Thread by @YaelSchacher

So excited to launch this campaign today!

The United States has an obligation to welcome people seeking protection at its border.

But it’s not just something we must do; it’s something we can do.

Learn more about how #WeCanWelcome
wecanwelcome.org

Mirna's story is the first in a series we will be sharing about why this is so important and how we can get it right.

Read about her story and watch an interview with her here:

refugeesinternational.org/reports/2021/2…

Part of what this video shows is that family separation is not merely a product of "zero tolerance." Mirna's family traveled together. But they were separated because of an insistence by DHS on keeping someone detained (Mirna's husband) as a "deterrent."

This is something DHS can, today, legally do. Children cannot be legally detained for long periods. But adults asylum seekers can be, even after they pass their credible fear screenings, as Mirna's husband did.

This campaign is about showing all the ways the reception of asylum seekers should be rethought. After his release, Mirna's husband joined her in Colorado and they pursued their asylum case in immigration court and won. Why was Mirna's husband detained? There is a better way.

Mirna's husband was not prosecuted for illegal entry. But that does not mean he was not treated as a criminal, as if seeking asylum is illegal. Detention of adults also leads families to split up and travel separately -- a parent with one child, other parent with child.

This can lead to prolonged separation or to families getting hurt along the way. When the Remain in Mexico policy began about two years after Mirna's family arrived, parts of families were in the U.S. and part made to wait Mexico if they had traveled separately.

Our next video, of Jose from Honduras and his family, will address that precise situation. And many other barriers to asylum seeking.

Both Mirna's husband and Jose were lucky to be able to find representation and had the ability to put up money for bond, otherwise they likely would have been detained even longer.

Asylum seeking families almost NEVER miss their immigration court hearings, especially if they are represented. What asylum seekers like Mirna and like Jose want is a fair chance to be heard. This campaign is about saying: we must and can make this possible.

And it is also about saying: there are people in border communities--like at Annunciation House in El Paso--and in communities all over the country--like at the school Mirna's children went to in Colorado--who want to do this work of welcome.

And when those seeking protection are given a chance to join our communities, as Mirna's family has, they can thrive.

This campaign is about showing that asylum does not have to make us cry. It can make us smile. We just have to work to make it right.

Ok, that last bit was a little corny. But you get what I mean :)