Thread by @RachelMcGonagi1

Can you even IMAGINE not knowing where your child is for ALMOST TWO YEARS ALREADY, since border agents ripped her from your arms? And then being told, wait TWO MORE YEARS while the government that took her, tries to find her?

#FindTheChildren #ReuniteEveryFamily

https://twitter.com/TheLoyalO/status/1114562069339213824

These are the thousands of children who were separated from their parents at the border before the "zero tolerance" policy was even announced. It started in July of 2017 in El Paso. Yes, the same El Paso where immigrants were held in hellish conditions Under The Bridge last week.

The same El Paso area where two children, Jakelin Caal Maquin, age 7, and Felipe Gomez Alonzo, age 8, died in CBP custody in December 2018.

#FightForImmigrantJustice #FightForTheChildren

The same El Paso where the Immigration Judges have been called out in a formal complaint filed by @immcouncil and @AILANational for their practices of barring asylum seekers from ever getting a fair day in court.

https://twitter.com/immcouncil/status/1113443999581392896?s=20

@immcouncil @AILANational The same El Paso where CBP & ICE regularly release detainees by the hundreds on unsuspecting shelters and NGOs who scramble to get these mostly women & children situated with food, clothing & emergency medical care before sending them on to their sponsors.
annunciationhouse.org/financial-dona…

@immcouncil @AILANational These children, stolen from their parents as a deliberate act of cruelty, are spread out across the country. HHS knows exactly where they are. They know where every child they've placed is.

But they placed 40,000 "Unaccompanied Alien Children" between July 2017-June 2018.

@immcouncil @AILANational They don't know which of those 40,000 children were separated from their parents at the border. If they had that information, it would be so easy.

So. Easy.

They'd just run down the list.

But HHS has not received that information from CBP, the only entity that knows.

@immcouncil @AILANational How can we help?

As always:

🚨CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE 202-225-3121🚨

🚨CALL YOUR SENATORS 202-224-3121🚨

Tell them to instruct DHS to work with HHS on reuniting these families. Tell them you won't take no for an answer!

@immcouncil @AILANational And maybe gear up for a June 29th March for Immigrant Justice. It's been a YEAR since the last march when we brought the "zero tolerance" cruelty to light.

We are the only ones who can save us.

WE ARE THE ONES WITH THE POWER TO DO GOOD.

LET'S DO THIS

@immcouncil @AILANational .@ACLU gave the DHS lawyers the smack about the head & shoulders they deserved with their ludicrous 2 year estimate just to IDENTIFY the children separated from family from July 2017-June 2018.

ACLU: It should take just 3 months. This is how.

Now do it.
courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU Update from the most recent get together, from the fine folks at @ACLU litigating the Ms L vs ICE case. This one is about the timeline of identifying and reuniting w/family children separated between July 2017-June2018.

6 mos. is better than 2 yrs....

https://twitter.com/jomareewade/status/1121531259346411520?s=20

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU More specific info on the Ms L vs ICE case update from yesterday (4/24/19). Judge Sabraw expressed confidence in Cmdr Jonathan White of HHS: since he'd done such a bang up job reuniting the first passel of 2700+ kids, he should do well this time, too.
washingtonpost.com/immigration/ju…

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU The gummint lawyers didn't want there to be any deadline at all on when they needed to reunite these families, but the Judge was firm: a deadline would motivate them with a sense of urgency they might otherwise lack.

No kidding.

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU White said the govt was committed to "finding a way to identify all the children."

But he also said this: "The reason would never be that something is too much of a burden," which is interesting bc that's *exactly* what ICE lawyers tried claiming a few months ago. 🤔

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU Anyway, he's got 6 months to identify about 2500 or so children--from the 40,000 total who were in ORR custody--who were separated from their parents from July 2017-June2018, but who weren't in ORR custody anymore on June 26, 2018.

Another update soon:
aclu.org/legal-document…

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU We knew this, have known it, but now, as @jacobsoboroff says, we have emails showing just how much scrambling was going on behind the scenes at DHS & HHS after trump signed the EO ending his horrific policy.

And there's something much more troubling....
nbcnews.com/politics/immig…

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU @jacobsoboroff If the intent was always to reunify parents and children, as Kevin McAleenan has been putting out there for weeks now...WHY didn't they have any method at all set up to reunify them?

We learned from testimony--or the OIG report?--that all they did was sometimes check a box.

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU @jacobsoboroff The answer, obviously, is that they did NOT plan to reunite the families.

Not ever.

I remember reading an article last summer about how utterly taken aback trump was at the backlash over his familiar separations. He really didn't think anyone would notice or care.

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU @jacobsoboroff He really didn't think--and neither did any other nincompoop in his administration--about ever needing to put these families back together. If thought went into it at all, it was probably:

"We arrest the parents, take their kids, deport the parents and then the kids. Wahbam!"

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU @jacobsoboroff I'm pretty sure he says "Wahbam!" just like I'm pretty sure he purses his lips in the mirror and pretends to kiss himself.

Point is, no plan existed, because they didn't think they'd need one. Why bother?

I love how, though, in his email response to the data entry guy at HHS,

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU @jacobsoboroff Matthew Albence--the guy who was, at the time, the head of ICE's enforcement & removal operations (literally the person in charge of imprisoning the parents in this scenario)--is aghast that the *data entry guy at the kid prison* doesn't have the parents' "alien numbers."

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU @jacobsoboroff Matthew Albence, btw, is now the acting head of ICE entirely.

Here's the email from Tom Fitzgerald (HHS data guy) that set off the head of ICE's enforcement and removal operations.

Basically: hey, can you shoot me that info your boss has been telling everybody you have?

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU @jacobsoboroff And Tom's final, unhappy admission that no, he doesn't have the parents' info, why would he? Well, he has about 60. Out of 2200 (it ended up being over 2800 children, but who's quibbling?)

There are now an untold number of kids out there who were separated without our knowledge.

@immcouncil @AILANational @ACLU @jacobsoboroff In June, Judge Sabraw ordered that ALL the children had to be reunited within 30 days--it's been 10 months, and 55 kids are still in ORR custody.

But at least now we know why they were so awful about reuniting families.

We just can't let them continue to get away with it.