The “Crisis” at the Border
Since President Trump’s decision to detain migrants at the border in detention facilities, members of Congress have taken trips to the facilities to see just what the migrants are experiencing.
The conditions that they described are positively horrendous and inhumane. Detained migrants are without showers, toothbrushes, access to clean drinking water, and packed like sardines.
Give Me Back My Child
When these migrants came to the United States with their children and loved ones, often seeking asylum, they were separated. Children are being taken to detention centers away from their parents, away from everyone they know and love.
Since these children can only speak Spanish, they cannot communicate with the detention officers, social workers, and doctors who are there. They are kept in disgusting conditions, often becoming sick and malnourished.
These children have been in the news on multiple occasions. When they show up in the media, it is often because one of them has died. These deaths are so easily preventable that it is astounding that these conditions are allowed to continue. The ends of children now sit on the conscious of everyone who made those detention centers, separated them from their parents, and sat idly by while these kids sickened and died.
The Inaction of Mike Pence
Our Vice President, Mike Pence, visited a detention center in Texas. As he observed the migrants in their cells, he said and did nothing.
The inaction of the Vice President says so much about our ‘melting pot’ of a nation. A nation that prides itself on the fact that it is a nation of immigrants that is not accepting immigrants! Not only is that absurd, but it tells people who used to seek asylum and a better life in America that they are not welcome here.
That is not true.
Speaking for the Migrants
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a representative from Brooklyn, recently visited a migrant detention center. Her testimony about the conditions in front of the House Oversight and Reform Committee went viral. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez said that the women in those detention centers had to get their drinking water out of a toilet.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been a voice for the migrants who cannot speak to the media, who cannot talk to our representatives and senators. She has interviewed migrants who have had horrendous experiences due to the detention centers that thousands are still experiencing. This incredible woman will not let these conditions go without punishment for those who enacted these policies and forced people, who are seeking asylum, into concentration camps.
A Haven for Immigrants
Although these detention centers are located thousands of miles from our homes in Atlanta, this is an issue that we need to discuss.
With ICE raids scheduled in the city, many migrants began to worry. Our elected officials are doing whatever they can to protest and stop these raids. The politicians we are trusting with our wellbeing are trying their hardest to protect their people. But they can’t do it alone.
People have taken to the streets to show that they will not stand for these kinds of human rights violations and the treatments that these migrants are experiencing.
As Americans, we should be ashamed that we have let this happen. But there are still options. Call and write your representatives to let them know that we won’t stand for this! We can make a difference.
