Sign Now: Demand Journalists Be Given Immediate Access to Detention Centers

Journalist Emilio Gutierrez-Soto, right, and his son Oscar during an interview with CBC's Adrienne Arsenault at the El Paso Processing Centre, a U.S. immigration detention facility

Over the past year, immigrant and civil rights groups have witnessed a dramatic increase of immigration enforcement and detention due to the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy along the border. This includes the practice of family separation, a policy that has left hundreds of children in child detention centers across the country.

Shelters that were at 30 percent capacity one year ago are now at 90 percent.[1]

According to a Health and Human Services official from the Obama administration:

“The closer they get to 100 percent, the less ability they will have to address anything unforeseen. Even if there’s not a sudden influx, they will be running out of capacity soon unless something changes.”

Thanks to dogged reporting by journalists along our southern border, we learned earlier this year about children and families being separated at the border. But that reporting was mainly from outside the detention centers, because the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement routinely denies or limits journalists access to child detention centers, arguing that they need to protect the privacy of children. But professional journalists are capable of reporting on children responsibly, and the government could easily negotiate with them on ways to do so.

Demand that journalists have access to detention centers so that the American people and the world can see the permanent harm the Trump administration’s policies are having on children and families in the name of our government.

Sign the petition today!

These shelters are not the solution but in order to hold the government accountable we need to have access to them.

- Daily Kos

Click here to send the following message.  (Add a personal comment for more impact. )

PETITIONING

Office of Refugee Resettlement

Our Message to Office of Refugee Resettlement:

Since May of 2017, the number of migrant children in custody has jumped from 2,400 to 12,800 as of September. The administration’s recent investment in “tent cities,” which provide harsh living conditions for children, is horrifying and unacceptable. The Office of Refugee Resettlement routinely denies or limits journalists access to child detention centers, arguing the need to protect the privacy of children. But professional journalists are capable of reporting on children responsibly. We demand that journalists be given immediate increased access to detention centers―to honor our constitutional right of freedom of the press and to ensure government transparency and accountability. Only through our free press will we begin to understand and be able to address the humanitarian crisis at our southern border.

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

Tell Congress: Pass the HELP for Separated Children Act

Donald Trump's cruel administration has reached a new low. Immigration enforcement agents have been ripping children away from their parents at the border and locking them up in literal cages.1 Now, reports of rampant child abuse in detention facilities are rising and one immigrant parent even committed suicide. 2,3 We need to put a stop to this barbaric practice now.

Sen. Tina Smith and Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard have introduced legislation that would protect the rights of children and families in detention. Add your name now to demand that Congress advance this bill.

Tell Congress: Pass the HELP for Separated Children Act.

Progressive champion Rep. Pramila Jayapal just met with more than 100 immigrant women from countries like Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Eritrea who were recently apprehended by immigration agents at the U.S./Mexico border. More than half of the women she met had their children – as young as 12 months – ripped from their arms by federal agents.4 Rep. Jayapal reported:

"Some of them heard their children screaming for them in the next room. Not a single one of them had been allowed to say goodbye or explain to them what was happening.”5

Sen. Jeff Merkley, another progressive champion, visited a border processing facility in Texas where he saw children locked up in cages.6 These conditions are inhumane and completely unacceptable but the racist bigots in the White House and Department of Justice disagree.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has not only publicly defended the Trump regime's cruel family separation policy, but also supercharged this crisis with his unprecedented decision to criminally charge all undocumented immigrants at the border. We cannot sit by while Sessions and Trump throw more immigrants behind bars and try to normalize state sanctioned abuse of vulnerable children and families on American soil.

Congress needs to fight back by passing policies like the HELP for Separated Children Act now. This bill would:7,8

• Give parents the ability to make arrangements for their children to be cared for by another family member or caregiver while they are in detention.
• Permit detained parents to participate in the family court system.
• Allow parents and children to visit and contact each other in detention.
• Ensure that children are not present during immigration interrogations.

This is a pivotal moment in our nation's history. Whether Congress stands up to Trump's fascist regime and passes measures to protect the human rights of immigrant children and families or allows it to terrorize and abuse them is up to us. Speak out now to demand that Democrats and Republicans of good conscience do the right thing.

Tell Congress: Pass the HELP for Separated Children Act.

The petition to Congress reads:

"No child should be ripped from their parents arms. Pass the Humane Enforcement and Legal Protection for Separated Children Act now to protect the human rights of immigrant children and families in detention."

Thanks for speaking out to protect immigrant children and families.

References:

1. Kate Riga, "Merkley: Migrant Kids Are Kept In Cages On Concrete Floor At TX Border Station," 
Talking Points Memo, June 4, 2018.
2. Jeffery C. Mays and Matt Stevens, "Honduran Man Kills Himself After Being Separated
From Family at U.S. Border, Reports Say," The New York Times, June 10, 2018.
3. Ryan Devereaux, "1,358 Children and Counting – Trump's 'Zero-Tolerance' Border Policy
is Separating Families at Staggering Rates," The Intercept, June 8, 2018.
4. Amy B. Wang, "'Mothers could not stop crying’: Lawmaker blasts Trump policy
after visiting detained immigrants," The Washington Post, June 10, 2018.
5. Ibid.
6. Joan Walsh, "What Senator Jeff Merkley Saw at an Immigrant Detention Center for Children,"
The Nation, June 6, 2018.
7. Ella Nilsen, "Democrats are trying to stop Trump from separating families at the border,"
Vox, June 8, 2018.
8. Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, "Press Release: Rep. Roybal-Allard and Sen. Smith
Reintroduce Bill to Protect Safety of Minor Children Left Alone When Parents Are Arrested
or Detained by U.S. Immigration Officials," May 23, 2018

