RALLY TO STOP FAMILY SEPARATION

Area residents, Clergy and Community Groups to Gather in Freehold June 20, 2018 from 4 to 5 PM

The heartless and inhumane treatment of children and families at our southern border continues. And so must our efforts to stop it

Please join concerned constituents of Congressional District 4 along with local religious leaders, parents, students and community groups for a peaceful protest outside the Freehold office of CD-04 Congressman Chris Smith from 4:00 to 5:00 PM this Wednesday, June 20, 2018. The address is 112 Village Center Dr, Freehold, NJ. Bring signs. All are welcome, including children and teens. https://www.facebook.com/events/240926916680342/

The Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged that nearly 2000 children have been separated from their parents and incarcerated in the past six weeks. That’s a rate of roughly 50 children per day ripped away from their families and dispatched to warehouses and isolated tent “cities” set up in remote areas where temperatures rise to over 100 degrees during the day. https://www.npr.org/2018/06/16/620451012/dhs-nearly-2-000-children-separated-from-adults-at-border-in-six-weeks

By any moral, ethical, human standard, these numbers should be appalling. The sight of boys and girls, including toddlers and even infants, being pulled away from their parents, sleeping on cement floors, huddled in chain link enclosures is gut-wrenching. The sounds of confused, frightened, inconsolable children horrifying. To anyone who has ever loved, nurtured, raised, or taught children, the entire situation is unfathomable.

Yet, representatives of ICE, DHS and the White House that instituted the practice (which is NOT a law) seem proud of their actions and determined to continue the practice for political purposes.

Children are not bargaining chips. Period. Please help us get Congressman Chris Smith to understand this and to truly stand up for the “innocents” he professes to want to protect by voting for and speaking out in favor of clean legislation to end this horror.

KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER ACT – https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/3036/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22keep+families+together+act%22%5D%7D&r=1