Families Belong Together

We as citizens of conscience are appalled and sickened by the deplorable and despicable actions of this administration towards the refugee children and their families. It is well documented that the human brain keeping development until we reach the age of 21 and traumatic events impair the brain’s functioning and can lead to permanent brain damage with high incidences of life ling depression and anxiety. There is nothing more traumatic than a child being separated from its parents.

Children are being kept in cages, there are multiple reports of sexual abuse (178 confirmed cases perpetrated by staff, 1,303 of peer on peer) and physical abuse compounding the trauma of being separated from their parents. Children are missing out on critical developmental opportunities for education and socialization.

Over 1,500 of the separated children are lost, this administration that separated the children from their families has no idea where these children are.

This administration was warned by experts in the field of childhood development that this policy of separating children from their families would cause great and irreparable harm to the children and yet this administration chose to promulgate this policy as a deterrent because of the harm it would cause. This is the very definition of evil.

We the undersigned, citizens in the United States of America, implore our government to do everything in its power to:

halt the separation of refugee children from any family member when they ask for asylum at our borders;

immediately reunite children currently being held in what amount to concentration camps with their families;

investigate all allegations of abuse on behalf of the children being held in said camps and detention centers and hold those accountable to the letter of the law and;

make preparations to ensure citizen oversight of the camps and detention centers immediately.