Protect Families–Cut Detention and Deportation Funding!

Last week, the news was filled with reports about the death of a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl in Border Patrol custody with her father for less than 48 hours. Though an investigation will yield more information, Jakelin Caal Maquín became ill after arriving to the United States, needed resuscitation twice, and ultimately did not receive the necessary medical care to save her life. Hers was a preventable death, the result of inhumane immigration policies and illegal restrictions on asylum seekers which consign people fleeing violence and poverty to untenable journeys, months of hardship, and inadequate or withheld services upon arrival at the border.

It cannot be stated often enough: Seeking asylum is a human right as well as international and U.S. law. Jakelin and her father should never have found themselves in such dire circumstances. Please join the KBI and the Church World Service (CWS) in calling on Congress to slash funding for detention, deportation, and border militarization, policies that are devastating and life-threatening to migrants and asylum seekers. CWS has provided more information and the means to contact your representatives here: https://greateras1.org/urgent-tell-congress-to-protect-families-and-cut-funding-for-detention-deportations-and-border-militarization/. Thank you for taking action and making your voice heard!