AMERICAN CHRISTIANS, MUSLIMS AND JUDAISM FUNDAMENTALISTS AND IMMIGRANT CHILDREN

Shame on them for supporting a system that is jailing children for no other reason, but being poor...

Dear Move On member,

I'm U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, and I believe that in America, we must never intentionally inflict trauma on children.

And that's why I'm writing to you today.

At a Border Patrol processing center in McAllen, TX, I witnessed something that is now seared into my mind: A large warehouse facility with cells constructed of fence posts and chain link fencing—like dog kennels or large cages.

But the style of construction isn't the issue. What is the issue is that in that facility U.S. agents are tasked with taking the children out of their parents' arms and putting them into cells with other children—with neither the children nor the parents knowing if they will ever see each other again.

Imagine a family that is persecuted abroad for its religion or political engagement, or a family targeted by a vicious drug gang. The family escapes to the United States, surviving harrowing experiences en route. Finally, they arrive to the shores of the United States, knowing that the U.S. has time and again treated families fleeing persecution with respect because so many Americans have a parent, grandparent, or ancestor that arrived to the U.S. fleeing persecution.

But instead, the Border Patrol—under a new plan concocted by Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump, and John Kelly—arrest the asylum seekers as criminals and proceed to take the screaming children from the arms of their protesting parents.

Let me state the obvious: This is wrong. Terribly wrong. Ripping the children away from their parents induces enormous anxiety for the parents. Where are their children going? Will they ever see them again? Who will care for them?

But even worse, this inflicts enormous trauma on the children. In a strange new land with a new language, the only security the children have is to be with their parents. Experts tell us (not that we need experts to tell us) that this is causing huge emotional trauma.

Harming children for any reason, including for the purpose of discouraging persecuted families from seeking asylum, is evil.