Western Massachusetts seems so far from our southern border. However, we can’t turn away from what happens there. On the Statue of Liberty, it reads “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free …” Once we cage one person, none of us is free.
We must liberate our sisters and brothers. Once we turn away a person based on his or her status, who else is in danger? The time is now that we take a stand that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular. We must take it because it is right.
Our government’s official policy of mandatory, indefinite detention of asylum-seekers while their claim is being checked out is illegal. Amnesty International and the UN Convention against Torture states this is a violation. The forcible separation of families also violates international refugee law.
Amnesty International states that these actions violate children’s rights and expose them to extreme and unnecessary trauma that could last for the rest of their lives. So we must ask our elected officials to halt these illegal actions of detaining, separating families and indefinite detention.
There must be more funding for more immigration judges and refugee officials. Legalization of banning separation and/or detention of families with children must be passed. We must remind our representatives to represent us, stand strong and intercede now.
Rosemary Graf
Cummington