Urge Congress to End ICE's Family Separation and Medical Abuse | Physicians for Human Rights

Urge Congress to End ICE's Family Separation and Medical Abuse

Total Petition Signers: 

A new investigation by PHR and the Women’s Refugee Commission documents how U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is routinely separating deported parents from their children without providing parents the opportunity to bring their children with them – in direct violation of ICE’s own policies.

The majority of parents interviewed were never asked at all if they had children. Some begged officers to bring their children or at least for time to arrange care for children who would otherwise be left home alone. These cases include mothers separated from infants as young as two months old.

Our report also found that pregnant women were detained and denied medical care during life-threatening emergencies – violating basic medical ethics and fundamental human rights.

PHR is calling on U.S. policymakers to ensure immigration enforcement agencies follow the law, protect families, and uphold the right to health.

Please, sign on today to urge Congress to end these abuses and enforce protections for detained families.

Message
Your Message
End ICE's family separation and medical abuse
To members of the U.S. Congress:

As your constituent I urge you to take immediate action in response to the grave abuses outlined in a new joint report by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Women's Refugee Commission, "What About My Children: Family Separation Among Parents Deported to Honduras.” Based on firsthand interviews with deported parents, medical professionals, and government officials in Honduras, this investigation found that ICE is routinely violating its own Detained Parents Directive, the policy requiring that parents be asked whether they have children and given an opportunity to decide what happens to them before deportation.

The majority of parents interviewed were never asked at all if they wanted to bring their children with them. Parents who begged to bring their children or at least to arrange care for children who would be left home alone were ignored. Parents who submitted written requests to bring their children were deported without them. These include mothers separated from infants as young as two months old.

The report also documents pregnant women being detained and denied medical care in life-threatening emergencies, including a woman deported while actively bleeding after days of ignored pleas for help, and another deported ten days after a missed miscarriage diagnosis without any treatment, arriving in Honduras requiring emergency hospitalization.

PHR has documented the severe, lasting psychological harms of family separation, including post-traumatic stress disorder in both parents and children that persist years after reunification. With more than $150 billion in enforcement funding still unspent, these harms will only accelerate without congressional intervention or oversight.

I urge you to codify parental interest protections into law, including a right to reunification before and after removal; prohibit the use of appropriated funds for enforcement that violates the Detained Parents Directive; require quarterly reporting from DHS on family separations; and require DHS to implement existing presumptions of release for pregnant and postpartum women. I urge you to act.

Signed,

[First Name] [Last Name]