The COVID-19 crisis is testing our strength as a society. Across faith traditions, we believe that all people have inherent dignity and are deserving of basic human rights. However, in the midst of a growing global pandemic, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to target and detain – and deport – immigrants, threatening the safety and health of immigrant communities and exacerbating the threat of an outbreak in facilities. The well-documented unsanitary and unsafe conditions of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities will facilitate an outbreak. ICE has also resumed asking detained parents to sign a form agreeing to be separated from their children and release them from detention, while forcing the parents to remain detained indefinitely. This is happening while the administration turns away asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children, and sending individuals back to danger.
This is unconscionable. Now is the time to make our voices heard to our Members of Congress, so that they hold the administration accountable in recognizing the inherent dignity and humanity of all of our immigrant and asylum seeking neighbors.
Contact Your 2 Senators and 1 Representative Today!
Click “Call Me” or “Send Email” on the right to contact your Members of Congress
Sample Script/Email: “I’m your constituent from [CITY/TOWN], and [as a person of faith] I urge you to fight for the health and freedom of all immigrants by releasing all individuals held in immigrant detention and stopping all deportations. I also urge you to end cruelty against children and families by preventing family separation and ending family detention. I call on you to restore asylum protections and hold the administration accountable to welcoming and processing all asylum seekers. We should be investing in caring for our communities during this difficult time – not detention, deportation, and family separation. I urge you to welcome asylum seekers and immigrants, and uphold the best of who we are.”
Thank you for taking action – and please share this toolkit with your networks!