Alyssa Milano Profile picture
Sep 11, 2018 22 tweets 6 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Even as hundreds of separated children remain terrified & alone in detention, the Trump Administration is moving to try & replace family separation with indefinite family incarceration in an unacceptable bid to jail children indefinitely and subject them to more trauma and abuse.
To move this plan forward, the Trump Administration is trying to strip away existing safeguards and protections for children through a new regulation to allow for the long-term imprisonment of children in facilities with well-documented abusive conditions.
The number one priority of the Flores Settlement Agreement is that children not be incarcerated. This foundational principle, which the government agreed to in the settlement, recognizes that the best way to ensure a child’s wellbeing is to keep them out of jail.
The Administration is attempting to dismantle the Flores standards of protection that have been in place for decades.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
The proposed regulations allow DHS to jail children indefinitely while DHS “self-certifies” that the jails are safe. This is a power grab by an agency that cannot be trusted, as DHS has proved itself unable or unwilling to ensure the basic safety and health of people it jails.
This Administration ripped children out of their parents arms to intentionally torment and traumatize them. Allowing them to set the standard of care for immigrant children is like letting the fox guard the henhouse.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
These rules fail to meet the legal requirements established in the Flores Settlement agreement, which requires that all children be treated with "dignity, respect, and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors."

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
Simply put, this attempt by the Trump administration to destroy Flores should not move forward.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
DHS’s own advisors recommended that DHS should discontinue & “detention is generally neither appropriate nor necessary for families - and that detention the separation of families for purposes of immigration enforcement or management are never in the best interest of children.”
The Administration is failing to protect children even with the Flores standard in place. Children suffer cruel & abusive treatment in detention facilities, including family detention facilities, where they have been starved, taunted, physically assaulted @ forced to strip naked.
At the Karnes family detention center in Texas, which incarcerates recently reunited families, authorities intentionally recreated trauma for children by tearing them away from their parents again to punish parents for protesting inhumane treatment.
In July, a federal judge ordered the Trump Administration to remove children from a detention center that was using psychotropic drugs as a “chemical straitjacket” -- just one example of the torture children experience in detention.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
The judge also ordered an independent monitor to review alleged abuses at other child detention centers along the border.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
Eliminating the Flores Settlement is an attempt to end court oversight of the administration’s treatment of immigration children and prevent independent monitoring of the detention facilities.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
This is not the time to allow DHS, the agency responsible for the abuse and separation of children, to regulate itself.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
Eliminating the Flores Settlement is an attempt to end court oversight of the administration’s treatment of immigration children and prevent independent monitoring of the detention facilities.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
The proposed rule also allows both DHS & ORR to reevaluate whether a child is unaccompanied even after a child's case has begun--a move that could strip children of critical child-appropriate protections and procedures, and frustrate access to due process&humanitarian protection.
This subjects children to harsh questioning by DHS at nearly any encounter with immigration officials, including at the moment of requesting asylum.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
Moreover, many children will face this alone, without the help of a lawyer, as there is no appointed counsel for children in deportation proceedings.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
The regulations themselves cite family detention as an “effective enforcement tool” -- a clear admission that the Administration is focused not on protecting the basic safety and health of children under Flores but on carrying out draconian punishments on asylum-seeking families.
This attempt by the administration to manipulate the rules is nothing more than a ploy to further abuse and traumatize immigrant children and violate their human rights. #FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree
Children do not belong behind bars. Replacing family separation with family incarceration will only subject children to more trauma and abuse.

#FamiliesBelongTogetherANDFree

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More from @Alyssa_Milano

Oct 7, 2018
ENOUGH BEING SAD.

LET’S GET TO WORK!!

There are six Republican incumbents running for Senate re-election.

All six of them voted to confirm Kavanaugh.

Here's how to support their opponents (THREAD):
1. Mississippi Special Election VOTE FOR: @espyforsenate
DONATE: secure.actblue.com/donate/espy

#KavanaughKarma
2. MISSISSIPPI SENATE ELECTION
Vote For: @dbaria
DONATE: secure.actblue.com/donate/baria_w…

#KavanaughKarma
Read 7 tweets
Oct 6, 2018
My thoughts on this sad day for America (a thread):

Right-wing & corporate special interests selected this nominee and propped up his nomination with tens of millions of dollars in dark money.

We need to prioritize protecting our courts, which starts with retaking the Senate.
They picked Kavanaugh because they know he is a reliable vote; he is a lifelong foot soldier for these interests, a political operative who became one of the most partisan ideological judges in the country.
That they supported Kavanaugh despite his obvious and disqualifying flaws - temperament, dishonesty, rabid partisanship, credible accusations of sexual assault - speaks to how beholden they are to these special interest powers, and how critical the Court is in their plan.
Read 10 tweets
Sep 7, 2018
A summary of just a few critical moments that should TERRIFY YOU from Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing.

(SCREAMING-AT-THE-TOP-OF-MY-LUNGS- THREAD)

#StopKavanaugh
JUDGE KAVANAUGH REFUSED TO SAY HE WOULD UPHOLD WOMEN’S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS UNDER ROE V. WADE.

#StopKavanaugh
JUDGE KAVANAUGH REFUSED TO SAY IT WAS WRONG TO FIRE SOMEONE BECAUSE OF THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATION OR STATE AN OPINION ON MARRIAGE EQUALITY.

#StopKavanaugh
Read 12 tweets
Sep 6, 2018
America! Take note! What happened today was an act of patriotism by Senator Booker for the people. But maybe it’s what happened next was most outstanding—the entire @SenateDems in the judiciary committee stood with Booker and therefore stood with the American people. 1/5
The @GOP wants you to believe that they are the party for the people. The way they want you to believe this is by just repeating the words over and over. Words are just words. What actionable items have the Republicans done for the American people? 2/5
Weren’t we taught actions speak louder than words? Think about which party fights for your right to healthcare and equality — which party fights for your right to live out the American Dream by giving those willing to work hard for it, every possibility to achieve it. 3/5
Read 5 tweets
Aug 23, 2018
So, @BetsyDeVos is considering allowing states to use federal funding to purchase guns for educators.

Here’s what that money would be taken away from: 

(Thread) 1/7
#NoRA #BooksNotGuns
Title IV, Part A, is the mechanism through which community schools, 21st century and afterschool programs are funded.  Authorized at $1.6 billion in FY 2018, Title IV a block grant with 3 basic activities.

#NoRA #BooksNotGuns 2/7
•Providing students with a well-rounded education (e.g., college and career counseling, STEM, music and arts, civics, IB/AP, computer science)

#NoRA #BooksNotGuns 3/7
Read 7 tweets
Aug 11, 2018
Heather Heyer was tragically killed one year ago in an act of domestic terrorism in Charlottesville, Virginia.

She was protesting the bigotry of neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and other white nationalists when she was plowed down by a car. She was 32 years old.

(THREAD)
Heather was in Charlottesville that day because she felt an innate pull to defend our country from the infestation of racism and hatred.

She was our representation--of good. Of peace. Of light.
Wake up America. Talk about race with your children. Especially now. Raise a fearless Heather in all her strength and glory.

Be brave for humanity.
Read 5 tweets

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