America must do better than this

Someone told me this weekend, “when we look back on the Trump administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy, we’ll regard it as a very dark episode in American history.”

They’re wrong. This is already an atrocity.

Detaining people without due process is unconstitutional. Separating children from their parents is unthinkable. Using desperate refugees as pawns in a game of political brinksmanship is unconscionable.

Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions made a deliberate choice to impose a cruel policy of ripping apart asylum-seeking families and throwing them in prisons and makeshift holding facilities. They have no plans to reunite separated families.

That's why it's more important than ever that we stand together to support the families who've been torn apart. Please join me in contributing to the organizations helping them get legal representation and other critical services.

The 'zero-tolerance policy' policy infects all of America, well beyond border states. Right here in Oregon, we’re detaining more than 100 asylum seekers from 16 countries at the Sheridan Federal Prison. People who have limited medical care, no way to get in touch with their families, and who have not been charged with a crime. They came seeking asylum.

When I visited Sheridan last weekend, I met a man whose 18-month old daughter was torn from him and now he doesn’t know where she is or how to find her. Unspeakable.

Oregonians want no part of Trump’s un-American treatment of people seeking a better life.

Because America must do better than this.

Ron