To: Kirstjen Nielsen, United States Secretary of Homeland Security
Tell DHS Secretary Nielsen: STOP the expansion of family detention at the U.S. border
Dear Secretary Nielsen,
I join Physicians for Human Rights in calling on you to end efforts to expand family detention through the dismantling of protections provided under the Flores v. Reno settlement.
PHR has previously called on you to immediately halt the separation of families at the U.S. -Mexico border and on your colleague Secretary Azar to reunite separated parents and children without delay. A permanent end to the family separation practice is no justification for jailing children indefinitely. The physical and mental health harms of detention have been proven time and again. Jailing children is cruel and inhumane – seeking to detain them indefinitely is unconscionable. The damage to these children caused by prolonged detention is likely to be irreparable. This course of action stands in contrast to the well-established alternatives to detention that spare children and families from harm.
We insist that you stop detaining children with their parents and that you desist from further seeking to subject children to prolonged detention. I urge you to respect the Constitutional protections of children in the Flores settlement and abide by the universal human rights principle of the best interests of the child.
Respectfully,
[First Name] [Last Name]
I join Physicians for Human Rights in calling on you to end efforts to expand family detention through the dismantling of protections provided under the Flores v. Reno settlement.
PHR has previously called on you to immediately halt the separation of families at the U.S. -Mexico border and on your colleague Secretary Azar to reunite separated parents and children without delay. A permanent end to the family separation practice is no justification for jailing children indefinitely. The physical and mental health harms of detention have been proven time and again. Jailing children is cruel and inhumane – seeking to detain them indefinitely is unconscionable. The damage to these children caused by prolonged detention is likely to be irreparable. This course of action stands in contrast to the well-established alternatives to detention that spare children and families from harm.
We insist that you stop detaining children with their parents and that you desist from further seeking to subject children to prolonged detention. I urge you to respect the Constitutional protections of children in the Flores settlement and abide by the universal human rights principle of the best interests of the child.
Respectfully,
[First Name] [Last Name]
Why is this important?
The evidence and the science that prove family detention and family separation have tangible negative short- and long-term health impacts on children is well-documented. Still, officials are willfully ignoring the research, and moving toward policies that further endanger the health and well-being of children and their asylum-seeking parents.