Monday, June 18, 2018

Here’s how you can help (family separation crisis)

The Trump administration is moving full speed ahead to create a prison camp outside El Paso, TX, for the immigrant children our government is stealing away from their parents after families cross the border to seek asylum.

Dear MoveOn member,

The Trump administration is moving full speed ahead to create a prison camp outside El Paso, TX, for the immigrant children our government is stealing away from their parents after families cross the border to seek asylum.1

Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions instituted the policy of family separation in May, the number of children separated from their parents is surging, with estimates as high as 2,000, including a baby torn away from her mother's breasts.2,3 Some of the mothers are being told that their families "do not exist anymore" and that they will "never see their children again."4

The network of pro bono lawyers fighting for these families in the courts and getting their stories to the media urgently needs more resources to scale up their work. And that's why I want to ask you, Eddie, to make a tax-deductible donation to the Texas Civil Rights Project, a group of lawyers and advocates on the front lines of the family separation crisis.

Click here now to make a tax-deductible gift to the Texas Civil Rights Project, and 100% of your donation will immediately go to the organization.

It was from an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, Natalia Cornelio, that we learned on CNN last week about the story of the woman from Honduras who had her baby torn away from her while breastfeeding.5

Under current policies, the government is not required to provide immigrants, even children, pursuing asylum or facing deportation with legal representation. Children as young as three are being forced to appear before judges without a lawyer.6

These families need legal help right now. Will you make a tax-deductible gift to the Texas Civil Rights Project? Just click here now, and 100% of your donation will go to the organization.

Every day, more and more children are being ripped away from their parents, and the stories we're hearing just keep getting worse. Children confined in dog kennel-like cages. Parents left without any information about their children's whereabouts week after week. Border agents losing track of which child belongs to which parent.

This is a moral emergency, and we're going all out to pressure Congress and the Trump administration to rescind this heinous policy. 

But right now the most pressing, urgent need is to help the children and parents trapped in Trump's horrifying family separation maze. Will you make a tax-deductible donation to the Texas Civil Rights Project to help defend these families?

Yes, I'll make a tax-deductible donation to the Texas Civil Rights Project right now.

MoveOn members' time, energy, and donations power all our advocacy and electoral work together—and in some moments of crisis, we also come together as a community to provide direct relief to people in harm's way.

MoveOn members have given millions of dollars directly to grassroots relief organizations over the years, including after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti; after Hurricanes Sandy, Katrina, Maria, and Harvey; to help rebuild Black churches after racially motivated arsons; and many other moments.

This is one of those moments where we can provide important support for people in crisis—even as we continue our work to address root causes.

Thanks for all you do.

–Anna, Eric, Anne, Reggie, and the rest of the team

P.S. MoveOn members are doing everything we can to stand up in this horrifying moment. Our staff worked throughout the weekend with a wide range of partner organizations to begin planning a major protest in Washington (we'll keep you updated and will announce it as soon as details are ready), as well as in-person actions people around the country can attend. We're collecting bedtime songs, which we'll do our very best to play for children in detention centers and highlight in the media. And we're making digital ads to make sure members of Congress hear our anguish and our demand to stop separating children from their parents—and holding those kids hostage to pass other anti-immigrant legislation. Right now, we're coming together to offer direct support for the children experiencing this trauma—and in the coming days, we'll give you more opportunities to advocate and organize to stop this moral travesty.

Click here to make a tax-deductible donation directly to the Texas Civil Rights Project. 

Sources:

1. "U.S. to house migrant children in tents outside El Paso as government takes more into custody," The Washington Post, June 14, 2018
 
2. "DHS reports about 2,000 minors separated from families," The Washington Post, June 15, 2018
 
3. "She says federal officials took her daughter while she breastfed the child in a detention center," CNN, June 14, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/41122?t=10&akid=209660%2E10220574%2E98q4hB
 
4. "The Trump administration's separation of families at the border, explained," Vox, June 15, 2018
 
5. "She says federal officials took her daughter while she breastfed the child in a detention center," CNN, June 14, 2018
 
6. "Can a 3-year-old represent herself in immigration court? Judge in Seattle case thinks so," The Seattle Times, March 4, 2016

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