#FamiliesBelongTogether – Stop Detaining Children and Families

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Action Alert: Urge Senators to stop family separation and detention

 

On June 30, we marched. Now we must take the next step and act. #FamiliesBelongTogether has become a rallying cry against forcible family separation and President Trump’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. Members of Congress need to continue to hear that detaining families together is not a solution to family separation.

 

Contact Your U.S. Senators

Write letters, submit online message on the Senator’s website, Tweet, and/or call your Senators by using the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121. See details below.

Page Contents (click on a title to go to that section):

Action Needed NOW: 4 Things You Can Do

1 – Write letters – organize members of your congregation to Write Here! Write Now! letters that the Advocacy Corps will deliver July 10 and later in the month. 

Organize a Write Here! Write Now! letter-writing table in your congregation for letters to be delivered to Capitol Hill offices in Washington, DC by the UUSJ Capitol Hill Advocacy Corps. Scan and email letters to advocacy@uusj.org by Monday, July 9 by noon ET for delivery on July 10. Contact us if you are organizing a letter-writing campaign later in the month. 

Ask your Senators to –

  • reject proposals to expand family detention,
  • push the Administration to end its “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that separates children from their parents at the border and detains children away from their parents,
  • urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold immediate hearings on the administration’s treatment of children along the southern border.

2 – Make phone calls or send online message: suggested message – adapt for your personal message

Hello, my name is [your name]. I’m a constituent from [city, state]. I am a Unitarian Universalist from [name of congregation and location].

My faith leads me to believe in the inherent worth and dignity of all people. The Administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy does not treat families with dignity and puts children at physical and emotional risk. I’m upset with how our country is treating families seeking refuge and a better life. I urge the Senator to reject any legislation that expands family detention or allows children to be detained indefinitely with their parents, or undermines protections for children in detention. There are better community-based alternatives to detention that are more humane for families and asylum seekers.

I would like the Senator to do everything possible to protect asylum seekers, young children, and other vulnerable populations from being harmfully detained. Children especially should not be incarcerated or needlessly separated from a parent.

Thank you for your consideration of my concerns.

U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

To find contact information for your members of Congress (phone, fax number, online message form, mailing addresses for district and D.C. offices ) visit these websites:

3 – Ask your friends and family members to contact their Senators, too.

Send them the link to this page – https://bit.ly/2NppO6F

4 – Spread the word – Post messages to social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Tweet your Senators  (click here to find Twitter handles). Here’s a sample Tweet:

.@(Senator’s Twitter Handle)  We have to be better than this. #FamiliesBelongTogether #ReuniteFamiliesNow #EndFamilySeparation #EndFamilyDetention #KeepFamiliesTogether

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What You Should Know

For more information, see the UUSJ sample message for a letter to members of Congress and talking points.

On June 20, President Trump signed an Executive Order that directed the Homeland Security Department to “maintain custody of alien families” while their cases move through the immigration system, “to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations.” The Executive Order did NOT end the “zero-tolerance” policy or address how and when children will be reunited with their families.

In response to heated public anger about the Administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy and the forcible separation of children from their parents at the border, newly-proposed bills narrowly focusing on extending family detention are gaining bipartisan momentum in the House and the Senate. These bills (see below) would allow for children to be detained indefinitely with their parents. Currently, children cannot be kept in detention for more than 20 days. Congress should uphold that standard; passing legislation that undermines protections for children is no solution.

The Administration does not need Congress to pass legislation for the administration to stop family separation. Congress should push the administration to end its zero-tolerance prosecution policy and return discretion to protect asylum seekers, especially young children, from being harmfully detained.

Non-restrictive, community-based alternatives to detention are the most appropriate response for families, children, and asylum seekers. The Administration should utilize these options rather than expanding family detention. See explanation of alternatives here.

S. 3093 (see below) and possibly other bills would allow for children to be detained indefinitely with their parents. Currently, children cannot be kept in detention for more than 20 days. Congress should uphold that standard; passing legislation that undermines protections for children is no solution.

There are two competing bills in the Senate both not likely to move.

  • S. 3093 Keep Families Together and Enforce the Law Act is a Republican sponsored bill – Sen. Tillis (R-NC).
  • S. 3036 Keep Families Together Act is a Democrat sponsored bill – sponsor Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) to stop separating families.
  • H.R.6135 Companion bill to S. 3026 Keep Families Together Act – sponsor Rep. Nadler (D-NY-10)

Rep. Pocan (D-WI-2) was quoted in Politico to say “In the House there is discussion about ending ICE within six months and create a commission to further examine the country’s immigration policies.”

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Our UU Spiritual Grounding

UUs have passed a Statement of Conscience, Immigration as a Moral Issue (2013), and two Actions of Immediate Witness, End Immigrant Child and Family Detention Now (2015), End Family Separation and Detention of Asylum Seekers and Abolish ICE (2018) that are directly relevant to this issue.

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Resources and Relevant News Media Coverage Links

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