Friend,

We are outraged by reports that President Biden is considering reviving the inhumane practice of imprisoning migrant families in detention facilities in order to deter them from seeking safety at the U.S. border. This is the same practice that he condemned and shut down when he took office just two years ago.

Before we tell you how you can help, let’s be clear about the stakes. Research shows that imprisoning children and parents inflicts lasting harm, including PTSD, suicidal behavior, neurodevelopmental disabilities, and chronic medical illness in children. That’s why medical experts widely oppose it, including DHS’ own experts who came forward as whistleblowers, to tell Congress: “The medical evidence is indisputable: the detention of children is harmful to their health.”

Folks, we must urgently and resoundingly condemn this proposal. Please join our call and send an email to President Biden to abandon all plans to imprison families in jail-like detention facilities.

As an organization that previously sued the federal government over the cruel practice of family detention, we have seen the harm up close. We are swiftly exploring every avenue we can to prevent this policy from coming to fruition.

In 2019, we denounced Trump’s cruel policy to hold migrant children and families in detention indefinitely. And in 2014, with partners, we sued the Obama administration on behalf of mothers and children locked up at an isolated detention center in Artesia, New Mexico. Our lawsuit shed light on the life-threatening risks and cruelty of family detention centers, including a lack of due process and a violation of basic human rights.

No matter who is in the White House, we will always stand up for families seeking safety at our border. We held the last two administrations accountable, and we will seek justice under the Biden administration as well.

We must send a strong message to President Biden that families belong together, not behind bars. It is urgent that his administration hear your voices – please send an email now >>>

Locking up families goes against the values we aspire to as a nation, sets back our hard-won progress, and sends a misguided message that criminalizing those seeking refuge is the right solution. This cannot stand.

Thank you for speaking up on this urgent issue.

Kica Matos
Executive Vice President, Programs & Strategy
National Immigration Law Center