Call to Action: US Border & Detention Crisis

Call to Action: US Border & Detention Crisis

GIVE to Call to Action: Family Separation

Publish date July 3, 2019

The crisis facing immigrants in the United States has reached a fever pitch, and Foundation Beyond Belief (FBB) is urging humanists to help. For the foreseeable future, we are collecting funds to support The Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (“the Florence Project”), which provides free legal and social services to adults and children in immigration custody in Arizona facing deportation.

With your help, FBB provided grant funding to the Florence Project in 2014, 2018, and in January of 2019, but as we learn more about the horrifying conditions facing detainees, we are once again asking you to give. There are no words strong enough to condemn the atrocities these immigrants are experiencing, but supporting the Florence Project can help bring them justice.

“Detention is on the rise and the need for our services is higher than ever as unprecedented numbers of people flee their homes for safety in the U.S.,” says the Florence Project’s Executive Director, Lauren Dasse. “When you invest in the Florence Project, you invest in clients like Alicia, a three-year-old girl separated from her sister. Alicia spent 14 days in a processing facility, and would have faced a complex legal system alone without the help of the Florence Project. We also found her adult sister Carmen in detention and continue to fight for their freedom and reunification. Your support provides free legal and social services to detained adults and children like Alicia and Carmen who have suffered immense trauma and seek a better life in the United States.”

In addition to donating to support the Florence Project, here are a few other ways you can help:

• Hold a fundraiser with your Beyond Belief Network (BBN) team. If your BBN team raises more money than any other BBN team, FBB will send you 20 of the “Humanism at Work” FBB t-shirts. If you don’t want t-shirts, we will match your donation up to $250 and it will count towards your team total. Feel free to shoot us an email if you have questions or need support. 

• Consider getting involved with the Florence Project. Check out their current job and internship positions.

• Contact your representatives to voice your opinion on immigration, refugee, and asylum policies. Find their phone numbers here.

• Join or create a protest vigil in your local community. On July 12th, “Lights for Liberty” vigils are happening all over the country to protest the inhumane conditions faced by migrants. 

As this crisis continues and events develop, FBB may choose additional avenues for supporting those affected.

News Links

• What You Need to Know About The Crisis at the Border

• Here’s How You Can Help Fight Family Separation at the Border

• Trump’s family separation policy never really ended. This is why.

• Children at the border: the crisis that America wasn’t prepared for.

• Lawmakers decry conditions at immigrant detention centers, blast Facebook posts by Border Patrol agents

• The Facts Behind the Headlines: Family Separation

• Lawyers say border officials barred them from visiting ‘sickest’ children at migrant facility

 

The Humanist Disaster Recovery program is sustained through a partnership between Foundation Beyond Belief and the American Humanist Association (AHA).

We thank AHA for their generous support of our efforts.