#justiceOPportunity Thursday—December 17, 2020

Call Congress to Stop ICE from Deporting Detained Children

Over 20 black and brown families with young children who are incarcerated by ICE at the Berks and Dilley family prisons are in imminent danger of being deported as early as TODAY. A federal court in Washington D.C. lifted the stay of removal that had been protecting these families from being deported.

We need your help! PLEASE CALL these members of Congress to ask them to take urgent action to stop these deportations. We are asking these chairs of House committees with oversight over the immigration agencies to demand that the federal government grant these families a fair review of their asylum claims.

PLEASE CALL THESE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TODAY:

• Representative Nadler – (202) 225-5635
• Representative Lofgren – (202) 225-3072
• Representative Thompson – (202) 225-5876

CALL SCRIPT: “I am calling the Representative to ask that they urgently intervene on behalf of immigrant children and their parents who ICE is planning to deport to their deaths as early as today.

A group of over 20 children, including toddlers and teenagers, have been detained by ICE in family prisons in Texas and Pennsylvania for as long as a year and a half. These children may be deported as early as TODAY, and their lives are in danger. We are asking that the Representative contact Jennifer Higgins, Associate Director for the Refugee, Asylum and International Operations Directorate to demand that the families’ asylum applications be fairly adjudicated under the law. At a time when the Trump administration is escalating its cruel policies towards immigrants before the end of the current administration, I’m calling on the Representative to step forward and stop this atrocity.”

These families were denied the right to seek asylum under Trump administration policies that federal courts have since ruled were unlawful. ICE plans to deport these children to face death or torture in their home country. These families, who are from Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, Honduras, El Salvador, and Ecuador, have been locked up in unsafe conditions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The government should correctly apply federal law to allow the families to have their asylum claims heard. The Shut Down Berks Coalition and a coalition of national organizations are requesting urgent Congressional intervention to stop the deportations.  

Thank you for your support for immigrant families and children!