How to Actively Engage in the Fight for Immigration Justice
The recent whistle-blower report of mass hysterectomies and neglectful healthcare in ICE detention centers has once again caused the American public to perk up and pay attention to what is really going on at our southern border.
The report has yet to be confirmed or negated, although House Democrats have urged the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the claims immediately. So, it’s too early to fully emotionally react to the reports, but the fact that they are even within the realm of possibility — the fact that the report wasn’t all that shocking — is what disturbs me. I realized that my interest in what on earth is happening in ICE detention centers and at our border comes in waves, but hasn’t been consistent. This was the final straw.
I want to be an active advocate for the immigrant families and refugees in our country who are, without a doubt, being mistreated, even if the whistle-blower report is untrue. So I’ve decided to commit some time to learning. I’m committing to educate myself, donate, and engage in the conversation on an ongoing basis. And I’d love to share what I’ve found.
Educate
Federal agencies can be confusing and seemingly cryptic to the non-expert (like me.) It takes a bit of effort to understand who these agents are, what roles are involved, and what they do; not to mention, how changing laws and policies affect their responsibilities and practices.
So, who are the agencies responsible and what are their roles?
Although it’s probably the most notable acronym in the alphabet soup of immigration organizations, ICE is not actually separating families at the border. CBP, Customs Border Patrol, is responsible for that.
ICE has three sub-groups, one of which tracks down, arrests and deports undocumented immigrants. The other two groups pursue terrorists and defend the government in immigration cases in court. Under the Obama Administration, ICE was supposedly ordered to focus only on immigrants who were committing violent crimes, but President Trump enforced a “zero-tolerance policy” in 2018, demanding that ICE detain and deport any and all undocumented immigrants — this was the root of the uproar that spring regarding family separation. The policy’s strict enforcement punished immigrant children whose families had been in America seeking asylum by arresting the adults and detaining the children.
This was also the point at which conditions of ICE facilities began to be widely criticized. Descriptions like overcrowding, lack of sanitary products, and sexual abuse of children came to light.
Public scrutiny persuaded the President to put an end to the zero-tolerance policy and a judge ordered that all families be reunited within 30 days. Of course, that did not happen. After nine months, the government said it may take two years to identify the families and reconnect them. Meanwhile, CBP is continuing to separate families at the border today.
How children are especially vulnerable:
When Trump’s zero-tolerance policy came under effect, people who crossed the border would be criminally charged by the Department of Justice while the children would be sent miles away to an ICE detention center.
Although the family separation policy was overturned (in letter, but hardly in spirit), a new form of separation is looming. Due to the coronavirus, a federal judge is requiring ICE to release children in custody, but not their parents. Parents are then left with the impossible decision between keeping their child with them in an unsafe detention center, or releasing them to a sponsor. Immigration lawyer Bridget Cambria calls it “Family Separation 2.0.”
Additionally, once deported, there is a 10-year bar from reentering the United States. If a deportee can prove that a spouse or parent will be put in a position of hardship due to their absence, the 10-year bar can be exempted. But children do not apply. The hardship placed on children due to their parent’s absence counts for nothing.
There is so much more to know about the United States’ immigration policies, federal agencies, and practices. For more details, check out this timeline of family separation since 2017.
Being educated is always the first step to being an advocate. Take the time and start learning.
Donate
Here is a list of organizations on the ground helping immigrant families who accept donations:
Women’s Refugee Commission- supports displaced and refugee women and children.
Immigrant Families Together- a non-profit dedicated to reuniting families at the border by paying bonds, providing legal counsel, and giving resources like housing, transportation and clothing.
Project Corazon- a foundation sending volunteer lawyers and law students to represent detainees. Donations go toward travel expenses for these pro-bono attorneys.
The ACLU- the American Civil Liberties Union fights not only for detainees and refugees, but also finds itself in the center of nearly every civil liberties battle you could think of.
RAICES- a nonprofit in Texas providing legal assistance to immigrants and refugees.
Kids In Need Defense (KIND)- provides legal, psychological, and social services to children separated from their families.
Engage
Visit a detention center. Freedom for Immigrants has a visitation program to help combat isolation and psychological trauma for those in immigrant prisons and jails. You can find a location closest to you here.
Stay involved mentally. Keep this issue at top of mind. It’s so easy to disassociate. Don’t. Follow accounts like RAICES and the ACLU on social media — they share information and petitions regularly. Read updates from reputable news publications. Follow the bills that have been written as they make their way through the process of becoming law.
Call or email your senators. Ask them what they plan on doing to help fix the humanitarian crisis at the border.
Attorneys: do pro-bono work. To find a program with which to get involved, check out the list here.
As with every humanitarian injustice, there is so much learning and unlearning to do. This is a starting point. I’m ashamed to say that my concern for families at the border has ebbed and flowed with the news cycles. I want to commit myself to keeping this issue at front of mind. There comes a point at which we are complicit for the atrocities funded by our tax dollars. We must make sure we are engaged and taking responsibility for where those dollars end up — whom they help and whom they hurt. We must maintain a long, slow level of care, instead of a firework of righteous rage that burns out as quickly as it took flame.
People need us to care. We have to care.
