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The White House Just Announced a Plan to Reunite Separated Migrant Families


On Saturday evening, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services made a joint statement outlining a plan to reunite 2,000-plus migrant kids with their families after being separated at the border. Before now, the White House reportedly had no formal plan or protocol in place to reunite the families.

The announcement comes after days of backlash and public outcry regarding the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of criminally prosecuting all adults crossing into the U.S. illegally—including those seeking asylum. It also comes after a June 20 executive order to stop separating families, though it opens the door for a lot of questions about where families will be housed and for how long.

Before, those apprehended crossing the border were referred to an immigration judge after being held in immigration detention, writes Vox. Under Trump’s criminal prosecution policy, adults are sent to a federal jail and then brought before a federal judge—hence the separation, as you can’t have kids in a federal jail. Kids are sent instead to mass detention centers or foster care, sometimes thousands of miles away, sometimes without parents being informed where—or why—their children had been taken.

The DHS and DHHS’ joint statement states that the two departments “have a process established to ensure that family members know the location of their children and have regular communication after separation to ensure that those adults who are subject to removal are reunited with their children for the purposes of removal.” It also states that the government knows where each child is while separated from his or her parents.

“There will be a small number of children who were separated for reasons other than zero tolerance that will remain separated: generally only if the familial relationship cannot be confirmed, we believe the adult is a threat to the safety of the child, or the adult is a criminal alien,” the statement continues.

Once adults are slated for deportation—which, as The Cut points out, “can take anywhere from days to years”—they can try to find their child using an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement hotline that begins the process of reunification.

As of Friday, the statement says, only 522 children had been reunited with their parents.

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Here's How to Help Immigrant Families Who Have Been Separated at the Border


If you—like many people across the United States including all five living First Ladies—find yourself outraged by what is happening to children and families in our country’s border towns, you are probably looking for ways to help.

But first, you’ll want to know why this is happening in the first place. In April, the Trump administration instituted a “zero tolerance” immigration policy which they believe requires separating children from their parents because those parents have committed a crime. (There is much debate as seeking asylum in the U.S. is not illegal and trying to cross the border illegally for the first time is a misdemeanor.) On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that ended the separation of families, but indefinitely detains parents and children together, the New York Times reports.

You can find a full break down of the facts surrounding the policy, here. And while this list isn’t comprehensive, we have rounded up some ways you can still help families and children who are detained at the border.

Take a look:

Join in the Nationwide Protest on June 30.

A nationwide protest—organized by progressive groups like the National Domestic Workers Alliance and MoveOn—has just been announced for June 30.

The main #FamiliesBelongTogether rally will take place in Washington, D.C.’s Lafayette Square, but sister marches are being planned across the country. “We see the outrage, and we see that this has to be taken right to the White House, right to Donald Trump, to stop the family separations,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal told Chris Hayes on his show All In with Chris Hayes.

You can look for an event near you here.

Call Your Representatives.

As with any issue that is important to you, it is vital to let your elected representatives know where you, their constituent, stands. If your senator or congressperson has already expressed that they want to abolish this policy, you can still let them know that you appreciate their position. If they don’t, let them know what you believe needs to be done.

You can easily find the contact information for your reps by inputting your zip code here.

Volunteer.

If you’re an immigration lawyer, you can sign up via the Immigration Justice Campaign (https://www.immigrationjustice.us/home) to help represent the women and men with their bond hearings and other asylum representation needs.

The Texas Civil Rights Project is “looking for volunteers who speak Spanish, Mam, Q’eqchi’ or K’iche’ and have paralegal or legal assistant experience.”

Check out Act Blue where they’ve organized a number of other organizations looking for volunteers in one place.

Donate to One of These Organizations.

RAICES: The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services is a nonprofit that promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families and refugees in Central and South Texas.

ACLU: The American Civil Liberties Union is already litigating the separation policy in California and your money can help support them as they move forward.

The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights: Due to the current crisis and need for child advocates, the Center is raising funds for a new program called the Immigrant Child and Family Rights Project. Per their website, the program “will be staffed by two attorneys who will fight on behalf of individual children, advocate for systemic change to end the practice of family separation by the Department of Homeland Security, and for policies that better protect the rights of children and families.”

