We All Need to Fight to End the Separation of Immigrant Families

We All Need to Fight to End the Separation of Immigrant Families

We All Need to Fight to End the Separation of Immigrant Families

In just five weeks, federal immigration authorities separated more than 2,300 children from their parents.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

In just five weeks, federal immigration authorities separated more than 2,300 children from their parents as part of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy. Toddlers have been ripped from their parents’ arms, kids are being kept in cages, and parents who traveled thousands of miles to find safety are left not knowing how they will be reunited with their children.

This week’s Take Action Now focuses on what you can do to join the fight against this inhumane policy. Take Action Now gives you three meaningful actions you can take each week, whatever your schedule. Sign up here to get actions like these in your inbox every Tuesday.

NO TIME TO SPARE?

One of the most direct ways to help is to give to local organizations that are providing legal representation and other resources for separated and detained families. A few at the border are the Florence Project, La Unión del Pueblo Entero, RAICES and the Texas Civil Rights Project. It’s also crucially important to support local, immigrant-led organizations in your area that are fighting the separation of families both at the border and through detention and deportation across the country. You can find many of them here and here.

GOT SOME TIME?

The Trump administration could end the separation of families at the border immediately. Instead, the president has boasted about using traumatized children as leverage in his quest to pass draconian anti-immigrant legislation—and Congress is planning to vote on two such bills this week. Call Congress at (202) 224-3121 and demand that they reject any legislation that threatens to ramp up enforcement and deportations, and that they instead fight to end family separation. You can find more information about the bills in Congress here, here, and here.

READY TO DIG IN?

In the coming weeks, there will be multiple opportunities to take to the streets or otherwise show up to demand an end to this horrific practice. The ACLU is calling for people across the country to head to Brownsville, Texas, on June 28 to protest at the border. Then on June 30, people will rally in Washington, DC and around the country. If you have even more time, you can sign up to volunteer either at the border itself (you can sign up with the Texas Civil Rights Project or RAICES) or by reaching out to an organization near you. There are more protests and volunteer opportunities every day so be sure to check out the hashtag #FamiliesBelongTogether to stay up-to-date.

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x