Ripping refugee children from their parent’s arms at the border and sticking them in cages isn’t something we have ever had to stomach from an American president. Even the shameful and unconstitutional World War II policy of interning Japanese-American at least kept families together when our government put them behind barbed wire fences.

The Trump administration says it has halted this practice, but roughly 2,000 children remain separated from their parents. This systemic abuse of refugee children on our border was a new low for any administration. Put crying kids in cages and see how it plays with the base. Call them an “infestation,” and see how that plays. Get away with it, and it is then a much smaller step to treating them as vermin.

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This attitude jeopardizes the sanctity of our democracy, and we each have a role we can play to realign our nation’s policies with the values that reflect Americans as a whole. Our country’s governors have the ability — right now — to help save our democracy. It is time for them to step up with the power they already have.

The fact is, congregate housing of children — whether for therapeutic, rehabilitative or punitive reasons — is an activity regulated by states and their state departments of health and juvenile services. Whether it is the size of the facilities, the living conditions or the ratios of staff to children, these facilities are regulated by the states to protect the health and welfare of the child. Even federal facilities and their for-profit contractors must abide by state’s child welfare standards in order to operate lawfully.

When the Obama administration attempted to set up these sorts of lock-down facilities for kids in friendly Democratic-governed states during the 2014 unaccompanied minor crisis, it ran into governors of its own party who firmly and effectively pushed back against the opening of lock-down facilities for the indefinite internment of kids. Every child advocacy group in the nation determined this approach was harmful to the physical and emotional well-being of the children. Rebuffed by governors, the flawed policy was reconsidered.

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But there are other actions that governors must take in this moment of democratic crisis. Our national values of decency and dignity are under attack. Not only do these refugee kids need governors to stand up for them, but America needs the world to see that the basic goodness of the American people is still alive and fighting back.

In addition to blocking new detention camps, governors can call together faith leaders and ask for public support in expanding state foster care options for children who have been intentionally ripped from their parents. Governors can demand that federal authority reveal the whereabouts of children in custody, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has done. Governors can put out the call for pro-bono legal help and public contributions for reunification efforts and the legal defense of the rights of these children. No state in the United States should ever aid and abet the breaking up of families and the intentional abuse and traumatizing of refugee children. Governors have the authority to give voice to this truth on behalf of their people.

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These were all things that we did in my own state of Maryland in 2014. Our actions, and that of other states, caused a rethinking of expanded detention of children. Our state quickly bolstered our foster home network to accommodate 8,000 kids — the largest number, on a per capita basis, accepted by any state in the Union. And the people of our state came to support this stand for American dignity.

These are challenging times for American values, but, make no mistake about it, the enduring symbol of the United States of America is not the barbed wire fence or immigrant internment camps for children. It is the Statue of Liberty.

The truth can defend itself, but we need courageous leaders to state it first. Governors have the authority to give voice to powerful American truths. Governors have the power to stand up to the systemic abuse of refugee children by our president. They need to exercise that power now — for the good of our nation.

O’Malley is the former governor of Maryland.