Received this e-mail U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D. OR) on behalf of Democracy for America:

Ever since I first found out that the Trump administration was separating families and jailing infants and children in prison camps and for-profit detention centers, I’ve been fighting to put an end to it.

This time last year, a court ordered the Trump administration to stop ripping migrant children from their parents at the border. The administration says they stopped. They lied.

We recently learned that nearly 1,000 children were in fact separated from their families since the government was ordered to stop this cruel practice. And we know that all the while, thousands of children — including babies — have been crammed into tent cities and uninhabitable facilities without access to adequate food, water, or medical care.

It’s a policy designed to traumatize children, and it’s an unconscionable stain on our nation.

Democrats and the American people are done being lied to when it comes to the gross mistreatment of migrant children at the hands of the Trump administration. That’s why I introduced the Shut Down Child Prison Camps Act to put an end to the practice of jailing children in these unregulated tent cities and detention centers — but Mitch McConnell has refused to bring it up for a vote.

Please help me show the nationwide grassroots support for my legislation to end this nightmare for migrant children and demand McConnell let the Senate vote for it immediately by adding your name right now »

What makes this situation all the more horrifying? Some of these detention camps and centers are contracted out and run by for-profit companies that go unregulated. They are profiting off of the traumatization of children — it’s pure evil.

Thankfully, as Democratic members of Congress have visited these facilities firsthand and the American people have spoken out against the mistreatment of these children, we’ve made some progress. We successfully forced the Trump administration to shut down the unregulated Tornillo tent prison, and just this week we learned that all children have now been removed from the similarly shameful Homestead facility in Florida.

With public pressure, we are making a difference and demanding better for these children, but we’ve still got a long way to go. We need to close these camps and detention centers for good.

Will you help me make it happen by showing your support for my Shut Down Child Prison Camps Act today?

Your voice can truly make the difference.

Thank you,

Senator Jeff Merkley