Join the outcry to halt their deportation using this toolkit

Presently there are 28 children, who are part of 23 families, in indefinite detention - during a pandemic. They come from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Haiti. Without immediate intervention, they could be deported as early as this Sunday.

In Dilley TX, there are 26 children, many who have been detained for nearly a year and a half, including toddlers and teenagers, at the South Texas Family Residential Center. In Berks, PA, there are two children who have been detained for more than eight months at the Berks County Residential Center.

These #28children have a stay of removal until November 21st. After November 22, 2020, absent intervention by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, these children may be deported. They will be sent back to danger if they are returned to their countries of origin.

In all of this time, none of these families have been allowed to request asylum in the United States in direct violation of federal and international law. They are Plaintiffs in more than five federal suits challenging their right to seek asylum, their right to be free from harm and the right to be free during a pandemic. In each case, a court has determined that the judicial system has no authority to help them. The reason is that Congress has vested that authority on themselves and no one else.

Instead of being able to pursue their right to asylum, these 28 children, together with their families, have spent the entire COVID-19 pandemic detained by ICE.  Two teenage girls who have been detained for 13 and 14 months in Dilley speak a searing truth: “We ask for the chance to have our right to seek asylum honored and the opportunity to be safe with our mothers.”

Amnesty International is urging people to sign this petition to demand that ICE free the children.

A coalition has come together to stop the deportation of these families by targeting Congress. Please join them in targeting folks on Twitter to drive awareness and try and stop their deportation. You can do 4 things to stop their deportation digitally:

Suggested Hashtags:

●      #SafetyForThe28

●      #28Children

●      #DefendFamilies

●      #DeathFlights

Target the following members of Congress:

Chair of the House Judiciary Committee: @RepJerryNadler

Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus: @KarenBassTweets

Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus: @JoaquinCastrotx

Acting Secretary of Home Security: Chad Wolf @DHS_Wolf

The Squad: @AOC @AyannaPressley @IlhanMN @RashidaTlaib

Appropriate tags on Instagram are: @RepJerryNadler, @repkarenbass, @joaquincastrotx, and @dhswolf. Plus the Squad: @AOC, @ayannapressley, @rashidatlaib, and @ilhanmn

photo credit: EA Worldview