Tell border state U.S. attorneys: Defend the Constitution. Stop enforcing zero-tolerance

The petition to southern border state U.S. attorneys reads: "Donald Trump's zero-tolerance immigration policy is cruel and inhumane. It's causing chaos at the border and undermining basic constitutional rights. Refuse to enforce this racist policy and stop prosecuting immigrants without due process." Add your name: The fight to end Donald Trump's war on immigrants is a fight to protect our democracy. When Donald Trump's zero-tolerance immigration policy went into effect, many federal courts in border states began enforcing it by conducting mass immigration trials. In Texas, federal courts are prosecuting up to 70 immigrants at once, making it impossible for defense attorneys to speak to each immigrant, let alone gather evidence and properly represent them in court.1 This violates immigrants' basic constitutional rights to due process and effective legal representation. U.S. attorneys can and should use their discretion to safeguard constitutional rights instead of following racist directives that undermine them. Speak out now to demand that all border state U.S. attorneys refuse to prosecute immigrants without due process and stop enforcing Trump's zero-tolerance immigration policy. Tell border state U.S. attorneys: Defend the Constitution. Stop enforcing zero-tolerance. Click here to sign the petition. Trump and Jeff Sessions' zero-tolerance policy criminalizes every undocumented immigrant – including asylum seekers – and gives DHS and CBP the power to separate and lock up immigrant families. Border enforcement already ripped an estimated 2,700 children from their families and imprisoned them in cages.2 Massive public pressure forced Trump to address this cruel policy, but his latest executive order created another crisis. Instead of decriminalizing and reuniting immigrant families, Trump expanded family detention. Now, DHS has the power to imprison immigrant families indefinitely.3 That is unacceptable. The Trump regime is treating immigrants like enemies of the state when in fact, the most dangerous threats to our democracy are occupying the Oval Office and leading the Department of Justice. Trump and Sessions' zero-tolerance policy allows Trump's cruel regime to undermine basic constitutional rights so it can tear apart and lock up any community whose presence in the United States threatens the white supremacy at the core of the administration's agenda. U.S. attorneys have the power to stop this attack on immigrants and our Constitution by simply not complying. We need to make sure they use it. Early this week, I joined hundreds of activists from across the country in San Diego, California to expose and publicly condemn U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman for collaborating with Trump's hateful regime and demand that he protect the constitutional rights of immigrants at the border.4 Now, we must keep the pressure on all border state U.S. attorneys and demand that they stop enforcing Trump's racist directives immediately. Tell border state U.S. attorneys: Defend the Constitution. Stop enforcing zero-tolerance. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/usattorneys_resisttrump?t=7&akid=29177%2E3130208%2EUtX33B - Nicole Regalado, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Lindsay Van Dyke and Roberto Daza, "The U.S. is conducting mass immigration trials at the border. Here's what it's like," VICE, June 12, 2018. Dara Lind, "The Trump administration’s separation of families at the border, explained," Vox, June 15, 2018. CBS News, "Trump administration calls for expanded use of immigrant family detention," June 23, 2018. Kate Morrissey, "Protesters blockade federal courthouse, drape banner from hotel; 10 arrested," The San Diego Union-Tribune, July 2, 2018.

Tell Fidelity and Vanguard: Stop funding Trump's immigrant prisons

Petition to Fidelity and Vanguard: "Stop funding and legitimizing Trump's heartless incarceration of migrants by immediately divesting from private-prison companies CoreCivic and GEO Group." Add your name:

Are your hard-earned savings funding detention centers for immigrant families? Fidelity and Vanguard are two of the biggest funds managing retirement savings and pension holding. Huge numbers of Americans have savings with Vanguard and Fidelity – possibly including you, or someone you know. Fidelity and Vanguard are also majors holders of shares in CoreCivic which, along with GEO Group, is building private prisons for Trump's racist and cruel immigration policy.1 Tell Fidelity and Vanguard: Stop funding Trump's immigrant prisons. Click here to sign the petition. Funds like Vanguard and Fidelity manage so much money that they can have an outsized influence over corporate policies and practices. But because they rely on individual savings, they are also susceptible to mass public pressure. Vanguard and Fidelity together own 20 percent of shares in CoreCivic, and stakes in GEO Group as well. CoreCivic and GEO Group are private-prison companies that have built many of the detention centers that house families and parents whose children Trump's goons tore away from them. Sixty percent of Trump's incarcerated immigrants are held in private prisons built by companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group.2 Instead of decriminalizing and reuniting immigrant families, Trump's recent executive order replaced ripping families apart with indefinitely jailing them. Meanwhile incarcerated parents still search desperately for their children and countless kids are missing due to the Trump administration's heartless neglect.3 The ugly truth is there are many people getting rich off of Trump's crusade to terrorize immigrant families, and we need to make doing so absolutely toxic.4 That starts with calling out the mainstream funds – like Fidelity and Vanguard – that are providing funding and financial legitimacy to Trump's unconscionable policies. We need to raise the stakes and convince Fidelity and Vanguard to drop investments in private-prison companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group. Tell Fidelity and Vanguard: Stop funding Trump's immigrant prisons. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/fidelity_vanguard_immigration?t=7&akid=29131%2E3130208%2E6AV3rP - Heidi Hess, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Gin Armstrong, Molly Gott and Derek Seidman, "Who is Profiting from Incarcerating Immigrant Families?" Eyes on the Ties, June 21, 2018. Ibid. Dara Lind and Dylan Scott, "Flores agreement: Trump’s executive order to end family separation might run afoul of a 1997 court ruling," Vox, June 20, 2018. Sarah Toy, "These companies are expected to profit from Trump’s continued ‘zero-tolerance’ policy at the border," MarketWatch, June 25, 2018.