Resistance needed: Trump and Republicans are trying to build more family prisons

Add caption

The petition to Congress reads: "Immigrant families belong together and free. Block any bill that gives Trump the power to imprison immigrant families indefinitely and build more family prisons, including the FAMILIES Act (S. 3478)." Add your name:

Reports of stomach-churning child abuse in detention centers should compel any lawmaker with a conscience to stop Donald Trump's xenophobic attacks, but Republican extremist Sen. Ron Johnson just introduced legislation that would push the United States over the cliff of cruelty.1 The FAMILIES Act would add more family prisons to Trump's deportation and mass incarceration machine and worsen the crisis of corruption and abuse at the border. Democrats and Republicans of good conscience need to do everything they can to block this bill. Tell Congress: No more Trump internment camps. Block legislation that would expand family prisons. Click here to sign the petition. Sen. Johnson introduced this cruel bill just as news broke that the Trump administration lost track of nearly 1,500 immigrant children it placed in detention facilities and foster care this year.2 This latest horrifying development is yet another example of how Trump's extreme anti-immigrant policies are made worse by his administration's incompetence. The ineptitude of Trump's ICE, CBP and DOJ was on full display this week. At a Senate hearing on Trump's latest proposal to nullify the Flores decree, a settlement that puts time limits on imprisoning children, Trump officials dodged fundamental questions and failed to defend the administration's push to expand family and child detention. ICE officials said that they didn't even bother to read warnings from agency doctors about the trauma detention inflicts on children.3 ICE's chief of arrests and deportations compared family prisons to "summer camps," again.4 Jeff Sessions' acting deputy assistant attorney general refused to comment on whether child abuse at detention centers would count as federal crime.5 These officials are either willfully ignorant Trump loyalists or completely incompetent. Either way, Congress should be putting checks on ICE and CBP, not empowering them to do more harm. Sen. Johnson's bill would allow Trump and Republicans to build more family prisons, make family detention mandatory and waive the polygraph requirement for many border patrol applicants, opening the door for more corruption and abuse. We must join together now to keep the pressure on Congress and demand that it reject any bill that would give Trump the power to imprison more immigrant families indefinitely. Will you add your name now? Tell Congress: No more Trump internment camps. Block legislation that would expand family prisons. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/stop_family_detention?t=7&akid=30124%2E3130208%2EM3KW1u - Nicole Regalado, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Sen. Ron Johnson, "S.3478," introduced Sept. 18, 2018. Ron Nixon, "U.S. Loses Track of Another 1,500 Migrant Children, Investigators Find," The New York Times, Sept. 18, 2018. Amanda Michelle Gomez, "Trump officials claim they are unaware of health risks associated with child detention," ThinkProgress, Sept. 18, 2018. Tal Kopan, "ICE official stands by comparing detention centers to 'summer camp,' won't say if he'd send his kids to one," CNN, Sept. 18, 2018. Ibid.

Tell Congress stop privatizing incarceration of immigrant families and asylum seekers

Privatized detention and incarceration centers are hell on earth--and they are big business for private companies. Ending private detention is a way to start ending detention - period.

Between 2014 and 2018, the Office of Refugee Resettlement paid private companies $3.4 billion to house migrant children. Further, 44 percent of those companies face serious, well documented reports and allegations of child maltreatment.

In these centers children suffer from:

• Forced administration of psychotropic drugs
• Jail-like conditions with armed officers
• Physical abuse, sexual abuse and even death

Sign this petition to demand Congress end privatizing detention and incarceration now!

Another $2 billion is spent on adults facilities--more of which are being built to support Trump’s white nationalist immigration policy. These privatized detention centers are big money makers for the industry. And Trump has benefited from these industries, receiving monetary donations from industry CEOs. This is sickening and must end now.

 
Sign this petition to demand that Congress stop privatizing detention and incarceration centers that abuse thousands of immigrant children and families!

Message to Congress:

We demand that you end privatization of detention and incarceration of immigrant families and asylum seekers. These private contracts have led to documented cases of physical, psychological, and sexual abuses of children and families. Children have died in these facilities. End the suffering and injustices of these cruel companies. Stop privatizing detention of immigrant families now.

Participating Partners:

• Brave New Films
• CHIRLA
• Courage Campaign
• Daily Kos
• Franciscan Action Network
• People Demanding Action
• People's Action
• PFAW (People For the American Way)
• Progress America
• Rashida Tlaib for Congress
• United We Dream