ActBlue will split donations equally between 14 groups, while the ACLU is asking people to contact their representatives and Indivisible has suggested call script

How to help families separated at the border

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Family separation crisis – how to help



Donald Trump signed an executive order to “keep families together” on Wednesday, supposedly bringing the policy of separating children from their families to an end.

But the wording of the order made it clear the government’s hardline approach to immigration will continue. The text also left leeway for families to be separated in the future.

With that in mind, many people are looking for ways to get involved and help those affected. Here’s a guide.

There are a number of organizations working to protect children who have been separated from their parents. They rely on donations to fund their work – this tool at ActBlue will split any donation equally between 14 different groups.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Children wrap themselves in Mylar blankets to represent those separated from families on the border during a protest at the Russell Senate office building in Washington DC on 21 June. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

A number of charities have easy tools for people to call their member of Congress. The ACLU is asking people to contact their representatives to demand a vote on the House speaker Paul Ryan’s anti-immigrant bill – Republicans say it would end family separations but activists believe it would cause more chaos.

The progressive group Indivisible has a call tool, too, along with a suggested script people can use to pressure their senators or congresspersons.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A sample call script from Indivisible. Photograph: Indivisible

People can also sign a petition against Trump’s approach, created by the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Natalie Portman. It had attracted more than 450,000 signatures by Friday afternoon.



Registered nurses can sign up with National Nurses United to volunteer their services to potentially be deployed to immigrant detention centers.



A number of different groups are requesting lawyers or law students lend their help. The American Bar Association has a rundown of how and where lawyers can donate their time.

March on 30 June

More than 150,000 people have signed up to attend a series of protests against Trump’s family separation law on 30 June. Despite the administration’s apparent about-face on separating families, the outrage over the egregious policy has not diminished, nor the confusion and misery diminished, and plans for protests are forging ahead.



Demonstrations will take place in more than 400 locations around the country, as activists bid to “tell Donald Trump and his administration to stop separating kids from their parents”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People display signs at a protest rally at the Tornillo Port of Entry near El Paso, Texas, on 21 June. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

“Trump and his administration have been systematically criminalizing immigration and immigrants, from revoking Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) to ramping up intimidating Ice tactics,” the progressive organization MoveOn said in a statement. Not forgetting the senior public defender in El Paso who told the Guardian that migrants have effectively been having their parental rights taken away for the equivalent of a traffic ticket petty offense. Thousands of forcibly split families are stranded and detention – and it seems prosecutions – are continuing.

I really do care … dot com

We all saw Melania Trump’s coat. Here’s a better version, from Upworthy writer Parker Molloy, which links to a page where people can donate to help those hurt by Trump’s immigration policy.