Call to Action: June 12, 2018
END TRUMP’S WAR ON IMMIGRANTS
ICE is carrying out Trump’s policy of ethnic cleansing—waging war on immigrant communities by deporting law-abiding people, criminalizing the act of seeking asylum (which protected by US/international law), separating families, detaining and traumatizing children.
Subjecting all adults crossing the southern border to criminal prosecution and deportation is supposed to discourage other immigrants and pressure Dems to fund Trump’s border wall.
Once here, however, families’ situations get even worse:
- Parents held in detention centers while their children suffer far away in HHS custody
- Unsafe conditions in detention centers, largely run by private, for-profit companies
- Judicial independence and due process in immigration courts undermined – creating assembly lines for quick deportation of parents and children alike, without reunification attempts
Oregon’s Senators are working to expose these injustices. We thank them for co-sponsoring the HELP Separated Children Act and the Keep American Families Together Act.
But, ending Trump’s war on immigrants requires greater Congressional action:
- Withhold funds for ICE enforcement and private prisons and detention centers
- Reinstate policy of housing families awaiting deportation or asylum hearings together
- Require unaccompanied minors’ immediate placement – without investigating sponsors’ immigration status
- Give asylum seekers hearings, not prison sentences; provide all with lawyers and due process
Stand With Immigrants!
**ACTION ONE: CALL OUR SENATORS**
“My name is [–] and I’m a constituent and voter from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling to voice my outrage over the terror of family separation at the border, where even infants are being ripped out of their parents’ arms. Please thank the Senator for speaking out against Trump’s policy of traumatizing children to deter future immigration and pressure Dems to fund his border wall and for co-sponsoring the HELP for Separated Children Act (S.2937) and the Keep Families Together Act, but much more needs to be done. I am asking that he take steps to (1) ensure swift passage of this legislation, (2) force DHS to rescind its zero-tolerance policy by withholding funds, (3) rein in or abolish ICE, (4) prohibit use of private detention facilities for immigrants and their children, and (5) require the Justice Department to protect the rights of asylum seekers and to ensure that all appearing in immigration court get attorneys and due process. Thank you.”
**ACTION TWO: CALL COMPLICIT GREG WALDEN**
“My name is [–] and I’m a constituent and voter from [city], Oregon, [zip code]. I am calling to voice my outrage over the terror of family separation at the border, where even infants are being ripped out of their parents’ arms. I am asking Mr. Walden to end his complicity with Trump’s ethnic cleansing policy, and to (1) speak out against Trump’s policy of traumatizing children to deter future immigration and pressure Dems to fund his border wall, (2) co-sponsor and push for swift passage of the HELP for Separated Children Act (H.R.5950) and the Keep Families Together Act, (3) withhold funds for DHS’ zero-tolerance policy, (4) rein in or abolish ICE, (5) prohibit use of private detention facilities for immigrants and their children, and (6) require the Justice Department to protect the rights of asylum seekers and to ensure that all appearing in immigration court get attorneys and due process. Thank you.”
COMPLICIT GREG WALDEN
DC (202) 225-6730, Medford: (541) 776-4646,
Bend (541) 389-4408, La Grande (541) 624-2400
https://walden.house.gov/contact-greg/email-me
**ACTION THREE: Attend the Non-ORD2 Indivisible Sponsored Event: ¿¿Where are the children?? Stop Separating Immigrant Families!
Event Sponsor: Unete Center for Farm Worker and Immigrant Advocacy
Join Unete as we say NO to separating immigrant families.
The Trump administration has gone too far declaring immigrants are animals and separating innocent children from their parents in an attempt to curb migration to this country.
Enough is enough!
This national day of action will include inspirational messages and community support for immigrant families. Bring your signs, families, friends, neighbors, stories, pictures and join us!
Thursday, June 14, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Vogel Plaza, 15 S Central, Medford
https://www.facebook.com/events/131242627751057/
**ACTION FOUR: REMEMBER FOR THE MIDTERMS**
We have choices to make in the November midterm elections. Do we want to be a country that makes war on immigrants? Do we want our neighbors to be rounded up, detained and deported, even if they have been living law-abiding lives and contributing to our economic well-being? Do we want families fleeing from violence in their countries only to be turned away at our borders or detained while having their children forcibly removed from their care?
If the answers to these questions are no, then join us in supporting candidates who believe in America as a nation of immigrants, in the rule of law, and in treating all who seek to better their lives in this country with compassion. Become an activist now. Help elect Jamie McLeod-Skinner!
The 2018 elections will be the most important of our lives.
SOURCES:
- https://www.thenation.com/article/separating-children-parents-new-low-immigration-system/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/world/americas/us-un-migrant-children-families.html
- https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/profiting-enforcement-role-private-prisons-us-immigration-detention
- http://www.citizentribune.com/content/tncms/live/
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/mass-hearings-uncertain-futures-for-migrants-separated-from-their-children-1528662134
