Tell Alex Azar and Kirstjen Nielsen: Let the children go. Stop sharing sponsor data with ICE

The petition to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen reads: "Stop helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement target and detain immigrants who apply to sponsor children in detention. End data sharing between the Office of Refugee Resettlement and ICE." Add your name:

Some believe that the greatness of a nation is determined by how it treats its children. By this measure, the United States is failing. There are still more than 14,000 immigrant children in DHS custody, and instead of placing them with willing sponsors, the Office of Refugee Resettlement is making sure many of them stay behind bars. Over the summer, HHS Secretary Alex Azar and DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen enacted a data-sharing agreement that weaponized ORR.1 ORR now shares the biometric and background check data of any person who applies to sponsor a child with ICE, preventing many family members from stepping forward for fear of being hunted down and detained by Trump's deportation force. Sens. Gillibrand, Hirono, Booker, Merkley, Feinstein and Blumenthal are calling on Azar and Nielsen to end this cruel policy. Add your name now to help turn up the pressure. Tell Alex Azar and Kirstjen Nielsen: Let the children go. Stop sharing sponsor data with ICE. Click here to sign the petition. At the height of the family separation crisis over the summer, Azar enacted an ORR policy that forced potential immigrant sponsors and everyone in their household to go through an extreme vetting process and then shared the data it collected with ICE. As a result, ORR is now an extension of Trump's deportation force. Thousands of refugee children locked up in inhumane detention facilities are serving longer sentences because many people are too afraid to sponsor them. The average stay in detention for unaccompanied minors increased from 40 days in 2016 to 59 days in 2018.2 The total number of children DHS and ORR are detaining at once is at an all-time high.3 The effects of detention on children are devastating. The trauma of being ripped from family members and forced to live in overcrowded camps and prisons can have debilitating lifelong effects on a child's health and well-being. HHS says its focus is the health, safety and best interest of the child. Yet, the nation watched in horror as thousands of children suffered in isolation and inhumane conditions in the tent camps of Tornillo, Texas, without adequate access to legal services. ORR recently announced a minor change to its vetting policy, eliminating the requirement that household members of sponsors be fully vetted before a child is reunited with a parent or loved one.4 That is not enough. As long as ICE remains at the center of ORR’s reunification process, children will be in harm’s way. Add your name now to help us and our friends at the National Immigrant Justice Center shine a bright light on the dangerous collaboration between ORR and ICE, and demand that Azar and Nielsen end it now. Tell Alex Azar and Kirstjen Nielsen: Let the children go. Stop sharing sponsor data with ICE. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/children_orr_ice?t=7&akid=31033%2E3130208%2EVrHzN_ Nicole Regalado, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Victoria Bekiempis, "Refugee agency accused of helping deport relatives of migrant children," The Guardian, Nov. 28, 2018. Colleen Long, "The Trump Administration Reverses Its Policy on Migrant Children's Sponsors," TIME, Dec. 19, 2018. Ibid. Miriam Jordan, "Thousands of Migrant Children Could Be Released After Sponsor Policy Change," The New York Times, Dec. 18, 2018.

Tell Congress: Stop letting Big Pharma rip off Americans

Rep. Ro Khanna's and Sen. Bernie Sanders' bill would force pharmaceutical companies to reduce their prices or lose their lucrative monopolies.

Petition to Congress: "Support the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act, which would stop Big Pharma from ripping off the American people and lower drug prices by more than 40 percent." Add your name:

Big Pharma knows it can count on Donald Trump to make noise about drug prices but stay loyal to pharmaceutical companies. After all, Trump appointed Alex Azar, whose company tripled the price of insulin and faces an investigation, as head of the Department of Health and Human Services.1 But the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has real plans to crack down on Big Pharma. At the top of the list is a new bill from Rep. Ro Khanna and Sen. Bernie Sanders that would force pharmaceutical companies to reduce their prices or lose their lucrative monopolies.2 We need to show how many Americans support bold action against Big Pharma by getting behind this progressive proposal in a big way. Tell Congress: Stop letting Big Pharma rip off Americans. Click here to sign the petition. America, unlike most other countries, allows Big Pharma to set its own prices, hold exclusive patents with no limit and corner the market on a particular drug and jack up the price.3 So far in 2018, for every one cut in pharmaceutical prices, there were 96 drug price hikes. Pfizer already announced it will jack up prices on 41 more drugs in 2019. Meanwhile, 1 in 5 Americans cannot afford the medicine they need.4 No more. That's why we are standing with our friends at Social Security Works to support the big, bold, progressive Khanna-Sanders plan. The Khanna and Sanders bill is simple. It says that Big Pharma must sell medicine for the same price or cheaper in the United States than it does in countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada and Japan. If companies don't, the government will take away their monopoly – allowing other companies to produce cheaper, generic versions of the exact same drug.5 Almost every politician claims to want to do something about skyrocketing drug prices. Now we have a progressive plan that could lower prices by more than 40 percent across the board.6 Members of Congress must choose between Big Pharma's deep pockets and the American people's health. Tell Congress: Stop letting Big Pharma rip off Americans. Click here to sign the petition. One recent study found that taxpayer funding helped develop every single one of the 210 new FDA-approved medicines between 2010 and 2016. We are investing in new cures while Big Pharma spends more on advertising than research and development and ridiculously claims that companies need obscene profits to fund new cures.7 Big Pharma cannot keep charging Americans more for the same drugs – and members of Congress must take a clear stand to stop it. Tell Congress: Stop letting Big Pharma rip off Americans. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/sanders_khanna_big_pharma?t=8&akid=30787%2E3130208%2EnM-cm7 - Josh Nelson,CREDO Action Add your name: References: Alex Lawson, "Sanders and Khanna have a plan to lower your drug prices," The Hill, Nov. 18, 2018. Sen. Bernie Sanders, "Sanders, Khanna to Introduce Legislation to Drastically Lower Prescription Drug Prices," Nov. 20, 2018. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Zach Carter, "Bernie Sanders And Ro Khanna Have A New Plan To Tackle Prescription Drug Rip-Offs," HuffPost, Nov. 19, 2018.