Since 2017 the Trump administration has aggressively pursued a zero-tolerance immigration policy at the southern border. In 2018, the administration imposed a brutal family separation policy and began charging all migrants crossing the border, even those seeking asylum, with crimes. Despite Trump’s apparent reversal of the separation policy, families continue to be torn apart, with no viable plan for reunion. Children and adults are dying in custody and being held in overcrowded, inhumane facilities. The government, overwhelmed by the ballooning costs of its self-imposed crisis, is now proposing to cut legal and educational support for unaccompanied children. On June 12, news emerged that the government plans to house nearly 1,400 children on the site of a former Japanese concentration camp (euphemistically termed an “internment camp"). The move is an all too apt illustration of the Trump administration’s dedication to reviving 1940s era white supremacy.
Despite efforts to hide this abuse, journalists and immigrant advocates have revealed a clear pattern of human rights violations by the Trump administration. Americans must demand transparency into the shadow prison system being used to dehumanize and torture innocent people. Demand your state lawmakers seek and publicly report information about the facilities in your state and connect with local immigration advocacy groups to help respond to these atrocities.