We Demand A Plan To Reunite Migrant Families Separated At The Border
The executive order signed by Donald Trump on June 20 ended the separation of children from their parents as they crossed our border seeking asylum. What the executive order did not do, however, was stop the criminal detention of parents requesting asylum or provide a system for the 2,000 children who have now been processed as unaccompanied minors to be returned to their parents.
We are adoptees who know the stakes of family separation and reunification firsthand. We are birth parents who know the sting of forever losing connection to a child due to established policy. We are adoptive parents who benefitted from the fracturing of one family to build our own. We are allies who have witnessed the experiences of those touched by adoption.
And we demand immediate action from Congress to enact a coherent system for returning these children to their families.
American attorney Michael Avenatti has suggested a single staging area approachā€”bring all separated children and parents together in a single staging area like a stadium or a convention center so they can be safely reunited.
Tearing children from their parents, processing them as unaccompanied minors, and sending them to states as far away as Washington and Michigan with no way for their parents to reach them, and vice-versa, is unacceptable. Detaining children and parents in criminal prisons is equally unacceptable. Prosecuting asylum seekers as criminals at all is abhorrent.
With every day that passes, the likelihood that these families will find each other again declines. Congress must act now with a tangible plan that puts children back in their parents' arms and avoids the further trauma of criminal detention facilities.
Adoptees personally know the pain of losing family members to legal procedures. We stand with these children and demand an immediate plan for their safe return.
We are adoptees who know the stakes of family separation and reunification firsthand. We are birth parents who know the sting of forever losing connection to a child due to established policy. We are adoptive parents who benefitted from the fracturing of one family to build our own. We are allies who have witnessed the experiences of those touched by adoption.
And we demand immediate action from Congress to enact a coherent system for returning these children to their families.
American attorney Michael Avenatti has suggested a single staging area approachā€”bring all separated children and parents together in a single staging area like a stadium or a convention center so they can be safely reunited.
Tearing children from their parents, processing them as unaccompanied minors, and sending them to states as far away as Washington and Michigan with no way for their parents to reach them, and vice-versa, is unacceptable. Detaining children and parents in criminal prisons is equally unacceptable. Prosecuting asylum seekers as criminals at all is abhorrent.
With every day that passes, the likelihood that these families will find each other again declines. Congress must act now with a tangible plan that puts children back in their parents' arms and avoids the further trauma of criminal detention facilities.
Adoptees personally know the pain of losing family members to legal procedures. We stand with these children and demand an immediate plan for their safe return.
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