The Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy is cruel, unethical, and un-American

UPDATE 6/20: The new “zero tolerance” executive order has only made our petition more urgent. It does not fix the crisis at the border and does not guarantee that families will not be separated. There is no plan to reunite thousands of children, some as young as three months old, who have already been separated from their parents. And it would allow for the indefinite detention of immigrant children. The solution to family separation is not indefinite family detention. Children do not belong in jail.

In May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and DHS Secretary Nielsen announced that the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security would partner on an expanded “zero tolerance” policy for migrant families seeking to cross the U.S. border. Sessions and Nielsen vowed to prosecute anyone detained at the border, rendering children unaccompanied minors. To date, 2,300 children have been separated from their parents and held in cages within massive warehouses, families are suffering in “detention centers,” and the policy has sent a flood of deportation cases into federal courts. This cruel, draconian policy insults our legacy as a nation of immigrants, punishes parents seeking safety for their children, and recalls some of the worst human rights violations in our nation’s — and the world’s — history. Instead of learning the lessons of the past, our leaders are intentionally and regrettably repeating its cruelest moments. We are calling on Attorney General Sessions and Secretary Nielsen to immediately end this mean-spirited, un-American policy.