I’m horrified by recent news that court-appointed lawyers cannot find the parents of 545 children who were separated at the U.S. southern border under a 2017 family separation pilot program, ordered and implemented by the Trump administration. As a mom, I cannot imagine the horror. I don’t know howI’d cope, knowing my son was illegally taken away from me three years ago, with little or no chance of being reunited after seek asylum protection in the US.
The policy of family separation — which has separated more than 5,000 children — is a disgrace for our country, a country built by immigrants. We cannot continue to stand silent while our government allows — and openly encourages — such harmful, illegal and immoral policies. Earlier this month, media reports revealed that Department of Justice officials were a driving force behind this family separation policy even though they knew they didn’t have a system in place to reunite these families. Nothing about family separation is just. We must speak out.
Join me and Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) in contacting policymakers and urging the Trump administration to not only reunite every single separated child with their family but to also end this shameful policy once and for all. No child should be forcibly separated from their parents for years on end in order to deter immigration. This does not sound like the land of the free and the home of the brave. I demand change and expect better from my leaders.
Jessica Balk
Save the Children Action Network
