What can you do? First, stop Republicans from making this situation even worse. Congressional Republicans could still try to codify Trump’s executive order, or vote to give DHS more money to create family jails. It’s on us to keep the pressure on and make sure that any efforts to these ends fail. Second, make sure Democrats are doing more to protect immigrant families. Chances are that if your MoC is a Democrat, they’re on record supporting keeping families together. They can do more. They can and should withhold support from any effort to codify family detention facilities, and vote down any spending package that increases funding for ICE and/or CBP.
Take action today and call! Use the individuals scripts below.
Use this script for Turner and Portman:
Rep. Michael Turner(202) 225-6465
Sen. Rob Portman(202) 224-3353
Caller: Hi! My name is [name] and I’m calling from [part of state]. I’m calling today to tell [MoC] to oppose any efforts to jail immigrant families.
Staffer: Thanks for calling. [MoC] believes that Congress has a responsibility to pass legislation that would prevent families from being separated and fix the loopholes in our immigration system.
Caller: The family separation crisis was created by Trump, and he bears responsibility for fixing the crisis. Congress cannot enable the Trump administration’s ultimate agenda of creating jails for immigrant families. I urge [him/her] to vote no on anylegislation that would create or fund immigrant family jails.
Staffer: We’ll be sure to pass your message to [MoC].
Caller: Please do, and please take down my contact information so you can let me know what [MoC] decides to do.