End Family Separation: Decriminalize Migration Grassroots Tool Kit

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,^[g] you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40-41 NRSV

Update July 26, 2018–

Update June 20, 2018–  The 223 General Assembly Condemns the President’s June 20th Executive Order “Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation” that further criminalizes migration through the expansion of family detention on military bases and other government property, potentially indefinitely.

The president’s order does nothing to address the plight of the more than 2,300 children who have already been separated from their parents under the president’s “zero tolerance” policy. The reality is that it may not stop separating families, will not reunite the thousands of families already torn apart, and aims to lock up even more children and families.

The order codifies Attorney General Sessions’s zero-tolerance policy, instructing officials to continue to prosecute adults crossing the border as criminals—including those who are seeking asylum–, “but will seek to find or build facilities that can hold families—parents and children together—instead of separating them while their legal cases are considered by the courts.” The order also seeks to modify the 1997 Flores settlement agreement that bars the detention of migrant children for more than 20 days.

The executive order instructs attorney general Jeff Sessions to ask for the federal court’s permission to open the terms of the Flores agreement so that the families can be kept in custody until their cases are resolved.

____________________________

June 18, 2018

People of Faith around the country are outraged that our tax dollars are supporting our government to tear families apart and incarcerate children. Under the Trump administration’s extreme “zero tolerance” immigration policy, immigrant families are being separated at the border. The policy, which was officially announced on May 7, has led to more than 2,000 immigrant children being ripped from their parents while attempting to find safety at the U.S. border.

The decision to accelerate family separation is voluntary. As long as President Trump and Attorney General Sessions choose to prosecute 100% of parents, their kids will still be taken away from them. Whether it’s 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months, ripping kids away from their parents is traumatizing and immoral and there is no “fix” to this self-created problem. The only fix is to stop incarcerating parents.

We must not repeat the immoral acts in our country’s history that violently divided families in the slave trade and Indian boarding schools.  Presbyterians around the country have the opportunity to “practice biblical hospitality to immigrant groups” (220^th General Assembly, On Advocating for Comprehensive Immigration Reform) and join the ranks on the right side of history in an attempt to co-create the Kingdom of God.

TAKE ACTION

1) Mobilize

• On the Border: “Families Belong Together Rally at the Border” ACLU- June 28^thBrownsville Mass Mobilization.
• Family Separation Protest at the Whitehouse in Washington DC June 30^th, 2018

2) Call and Tweet Your Representatives (202) 224-3121

Sample Script:

Hi Rep ____My name is _____________ and as a Presbyterian I am devastated with the administration’s decision to enforce family separation at the Southern Border. I urge you to vote NO on the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act and any other legislation that would further divide families and criminalize parents.  

Sample Tweet: @RepresenativeName, I urge you to vote NO on the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act. We need policy to #KeepFamiliesTogether

Sign up for alerts at capwiz.com/pcusa 

3) Plan a Neighbor-to-Neighbor Visit to Your In-District Member Offices: Your Members of Congress will be home from June 30th – July 8th – an important time to share the importance of decriminalizing migration. Establishing and nurturing relationships with your Senators and Representatives are crucial to enacting immigration policies that protect and affirm the rights of all people, and also to stopping proposals that would exacerbate family separation. Every Senator and Representative has an office – often multiple offices – in their home state. Use our Neighbor to Neighbor Toolkit to request meetings and put together a team. Here are some guidelines:

• Get a team together: A team ideally includes faith leaders from different traditions, people whose lives have been directly impacted by the immigration system, people who volunteer or work teaching English, etc.
• Learn about who represents your community in Congress: Go to capwiz.com/pcusa to find out which Members of Congress represent you and your surrounding community.
• Have a plan: Meet with the other participants to assign roles, including the facilitator, the personal story, specific points, and the “ask.”
• Schedule a meeting: Call your Member’s local office to request a meeting (local office numbers can be found on their websites). Make sure to tell them how many other faith leaders and community members would like to attend. If the member is unavailable, ask to meet with staff who work on immigration issues. You may have to send an email or fill out a form. Don’t be discouraged if you need to follow-up for a response.
• Talking points and leave behinds: In this folder are some talking points as well as handouts to take to congressional meetings.

