Today’s action is adapted from the folks at Texas Civil Rights Project: https://txcivilrights.org/act/congress-investigate-the-illegal-detention-of-children-and-asylum-seekers-at-secret-hotels/
According to reporting by the Associated Press, ICE is detaining children as young as one year old in hotels for weeks at a time before deporting them to their home countries, while using COVID-19 as an excuse to bypass asylum protections.
According to Leecia Welch, an attorney at the nonprofit National Center for Youth Law, “they’ve created a shadow system in which there’s no accountability for expelling very young children…There really aren’t enough words to describe what a disgraceful example of sacrificing children this is to advance heartless immigration policies.”
Today’s Action: Tell our Members of Congress to investigate and speak out against this shameful system
Contact your Representative:
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Rep. Pramila Jayapal: https://jayapal.house.gov/contact/
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Rep. Adam Smith: https://adamsmith.house.gov/contact
Contact both Senators:
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Sen. Maria Cantwell: https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact/email/form
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Sen. Patty Murray: https://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme
Sample script:
Hi – My name is {NAME}, and I live in {CITY, ZIP}. I have seen very disturbing reporting from the Associated Press that ICE is holding as many as thousands of children and asylum seekers in hotels used as off-book detention sites, and deporting them without giving their legal asylum rights.
1. Will {MEMBER OF CONGRESS} visit one of these hotel detention sites in order to help these detainees?
2. Will {MEMBER OF CONGRESS} investigate and call for DHS, either through letters or oversight hearings, to release key information about this illegal practice?
For more information, please search for an article entitled “Migrant kids held in US hotels, then expelled” on the AP News website.
Thanks,
{NAME}
Background
“AP Exclusive: Migrant kids held in US hotels, then expelled” – https://apnews.com/c9b671b206060f2e9654f0a4eaeb6388
