[I sent a copy of this letter to my House representative, Tom Suozzi. All Democratic senators have already signed on to this bill, but I sent mine a thank-you note as well.]
Dear Rep. Suozzi,
As a constituent, I’m writing to ask you to support the Keep Families Together Act which is unanimously supported by Democrats in the Senate and has just been introduced in the House. I hope you’ll add your name as a cosponsor.
As an American, a parent and a human being, I’m nauseated by the images and videos coming from the border. The Trump administration, in support of its racist ideology of white supremacy, is enacting a policy of willful cruelty against the most helpless and vulnerable people imaginable, the refugee and migrant families who are seeking America’s protection.
They’re ripping families apart with no plan for reuniting them, putting frightened children in cages in ramshackle prison camps, some so young they can’t even understand what’s happening or where their parents are. Some parents have been told their children were being taken for baths, only to realize hours later that they weren’t being brought back – a policy that makes it impossible to avoid comparisons to Nazi Germany and other fascist regimes. Only a person who’s deadened their own conscience can turn a blind eye to this evil being committed in our name.
Whether fleeing for their lives, escaping violence and persecution, or coming in hope of finding a better life for themselves, as immigrants have been doing since there was an America, people are crossing the border in search of our protection, and we should extend it to them. We’re rich and strong, and we can afford to be generous. We should be meeting immigrants with an open hand, not a closed fist. Not only is it the moral thing to do, no one will make a better American than the people who have reason to be gratefl for how much this country gave them.
America is a multicultural nation built by immigrants, but the Trump administration seems bent on obliterating that legacy and establishing the U.S. as a villain in the eyes of the world. It’s imperative that we all stand together to resist this poisonous xenophobia. Ending family separation would be the first small but vital step.
Sincerely,
Adam Lee