition of 18 states’ attorneys general<\/span><\/a>, and others<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u21d2\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Click here to jump to our Family Separation Q&A<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tell them that they should use all legislative tools to…<\/p>\n Reunite ALL Separated Families Immediately. <\/b>It is the Government’s responsibility to locate and reunite the families it separated.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Congress should pressure the administration to provide a complete accounting of ALL separated families, not just those separated since the zero tolerance policy was put in place, and allocating all necessary resources to locating separated parents and reuniting them with their children.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Oppose Ronald Vitiello, Trump’s Nominee to Lead ICE. <\/strong>Vitiello is ICE’s acting director. In his confirmation hearings, Vitiello did not rule out renewing family separation<\/a>, and indicated the policy was an effective deterrent.\u00a0In 2015, he tweeted<\/a> from his personal account that the Democratic Party should be renamed the \u201cLiberalcratic party or the NeoKlanist party.\u201d<\/p>\n Oppose New Funding for Family Separation, Long-Term Detention, and Non-Criminal Deportation.\u00a0<\/strong>Our agencies should use the funds available to them to implement humane immigration policies that are effective and fiscally responsible, prioritizing criminal prosecution and deportation of violent criminals and human\/drug\/weapons traffickers.<\/p>\n Reinstate Detention Alternatives and Access to Counsel. <\/b>Family prisons endanger children\u2019s health and safety and cost millions of dollars to maintain. Congress should reinstitute the cost-effective Family Case Management Program which allowed families to be freed with supervision and ensured 100% of families attended their hearings in court.\u00a0Expanding access to counsel helps families navigate confusing court proceedings and helps reduce the number of families who do not attend their hearings.<\/span><\/p>\n Reverse Recent Changes to Asylum Rules and Retain Flores Settlement: \u00a0<\/b>No reform should weaken the current asylum laws in the United States, weaken protections for unaccompanied immigrant children, expand immigration detention, limit due process or otherwise make it more difficult for families to establish they have a valid claim for protection. Furthermore, no reform should weaken or undermine the current protections for children established in the Flores settlement.<\/span><\/p>\n Call for the Resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.\u00a0<\/strong>Despite warnings of the crisis that would result by enacting the zero tolerance policy, Secretary Nielsen allowed the agencies under her direction to proceed with a plan that purposefully caused trauma to children in order to deter immigration, did not make any effort to track or reunite separated family members until a court ordered her to do so, and\u00a0failed to provide accountability for her agency’s inability to reunite families, respond to cases of child abuse, and ensure asylum seekers are afforded constitutional protections. In addition, Secretary Nielsen repeatedly lied to Congress, and continues to promote policies that separate families, including the elimination of Temporary Protected Status for the working parents of American children.<\/span><\/p>\n Bills to Support<\/strong>:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Trump administration officially announced its new\u00a0<\/span>\u201czero tolerance\u201d<\/a><\/span> policy in early May, after testing it out<\/span><\/a> in El Paso in the summer of 2017. All immigrant adults who cross the Southwest border between ports of entry without legal documentation are arrested and prosecuted for illegal entry, punishable by up to 6 months imprisonment on a first offense, followed by deportation. C<\/span>ontrary to Trump’s tweets, this policy is by his design<\/span><\/a>, it is not a law or a “loophole”<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n No.<\/strong> While the number of immigrants crossing the southern border is significantly higher than last year, the number of apprehended immigrants at the border in 2017 was the lowest since 1971<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0In addition, violent crime rates in\u00a0all but one of the 23 border counties are lower<\/span><\/a> than the national average, suggesting that our borders are as safe and secure as they have been in nearly five decades.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yes.<\/strong> Under Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, all parents and children were forcibly separated<\/span><\/a> when they attempted to enter the country without legal documentation, even those lawfully seeking asylum<\/span><\/a>, and even those with babies and toddlers<\/span><\/a>. The crisis was made worse by officials who told families seeking asylum to enter at legal check points, but then refused them the opportunity to apply<\/span><\/a> when they got there. Children have also been taken from asylum seekers who applied properly at ports of entry<\/span><\/a>. After separation, children are classified as “unaccompanied”, placed in the custody of <\/span>the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), and sent to states all over the country\u00a0without their parents being notified of where they were going<\/span><\/a> or how to contact them.\u00a0Records linking children to their parents have disappeared<\/span><\/a>, and in some cases have been destroyed.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We aren’t sure.<\/strong>\u00a0The administration has yet to release a complete accounting. The ongoing court cases refer to numbers of\u00a02,634<\/span><\/a> children separated since the zero tolerance policy went into effect in May. But other reports indicate that the administration began separating children as part of a pilot program last summer, which could raise the current estimation to\u00a0as many as 4,100 children<\/span><\/a>. While court orders have resulted in many families being reunited, hundreds of children continue to languish in internment centers<\/span><\/a>. More than 14,000 children (including children who crossed the border alone) are currently being held<\/span><\/a> in 100 holding facilities in 17 states, including\u00a0tent cities<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0“tender age” detention facilities<\/span><\/a> for babies and toddlers.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\nImage by Michele Stapleton from the June 30 Families Belong Together Rally in Portland<\/span><\/h4>\n
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RECENT UPDATES<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\nBACKGROUND<\/span><\/h3>\n
ACTION: Contact Your Reps!<\/span><\/h3>\n
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ACTION: DONATE!<\/span><\/h3>\n
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FAMILY SEPARATION Q & A<\/span><\/h3>\n
What is the Trump administration\u2019s policy for immigrants crossing the Southwest Border?<\/b><\/h6>\n
Is there a security crisis at the southern border?<\/b><\/h6>\n
Was the Trump administration separating parents and children?<\/b><\/h6>\n
How many children have been separated?<\/b><\/h6>\n