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  • Home
  • The Latest
  • About
  • Get Informed
    • Families Belong Together
  • Take Action
    • Events
    • Register & Vote
    • #FamiliesBelongTogether
    • Share Your Story
  • Contact
  • Contribute
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Reunite Families Now. End Family Detention. End the Zero Tolerance Policy.

Seeking asylum is not a crime. 

International law prohibits the U.S. from turning away people who are escaping persecution in their country of origin. Federal laws and regulations further lay out the process by which a person, who fears being persecuted upon returning to their country origin, has the right to have an interview to establish the credibility of that fear. If the person is deemed to have a credible fear, then they can go about the process of applying for asylum.

To learn more, read this informative article from Vox.

The Problem

The Trump Administration has made it harder and harder for migrant families to seek asylum by by turning people away at Ports of Entry (a person has to physically step onto American soil to trigger the asylum process) and imposing a "zero tolerance" policy in which anyone who crosses the border, whether they are seeking asylum or not, are criminally prosecuted.

The Trump Administration is using this policy to say migrant children are unaccompanied. But what is really happening is that migrant children are being forcibly separated from their parents and/or relatives, who are detained and awaiting criminal trial for crossing the border. These kids themselves have been detained in facilities all over the United States, some of them thousands of miles away from their parents.

What the Experts Say:

“Forced separation disrupts the parent-child relationship and puts children at increased risk for both physical and mental illness…. And the psychological distress, anxiety, and depression associated with separation from a parent would follow the children well after the immediate period of separation—even after eventual reunification with a parent or other family.”

ACLU: Your Rights in the Border Zone

The Solution

These actions by the Trump Administration are deeply traumatizing and do not represent American family values. ​Join us in demanding that the Trump Administration reunite families, end family detention, and end the zero tolerance policy.
  • In the News
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In the news

MSNBC “All in with Chris Hayes Interview with Ai-jen Poo

Newsweek MASS PROTESTS PLANNED IN 30 CITIES OVER ‘INHUMANE’ SEPARATION OF FAMILIES AT BORDER

NBC News Trump migrant family separations protested as U.S. is accused of violating human rights

Al Jazeera Americans protest against 'inhumane' family separation policy

NPR Protesters Across The U.S. Decry Policy Of Separating Immigrant Families

Univision “Despierta America” Esta madre y su hija lloraron relatando el drama de 12 años separadas tras haber cruzado la frontera
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Telemundo Network Salen a las calles para exigir el fin de la separación de familias inmigrantes
MFAL is a group of engaged Mainers with eyes on Maine's Congressional Delegation:
Fighting to protect our Civil Liberties, Stand up against Hate & Resist
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Photo used under Creative Commons from karenandbrademerson