Dear MoveOn member,
A year ago, when Donald Trump was separating migrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border, we rose up and forced Trump to end the policy.1
But now, largely through lawyers at the border, we've learned that the Trump administration is again illegally separating children from their families and detaining them in the most inhumane conditions—putting them in cages, forcing them to sleep on concrete floors, and leaving them hungry, alone, and terrified, without even soap or toothbrushes.2
A 15-year-old girl told one of the lawyers that there's nothing to do but cry.3
An eight-year old boy told a lawyer, "They took us away from our grandmother, and now we are all alone. They have not given us to our mother. We have been here for a long time. I have to take care of my little sister. She is very sad because she misses our mother and grandmother very much … We sleep on a cement bench. There are two mats in the room, but the big kids sleep on the mats, so we have to sleep on the cement bench."4
And a 17-year old boy said, "At Ursula [detention center], we have not been able to shower. The toilet is out in the open in the cage; there is no door for any privacy. There is water but no soap to wash our hands. There are no paper towels to dry our hands. We have not been given a toothbrush or toothpaste to brush our teeth."5
As photos, audio, and stories emerge from the camps, outrage has grown to a crescendo over the past week, and right now is our opportunity to create the tipping point that forces the Trump administration to stop separating children from their families—once and for all.
That's why MoveOn's team has sprung into action, along with our colleagues at the American Friends Service Committee, Families Belong Together, and United We Dream, to organize a wave of highly visible protests across the country this Tuesday, July 2.
But it's all happening at lightning speed, and we need to raise $120,000 by Monday to pull it all off. Will you chip in $3 now to help out?
Most of these children have family, including parents, in the United States. But the Trump administration is taking them away from family and classifying them as "unaccompanied minors."6
A lawyer who is part of the teams interviewing children at the camps explained, "There were children at this facility who came across with parents and were separated from parents. There were other children at the facility who came across with other adult family members. We met almost no children who came across unaccompanied. The United States is taking children away from their family unit and reclassifying them as unaccompanied children."7
A 16-year-old girl at one of the camps told a lawyer, "We are in a metal cage with 20 other teenagers, with babies and young children. We have one mat we need to share with each other. It is very cold. We each got a mylar blanket, but it is not enough to warm up. ... The lights are [on] all of the time."8
The U.S. government, our government, is tearing children away from their families and terrorizing them—and it's on our watch. It's up to each of us to speak out and fight back. Together, we can close the camps and reunite children with their families. We we truly can't do it without you, Eddie. Will you help out?
Thanks for all you do.
–Vicki, Bill, Gabby, Eric, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Family Separation Protests Shift the Narrative," The Atlantic, June 30, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/42384?t=4&akid=238028%2E10220574%2EWlYhV4
2. "Inside a Texas Building Where the Government Is Holding Immigrant Children," The New Yorker, June 22, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/67482?t=6&akid=238028%2E10220574%2EWlYhV4
3. "Kids Describe In Their Own Words The Dire Conditions Inside A Border Detention Center," BuzzFeed, June 27, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/67524?t=8&akid=238028%2E10220574%2EWlYhV4
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. "Inside a Texas Building Where the Government Is Holding Immigrant Children," The New Yorker, June 22, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/67482?t=10&akid=238028%2E10220574%2EWlYhV4
7. Ibid.
8. Kids Describe In Their Own Words The Dire Conditions Inside A Border Detention Center," BuzzFeed, June 27, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/67524?t=12&akid=238028%2E10220574%2EWlYhV4
Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?
Click here to chip in $3, or whatever you can afford.
Contributions to MoveOn.org Civic Action are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on June 30th, 2019. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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