ActBlue: You can make a single donation here that will be dispersed to a number of organizations including Al Otro Lado, The Florence Project, and Innovation Law Lab.

The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project: The ASAP prevents wrongful deportations by providing community support and emergency legal aid to refugee families — no matter where they are located in the United States.

We will continue to update this list as new information becomes available.

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George and Amal Clooney Just Donated $100,000 to Help Migrant Children Separated From Their Parents


George and Amal Clooney are the latest celebrities to take a stand against the immigration crisis and child detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border: The couple just announced that their Clooney Foundation for Justice will donate $100,000 to the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, according to People.

The parents to 1-year-old twins Ella and Alexander said their own young children inspired them to act in defense of the families being separated at our borders.

“At some point in the future our children will ask us: ‘Is it true, did our country really take babies from their parents and put them in detention centers?’ And when we answer yes, they’ll ask us what we did about it. What we said. Where we stood,” the Clooneys said in a statement. “We can’t change this administration’s policy but we can help defend the victims of it.”

The Clooneys aren’t the first celebrities to step up in the wake of the separation of migrant families—a practice that has even been condemned by the pope. Last week when Chrissy Teigen and John Legend marked President Donald Trump’s 72nd birthday by donating $72,000 for each member of their family to the ACLU—which prompted more than 20,000 people to donate—they raised more than $1 million total.

And this is hardly the first time that the Clooneys have shown their support, both in action and donations, to critical causes: The power couple have previously taken a[Yazidi refugee into their home after he narrowly escaped ISIS, pledged $500,000 to the March for Our Lives following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and worked to combat hate groups in the U.S. and seek justice for refugees abroad through their foundation.

Additionally, Amal Clooney has spent her 16-year legal career specializing in international law and human rights.

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Couple Makes Facebook History by Raising $5 Million for Separated Immigrant Families


The Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy on immigration has drawn an outcry from people across the country, and many have wondered how to help families who have been separated at the border.

One couple—Charlotte and Dave Willner from the Bay Area—faced this same question before deciding to start a Facebook fundraiser to help immigrant and refugee families access legal services in Texas. Now, that campaign has collected more than $5 million, becoming the largest single fundraiser on Facebook in history.

According to the New York Times, the Willners were moved to action by an image of a baby crying as her mother was held at the border. They set a goal of raising $1,500 for the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or Raices, a nonprofit organization that provides low-cost legal defense to people from immigrant and refugee communities. Donations began pouring in and, at one point, NBC News reports that it was collecting $4,000 per minute.

“When we look at the faces of these children, we can’t help but see our own children’s faces,” Ms. Willner told The Mercury News, according to the Times.

Jonathan Ryan, the executive director of Raices, told the Times that the organization plans to hire and fund training for volunteer lawyers, who will join the ranks of the nonprofit’s 50 lawyers on staff. In addition to legal representation, the funds will also go toward paying bonds so that parents can be released from detention centers.

The Willner’s fundraiser is just one way to help families who have been separated at the border. You can also sign up to volunteer with Raices here, or support other organizations that provide legal aid, including Arizona’s Florence Project and Refugee Rights Project. The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights and Kids In Need Of Defense (KIND) work on the rights of children caught in immigration proceedings.

The organization ActBlue has also compiled a list of organizations here. Other ways of assisting including buying essentials, like baby wipes and soap, for children. Baby2Baby and KIND have set up a registry through Target here.

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Melania Trump 'Hates to See' Children Being Separated From Parents at Borders


In a rare statement on policy, Melania Trump has spoken out about the separation of immigrant children from their parents at borders. Trump’s communications director, Stephanie Grisham, told CNN today, June 17, that the first lady thinks the U.S. should “govern with heart” when it comes to immigration.

“Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” Grisham said in a statement to CNN. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”

This comes after a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told NPR on June 16 that an estimated 1,995 minors have been separated from their parents and guardians at the U.S. border between April 19 and the end of May. According to CNN, it’s part of a new administration policy that charges every adult caught crossing the border illegally with federal crimes. (Previous administrations typically referred those with children to immigration courts.)

Since the news broke, there has been a public debate about the policy and many have shared images and stories of the children caught in the middle. President Trump weighed in on the debate via Twitter, writing, “Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change! This is why we need more Republicans elected in November. Democrats are good at only three things, High Taxes, High Crime and Obstruction. Sad!”

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