What we can’t ignore about the family separation crisis
By Gabriela Takahashi
This is happening in 2018: immigrant infants and toddlers are being separated from their parents and sent to “tender age” shelters, where agents are ordering the crying children not to comfort each other — “No puede abrazar!” And now, we must confront the latest form of this inhumane practice: the separation and jailing of migrant families at our fronteras.
As media reports of family separation and detention at the southern border continue to flood in, there are two questions I must ask: where do we go from here and how can we stop this from happening yet again?
The recordings of frantic, crying immigrant children pleading for their mamis y papis remind me that separating and detaining marginalized families in the U.S. is not a new concept:
- Indigenous families were torn apart as European settlers colonized America.
- African families were separated when they were sold at slave auctions.
- Japanese-American families were forcibly interned during WWII.
- Black and brown children are more likely to have an incarcerated parent in our broken criminal justice system.
There is no official policy that families crossing the border and entering the United States must be separated. In fact, many of these immigrant families are seeking asylum, a right protected by U.S. and international law.
However, the Trump administration and Border Patrol were immediately arresting and separating families at the border — regardless of whether they were seeking asylum from danger and persecution in their home countries — and denying migrant families the right to present their case for asylum upon crossing the border.
Instead, parents were immediately jailed for crossing the border between ports of entry. Their children, who can’t be held in federal jail, were sent separately to child detention centers. International law dictates that the U.S. can’t turn away asylum-seekers — and Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy was designed to intercept migrant families before they could begin the asylum process.
Last week, President Trump issued an executive order that will instead detain families together indefinitely. This is still unacceptable: children, even with their parents, do not belong in jail.
The process of reuniting separated families must be addressed quickly. Nearly 3,000 families have been separated at the border, and more than 11,000 children are being held in Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities across the country. Due to overcrowding, many children are forced to sleep on the floor or in cages. Worse, children have been sent across the country to different facilities without their parent’s knowledge or consent.
Our nation has yet again failed to live up to its ideals, so again I ask: where do we go from here and how can we stop this from happening yet again?
We the people must collect our voices and our votes, participate in mass mobilized actions, and make our voices heard at the ballot box in November. Only together can we end family detention and separation for good.
If we elect representatives who will carry our collective voices to our nation’s capital — and hold them accountable — we can and will create lasting change on these human rights violations. We cannot right the wrongs of this country, but we can and must finally put a stop to the violence perpetrated against our most vulnerable communities.
Join me in making a difference to end this atrocity:
- Register, vote, and hold your elected officials accountable.
- Attend a Families Belong Together march in your community on June 30th.
- Call your local, state, and federal representatives and share your outrage.
- Support organizations that are helping children and their families on-the-ground at our fronteras.
- Speak Meso-American languages such as Zapotec, Nahua, Quich’e, Maya, Mixe, or Mixteco? Become a volunteer translator with RAICES!
- Engage in conversations, both in person and online. #FamiliesBelongTogether #BridgesNotBorders #LetThemIn
