Former Daily Kos staff writer Shaun King tweeted an early look at Saturday’s NY Daily News cover show below and it’s harsh. The image shows a toddler looking up at someone, with what appears to be terror in her eyes. The headline reads:
Callous. Soulless. Craven. Trump. Prez’s edict led to 2,000 children ripped from parents at border in just six weeks.
(This 2-year-old Honduran girl cries as her mother is detained at the Mexican border in McAllen, Texas.)
Here’s the cover and tweet.
My heart travels into the deepest depths of sorrow when I see photos like this—and imagine how many others we’re not seeing. What’s happening on our borders depicts cruelty on every level, perhaps at its worse. The kind of emotional pain and trauma these children are going through can be every bit as bad, and sometimes worse, than physical trauma.
If I could name only one atrocity committed by Trump and the Republican-led Congress to be chosen for them o suffer consequences, it would be this crime against humanity. Some of these children will never recover from the terror, and possibly never see their mother/parents/siblings again. To a child and a parent, that can be the worst possible thing to ever happen to them—and it could break them.
Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness lead to feeling overwhelmed, and it’s easy to want to shut down. One way to deal with such emotions is to become involved. Here are some suggestions via the New York Times Editorial Board on what you can do—how you can take immediate action.
Call Congress. Find out who represents you in Washington, and let them know you want the practice of family separation to end. Ask them to support bills that will help reunited children already taken from their parents and also prohibit future removals. Those include the Senate’s HELP Separated Children Act and Keep Families Together Act. The American Civil Liberties Union offers a script for calling the Senate, though we suspect most callers will be able to find the right words themselves.
Join protests. People are taking to the streets in communities across the country Thursday to register their outrage at this border policy. Join these or future actions.
Donate to legal and humanitarian efforts. Immigrants, even children, have no guarantee of legal representation as they pursue asylum or face deportation. Most do not know their rights or speak English well enough to represent themselves. In 75 percent of cases where children had counsel, an immigration judge determined they had a strong enough claim for asylum or humanitarian protection and allowed them to stay in the United States.
The proposed Fair Day in Court for Kids Act would require the government to appoint counsel to unaccompanied children, and it’s important to ask Congress to support its passage. Until then, there are several nonprofits providing vital free legal aid that need financial support: The Texas Civil Rights Project; the Florence Project in Arizona; and Kids in Need of Defense and The Young Center, which work nationwide. Lawyers might also consider lending their expertise. The Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas is helping families with supplies and humanitarian relief.
Lastly, be sure to to register and vote. And remind others to do the same.