Dear Friend,

Last week, I joined four Young Center colleagues to spend three days in the refugee community of 2,000+ people currently trapped in Matamoros, Mexico. These families—almost all with children—have spent months living on the streets of a city that sits just a few steps from the United States after being turned away at our border under the Remain in Mexico program. They live in abject terror—terror that the local cartels, who act with impunity, will enter the camps at night looking for teenage girls; terror that their children will fall ill after sleeping on the ground as it frosts over in the winter; terror that the smoke from the fires they burn to cook and warm themselves will make it impossible to breathe.

They asked for our help.

It could be years before the federal courts end this administration’s lawless policies. The administration is counting on the public to ignore the Remain in Mexico policy because the families are out of sight. But we know the power of the people, which ended family separation under “Zero Tolerance.” Today we’re asking you to raise the same cry to end Remain in Mexico.

Please join or host one of the many vigils tomorrow to protest the Remain in Mexico policy. Call your members of Congress every day and tell them you won’t stop calling until they take action to end this cruel policy. And raise awareness on social media by sharing our report. 

With gratitude,

Jennifer Nagda
Policy Director