Here Is What You Can DO To Help Detained Migrants NOW

by Valerie Williams

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RAICES/Twitter and Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis/Getty

RAICES Texas is helping migrant families reunite — and you can help them too

If you’ve been left feeling helpless and heartbroken by the daily stories of suffering children and families at the border, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there’s an organization on the ground committed to helping those struggling to claim asylum at the border and being detained and separated from their families in the process.

The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) is a non-profit agency that “promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees.” They describe themselves as “an organization that combines expertise developed from the daily practice of immigration law with a deep commitment to advocacy, RAICES is unique among immigration organizations. A diverse staff of 130 attorneys, legal assistants, and support staff provide consultations, direct legal services, representation, assistance and advocacy to communities in Texas and to clients after they leave the state.”

In the last few days, RAICES has ramped up fundraising efforts in order to help reunite families separated at the southern border of the United States. They’re using donated funds to pay for bonds and get people out of detention — and back with their loved ones. So far, they’re helped reunite 58 families.

Throughout this horribly upsetting news cycle full of devastating stories about the humanitarian crisis at the border, RAICES hasn’t minced words about exactly what’s happening to individuals being housed at migrant detention centers. There’s no question at this point, after everything that’s being reported, that the Trump administration is running concentration camps at the border. Children are reportedly going without appropriate food, water, and sanitation. Young people are being forced to look after kids only slightly younger than they are, and living in conditions worse than torture facilities, according to a doctor who spent time at a detention center.

That’s why RAICES is out there standing up for people seeking asylum and debunking myths about immigrants not showing up for hearings — in fact, they show up almost every time.

They’re encouraging Americans to “build bridges, not walls” and to sign a pledge to help reshape how our country handles immigration in the first place. “We will present new policy solutions on immigration in partnership with other human rights organizations and individuals across the country,” they promise.

They’re even helping people write letters to Congress to tell them to stop ICE and their mass arrests and raids in immigrant communities.

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RAICES is also bringing into stark relief the reality of the family separation crisis by sharing these heartbreaking stories — as told by the people they’re happening to.

If you’ve been left raging and feeling like there’s “nothing” you can do to help detained migrant families and children, know that there is and donate to RAICES or become a volunteer with them so you can help reunite families that never should’ve been torn apart in the first place.