Uplift: Uplifting LGBTQ+ Experience Within and Beyond Unitarian Universalism

#CloseTheCamps NOW

#CloseTheCamps

Children denied soap and toothbrushes, crowded into unsafe conditions. Separated from their families, subject to cruel treatment that leads to lasting traumas. And some dying in custody—or dying with parents as they cross the Rio Grande.

By Michael J. Crumpler

On Tuesday, July 2nd #CloseTheCamps rallies were organized all around the country in response to the shameful detention of asylum seekers along the US/Mexico border to demand:

1) Close the Camps

2) Not One Dollar for Family Detention and Deportation

3) Bear Witness and Reunite Families.

At noon on Tuesday, I joined impacted persons, faith leaders, activists, and everyday people on the steps of Middle Collegiate Church in Manhattan’s East Village to rise in solidarity against the Trump administration's willful neglect of children separated from their families while seeking asylum from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and other Central American countries. These children, having been traumatized by violence and poverty in their homelands and re-traumatized by separation from their families upon arrival here, are further assaulted by being denied the basic necessities of soap, toothbrushes, toiletries, bedding, and medical care. Furthermore, adolescent refugees are forced to take care of toddlers and are punished when their own needs go unmet. THIS. MUST. STOP.

On Friday, June 28th, congress passed a $4.59B funding bill for immediate aid to the detention centers, but with no guarantees the money will not be used for a border wall or border security, nor address pressing concerned of cruelty and dehumanization those seeking asylum. THIS TOO IS UNACCEPTABLE!

  • Children seeking refuge from poverty and violence MUST NEVER BE SEPARATED from their parents.

  • Families seeking refuge from poverty and violence MUST BE GRANTED ASYLUM.

  • Children in ICE detention MUST BE REUNITED WITH RELATIVES living in the United States.

  • Detention centers used to house migrants MUST NEVER BE USED FOR CORPORATE PROFIT.

  • Concentration camps HAVE NO PLACE in a free society.

We call on the Trump Administration to reunite every child separated from a parent NOW!

We call on the Trump Administration to prosecute ICE officials guilty of abuse and neglect NOW! 

We call on the Trump Administration to #CloseTheCamps NOW!

At least 13 deaths reported since September 2019: 

  • 10-year-old girl, unnamed

  • Jakelin Caal Maquin, 7

  • Felipe Gómez Alonzo, 8

  • 45-year-old Mexican man, unnamed

  • 40-year-old Mexican migrant, unnamed

  • Juan de León Gutiérrez, teenager

  • Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, 16

  • Johana Medina Leon, 25 (transgender)

  • 40-year-old Honduran woman, unnamed

  • 33-year-old Salvadoran man, unnamed 

  • Yimi Alexis Balderramos-Torres, 30 

  • Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, 25

  • Angie Valeria, 3

Source: "Immigration Crisist at the Border" from CNN

About the Author

Michael J. Crumpler

Rev. Michael J. Crumpler joined the UUA in early 2017. Shortly thereafter, he was ordained to Reverend in the United Church of Christ....

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