It's time to act: 6 things you can do right now to help families separated at the border.
What's been happening at the border is an affront to human decency.
By now, we are presumably aware of the new 2018 policy at the U.S.-Mexico border that has children being taken from their parents arms and held in separate facilities — a practice that a UCLA psychology professor has likened to torture, that the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics has called "government-sanctioned child abuse," and that the U.N. high commissioner on human rights has called " unconscionable."
In just six weeks, nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents, with no guarantee they will see them again.
Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.
There are lots of myths and misunderstandings floating around about the policy and its implementation. So you might want to read this, this, this, and this to get the facts straight. Then get ready to act.
It's easy to feel helpless and hopeless — but don't. Here's a list of real things you can do today.
Awareness is important. Action is vital. Here's what you can do:
1. Pressure President Donald Trump to put an end to this policy.
Trump appears to be using children as hostages to get his immigration agenda passed through Congress. But Trump has the power to end this policy all by himself now. He apparently has an executive action in the works to end the policy, so pressure appears to be working. Keep it up. Call the White House. Bombard Trump on Twitter, his chosen way to communicate with the American people. Let the administration know that this policy crosses a red line.
2. Call your senator and ask them to support the Keep Families Together Act.
If Trump doesn't put an end to the policy himself, Congress will have to act. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) has introduced a bill that would bar border agents from separating children under 18 from their parents unless a court or welfare official determines it is in the child's best interests to do so or if there is a strong likelihood that the child is being trafficked or doesn't actually belong with the adult they are traveling with.
3. Participate in a #FamiliesBelongTogether march on June 30.
Or organize one in your area if there isn't one already in the works. A large anchor rally will be held in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., with other rallies and marches taking place across the country. Go to Moveon.org to find a rally near you.
4. Donate to legal aid organizations that specialize in immigration at the border.
The most immediate need for these families is legal representation and advocacy. Here's a list of nonprofits that are on the ground at the border providing legal aid to help get children reunited with their parents.
- ASAP: Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project connects families seeking asylum to community support and emergency legal aid.
- The Florence Project for immigrant and refugee rights provides free legal and social services to detained immigrants in Arizona and ensures that people facing removal have access to counsel, understand their rights under the law, and are treated fairly and humanely.
- KIND: Kids in Need of Defense ensures that no child appears in immigration court alone without high-quality representation.
- Tahirih Justice Center provides a broad range of direct legal services, policy advocacy, and training and education to protect immigrant women and girls fleeing violence.
(Also, if you need a little inspiration that hope for humanity is still alive, this Facebook fundraiser for RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services in Texas, has already raised more than $10.5 million — in just four days — making it the most successful Facebook campaign to date.)
5. Support the ACLU.
The American Civil Liberties Union is an organization that works consistently to support human rights to all people in our country, to not only assist when injustices occur but to try to prevent rights from being infringed in the first place.
Separating families is more than cruel and unnecessary – it’s torture. We won't sit quietly while the Trump administration terrorizes asylum seekers.
Posted by ACLU on Tuesday, June 19, 2018
6. Keep speaking out and sharing reliable journalism about this story.
This atrocity, which should transcend partisan politics, is being turned into a war fueled by highly biased media outlets. Misinformation is part of what got us here, so utilize tools like MediaBiasFactCheck.com to determine the reliability of where you get your information. Share the facts, bust the myths, and keep putting the truth out there for these families.
This is our country. We should not accept cruelty to children being done in our name.
And we don't have to. Now is the time to act to end this shameful and inhuman practice.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."