Friend,

In the midst of a deadly pandemic, the Trump Administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are using COVID-19 as a pretext to harm more immigrant children.

A U.S. District Court judge ordered that all children held for more than 20 days at three Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania must be released by July 17 to their parents or family sponsors, citing recent outbreaks of COVID-19 at two of the three facilities.

While we applaud Judge Gee’s ruling for recognizing the inhumane and grave conditions that children in ICE detention are exposed to, we know that the true safety of these children is reliant on them being released with their parents and not subject to the long-term harm caused by family separation. Under the guise of protecting children from COVID-19, ICE agents are giving parents an impossible choice: either separate from their children or remain in detention indefinitely.

The government’s actions are hurting our country and putting millions at risk. Enough is enough.

Join us in demanding an end to family separation and the government’s cruel immigration policies. Share this video to show how the Trump Administration is putting millions at risk.

In 2018, the Trump Administration separated families at the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2019, they trapped 60,000 families there through the Remain in Mexico policy. In 2020, The Trump Administration has shut down the border and used CDC guidelines to justify expelling more than 41,000 people seeking asylum — including more than 2,000 children. And this blatant cruelty does not stop at the border.

Now, instead of focusing on keeping everyone safe during the pandemic, the government is deporting children, separating families, shutting down the asylum system, and making cuts to legal immigration — putting millions at risk.

The Trump Administration should stop exploiting the deadly coronavirus pandemic to jeopardize the safety of children and advance its hateful, anti-immigrant agenda. Until this happens, families will continue to suffer.

Share this explainer video to call out the Trump Administration’s cruel family separation policies.

This must be the year that we end family separation and the Trump Administration’s cruel immigration policies once and for all.

Thank you for standing with immigrant children and families today,

Alida Garcia
Vice President, Advocacy, FWD.us