National Day of Action on June 30: #FamiliesBelongTogether

Join one of the more than 400 events scheduled on June 30 to demand an end to President Trump’s cruel and inhumane policy of jailing families for months, even years, and for families to be reunited. We must keep families together in an environment where children can be free and thrive.

The Trump administration admitted that it had separated 1,995 immigrant children from their parents over a recent six-week time period, from April 18 to May 31. This means that on average, 45 children are being taken away from their parents per day. This is the result of Trump’s new “zero tolerance” policy, a policy that requires criminal prosecution of all adults who cross into the U.S. without authorization.  According to media reports, half of the detained children are under age 12. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary confessed that DHS was unable to account for the location of these children, making reunification with their parents impossible.

On June 20, President Trump bowed to public pressure and outrage at his cruel treatment of immigrant children and families by issuing an Executive Order that retracts his inhumane policy of separating immigrant children from their parents.  But Trump’s Executive Order still requires children to remain in jail, even though now they will be locked up with their families, in violation of the Flores Settlement Agreement. Read more about the Executive Order here.

President Trump's executive order is not a solution to the manufactured crisis he created at the border. Parents and children will continue to be treated like criminals and jailed indefinitely when they reach the border seeking asylum. This is inhumane and not the solution that Americans want. And this is not what we mean when we say #FamiliesBelongTogether.

Message Guidance: Family Separation and Trump’s Executive Order

• Don’t be fooled by President Trump’s executive order. It does nothing to solve the manufactured humanitarian crisis at the border created by President Trump and his administration.  It still calls for children and families to be treated like criminals and locked up for extended periods of time causing irreparable psychological harm.

• Detaining and keeping parents and children in prison — indefinitely — is inhumane and not the solution that Americans want.

• Children and their families belong together in safe communities and not in former Walmarts, military bases, or other government locations not suited for families and that make legal representation for families applying for asylum more difficult.

• The Executive Order does not address the more than 2,000 children that were separated from their families some of whom, reportedly, are now missing. Some parents have been deported while their children remain in shelters in the U.S. and no instructions were provided on how parents can locate their children, or what mechanisms will be established to assist in the reunification of children and parents.

• Families seeking safety in our country need protection and opportunity, not detention. Many of the families who show up at our border are fleeing persecution in their home countries and seeking safety in the U.S. They come here to protect their families from unimaginable life-threatening situations.

• Our demands to protect children and immigrant families are clear:
  - Permanently end the "zero tolerance" policy of criminalizing everyone who crosses the border at other than points of entry, including families with children and asylum applicants;
  - Permanently end the immoral and inhumane policy that separates families and jails children; incarcerating innocent children causes permanent psychological damage even if their parents are also being jailed.
  - We continue to demand a real path to citizenship for millions of immigrants, including DREAMers and people with Temporary Protected Status (TPS).  We need real immigration reform for long-term change, not just efforts to stop the appalling problems this administration has created.

Join us on June 30 to send a clear message to Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress: Families Belong Together! The action will be centered in Washington, D.C., with echo actions around the country. 

More information:

• For more information including a list of echo events visit iAmerica.org/June30
• If your Local is interested in hosting an echo action, please contact Marta.Ramirez@seiu.org.
• Visit the Family Separation Toolkit - June 2018 for talking points, social media guidance including graphics. Please check back for additional materials.
• Trump has bowed to public pressure
• AFT protests Trump policies at UN Headquarters
• World Refugee Day: Rich countries must take their share of responsibility