4) Write an Op Ed

Here’s a template op-ed, please adapt for your local context and share the published piece online with the hashtag #pcusa. Feel free to email nora.leccese@pcusa.org to let the broader Church know you were published.

5) Understand the Root Causes of Migration

Watch the film, The Genesis of Exodus: The Roots of Central American  Migration

• View the comprehensive storymap for The Genesis of Exodus.
• Use the Reflection Guide(PDF) to aid in understanding the content presented in the film, The Genesis of Exodus, and the accompanying storymap and to assist in mobilizing action.

6)Bring Prayer and Hymn to your worship

• Beatitudes Prayer by Rev. Alison Harrington, Pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ
• “A Letter to AG Jeff Sessions” by Margaret Aymer Oget, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament
• Hymns by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette – “The Children Come” and “Abraham Journeyed to a New Country”
• “God of the Traveler” hymn by William McConnell

Organizations and Resources for Further Learning

Legal Aid Organizations Funded By Presbyterian Disaster Assistance

• Al Otro Lado- providing legal aid at the CA border:-https://alotrolado.org/
• The Florence Project in AZ – providing legal aid at the AZ border:  https://firrp.org/

Resources from the Faith Community

• Interfaith Immigration Coalition- rapid response resources
• PC(USA) Office of Immigration Issues

National Migrant Justice Organizations: Seek out a local chapter and get involved!

• National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights  works to defend and expand the rights of all immigrants and refugees, regardless of immigration status. Since its founding in 1986, the organization has drawn membership from diverse immigrant communities, and actively builds alliances with social and economic justice partners around the country. As part of a global movement for social and economic justice, NNIRR is committed to human rights as essential to securing healthy, safe and peaceful lives for all.
  • BRIDGE: Popular Education Resources for Immigrant and Refugee Community Organizers
• Mijente is a digital and grassroots hub for Latinx organizing and movement building. We seek to contribute to a Latinx social movement that is pro-Black, pro-immigrant, pro-planet, pro-worker, pro-indigenous because Latinx people are part of all these communities. Emerging from the #not1more deportation campaign, we believe in the power of organizing, campaigns and direct action rooted in community, with leadership of those directly affected by issues we address. See our current priorities here.
  • Prepare Against Raids: New “Defend Your Rights” Materials Available
  • Expanded Sanctuary Resources to Passing Local Policies Against Deportation and Mass Incarceration
  • Guide to Creating Community Defense Zones
• Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) is a grassroots solidarity organization that has been supporting the Salvadoran people’s struggle for social and economic justice since 1980. We organize strategic campaigns against US government and corporate intervention in El Salvador and accompany the Salvadoran popular movement in its work to realize an inspiring vision of participatory democracy and economic justice.
• National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) fosters safer, more humane environments for day laborers, both men and women, to earn a living, contribute to society, and integrate into the community.
• Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) educates and engages African American and black immigrant communities to organize and advocate for racial, social and economic justice.
• Movimiento Cosecha is a nonviolent movement fighting for permanent protection, dignity, and respect for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. Our name, “harvest” in Spanish, honors the long tradition of farmworker organizing and the present-day pain of the thousands of undocumented workers whose labor continues to feed the country. Committed to winning real victories for our community, Cosecha believes in using non-cooperation to leverage the power of immigrant labor and consumption and force a meaningful shift in public opinion.
  • #SinDACASinMiedo / DACA Repeal Amplification Guide
• National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) is the nation’s leading voice for dignity and fairness for the millions of domestic workers in the United States, most of whom are women.

*Many thanks to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, The PC(USA) Office of Immigration Issues for partnership on this toolkit and The Catalyst Project and Mijente for resources and framing