News > Immigration In The United States

How You Can Help Families at the Border

Posted on Jun 18 2018

You can help to stop family separation at the border. You can help by political action and by supporting organizations that directly help immigrants and refugees, here and at the border. [UPDATED 7/5/18, 7/9/18]

The problem

President Trump ordered that children be taken away from immigrant families who cross the U.S. border without permission. Between mid-April and the end of May of this year, more than 2,000 children were separated from their parents. For more information, see our Family Separation Fact Sheet.

The law does NOT require family separation. The law does NOT require detention for parents or for children. Workable alternatives exist.

On June 26, a federal judge ordered the administration to reunite all separated families within 30 days, and all children under the age of 5 within 14 days. The Trump administration’s response was to say it will hold parents and children in detention together—indefinitely.

This DOES NOT NEED TO HAPPEN. Presidents Bush and Obama both considered the possibility of family separation and rejected it as cruel and un-American. There is no law requiring the separation of children from their families simply because their parents were seeking a better life in the U.S. Other solutions work: parents can be released with orders to return for specific court dates, or with ankle monitors.

Call Congress—and more

The president has failed to stop family separation. On June 24, he said he wants an end to due process for all unauthorized immigrants: no judges, no hearings, no consideration of their claims to stay.

1. Call your Congressional Representative and tell them to vote NO on all Republican immigration bills. Republicans are talking about a “skinny” bill to address family separation by authorizing indefinite detention of children in adult facilities.
2. Call your Senators and Representative every day, and tell them to stop the separation of families and to allow humane alternatives to detention for all families. Ask them to support the Keep Families Together Act (S. 3036). Congress tallies who calls about which issues so your repeated calls about this issue will elevate it on their radar. Tell your friends and family to do the same, especially if they reside in states with strong Republican congressional leadership
3. Write a letter to the editor and/or editorial for publication in any newspaper that prints an article about the family separation policy
4. Contact the White House with the message that you oppose putting children in detention and that you support due process for immigrants, and releasing immigrants until their cases can be heard.
5. This is an election year. Talk to candidates—tell them this is a crucial issue for you and that you need to know where they stand.
6. Talk to your friends. Tell them what is happening right now. Post stories on your social media pages. Remind your friends and family that this is a human issue, not just a partisan political issue. Tell them that Laura Bush has denounced the separation of children from their parents, as have other Republicans and many religious groups, including conservative religious groups.
7. Follow ILCM on Facebook and Twitter. Like or comment on our posts, so that Facebook will keep showing them to you instead of burying them. We will keep you posted on what is actually happening, on the border, across the country, and in Minnesota.
8. Vote!

Direct assistance

Many people have contacted us saying that they want to do more. There are no public defenders in immigration cases, not for parents and not for children. Legal assistance is crucial, both in helping parents to find their children and in helping parents and children to present their cases in court.

We appreciate and need your continuing support, but we also know our supporters are generous and will help organizations helping families on the border. Some good organizations to support are:

• RAICES: This Texas-based organization offers free and low-cost legal services to immigrant children and families. Donate hereand sign up as a volunteer here.
• Annunciation House in El Paso provides shelter and assistance to parents who have been released from detention and are looking for their children. Donate here.
• The El Paso-based Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center provides legal representation to immigrants who might not be able to afford it otherwise. It’s accepting volunteers and donations.
• Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project. works to prevent the deportation of asylum-seeking families fleeing violence. The group accepts donations and asks people to sign up for volunteer opportunities here.
• Pueblo Sin Fronteras: This organization provides humanitarian aid and shelter to migrants on their way to the U.S. Donate here.
• Together Rising: This Virginia-based organization is helping provide legal assistance for 60 migrant children who were separated from their parents and are currently detained in Arizona. Donate here.
• Al Otro Lado: This bi-national organization works providing legal services to deportees and migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, including deportee parents whose children remain in the U.S. Donate here.
• The Florence Project: This Arizona-based organization offers free legal services to men, women, and unaccompanied children in immigration custody. Donate here.
• Texas Civil Rights Project: This organization has been using legal advocacy and litigation to help families separated at the border. Donate here.
• Border Angels: This California-based organization supports San Diego County’s immigrant population and focuses on issues related to the U.S.-Mexico border. Donate here.
• Neta: This Texas-based grassroots organization helps asylum seekers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Donate here.
• South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR): This project of the American Bar Association is currently supporting over 1,000 unaccom­panied children in detention centers across South Texas. Donate here.
• Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) represents and advocates for immigrant children in legal proceedings. Donate here.
• Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley shelters immigrants who’ve recently been released from U.S. Border Patrol custody. 
  American Gateways provides legal services and representation to detained parents. It’s currently seeking volunteers to represent detained parents and is accepting donations.
• Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services is the largest provider of free and low cost immigration services in West Texas and says it’s the only organization in El Paso serving unaccompanied children.
• Justice for Our Neighbors provides free and low-cost legal services to immigrant individuals and families in Texas.
• The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is looking for more child advocates to visit the immigrant kids inside the detention centers weekly and accompany them to immigration proceedings. It is also raising money for advocates who will deal specifically with family separation cases.
• Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is raising money to provide immigrant children “immediate shelter and beds, medical services, counseling and therapy to help them deal with the trauma of family separation.”
• Tahirih Justice Center is providing free legal and social services to immigrant women and girls fleeing gender-based violence.
• Circle of Health International has staffed a clinic caring for refugees and asylum seekers immediately upon their their release. Their McAllen clinic is currently seeing upwards of 100 patients a day.
• The Salvation Army of El Paso is supporting 17 shelter rooms for separated families while they await reunification with their children and their court hearings.
• La Posada Providencia in San Benito runs a shelter for people who have applied for asylum and been released from detention centers while their cases are pending.
• The Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee in El Paso started the Fronterizo Fianza Fund, which will go toward things like posting bond for asylum seekers.
• The Migrant Center for Human Rights is providing free and low-cost legal services for detained asylum seekers in Texas.

If you want to go to the border to volunteer, ACLU-MN has a list of places and ways to volunteer.

For more information on places helping families at the border, see the Texas Tribune list.

Thank you for your continuing support of the rights of immigrants and refugees.