Hi Sarah,

Our hearts broke when we saw pictures of migrant kids sitting in cages under President Trump. Now those cages are starting to fill up again. 😡

Street gangs, assault, grinding poverty — these are conditions that kids are fleeing in South America. Imagine how bad things would have to be to send your child on a dangerous journey of hundreds of thousands of miles. These kids need care and safety, not cages.

Yet when they reach the U.S. border, they’re being imprisoned in the same inhumane Border Patrol facilities from the Trump administration. Hundreds are even detained past the legal limit of 72 hours.

Even one detained child is one too many! Our immigration system should prioritize keeping kids safe and healthy.

This influx is actually happening in part because the Biden administration lifted restrictions on asylum-seekers — that’s a GOOD thing. But it shouldn’t mean kids end up spending traumatizing weeks or months in jail.

There are safer alternatives — like working with local communities to place kids with foster homes while they wait to be connected with their own family members.

Instead, the administration is considering reopening a notorious immigrant child detention center to deal with the bottleneck. 🥺

Child detention centers like the one in Homestead, Florida are run by for-profit companies and not licensed by the state. That center was even shut down in 2019 after reports of child sexual abuse and other unsafe conditions.

Our government can and must do better.

Thanks,

Nani