Oregonians will lead the way
Trump's cruel family separation policy has become public.
Imagine you cannot provide a safe or healthy home for your children. You are exhausting every solution, but the situation continues to deteriorate.
The only choice you have left to protect your family is to leave the only home you've ever known. You try to flee on foot, in the middle of the night, with your young child strapped to your back.
You finally reach your destination, a place where people can help you. You turn yourself in asking for asylum. Instead of receiving help, you're detained, your child is torn from your arms.
As a parent, I couldn't imagine living through this. I went to see it myself.
Our detainees are being held like prisoners when they have committed no crime and have no access to legal aid.
This is how we are treating people coming to us out of desperation.
Oregon's own Senator Jeff Merkley brought this issue to the forefront when he visited the detention centers in Brownsville Texas earlier this month. We've heard stories of children being ripped out of their parent's arms, held in cages, and drugged without their consent. We must do better, and we must act now.
After we spoke out in opposition to this cruel policy, Donald Trump "ended" the policy, but his solution? Detain families together – indefinitely. There is no plan to reunite the estimated 2,000 children that have been taken from their families in the past five weeks.
Oregon must show the rest of the world that in the Pacific Northwest, we put families first.
Suzanne
