A distraught but determined 6-year-old Salvadoran girl repeatedly pleads for
someone to call her aunt. Just one call, she begs anyone who will listen. She says
she’s memorized the phone number, and at one point, rattles it off to a consular
representative. ‘My mommy says that I’ll go with my aunt,’ she whimpers, ‘and
that she’ll come to pick me up there as quickly as possible.’”- Recording from
inside a child detention centre in McAllen, Texas released to ProPiblica.org.
This recording is one of the many devastating examples of the criminal
treatment of children at the hands of the U.S. government that brought
hundreds of thousands of people to the streets on Saturday, June 30. On
this day, actions were held in over 780 cities in the United States, Canada
and around the world demanding an end to the Trump administration’s
inhuman immigration policies of separating and detaining families.
March On - Vancouver organized a rally at the U.S. Consulate in
Downtown Vancouver. The powerful action brought together people
from all walks of life, including many families and children with brightly
coloured signs. Importantly, the rally program also included a focus on the
government of Canada’s immigration policies that also detain children,
and tear families apart, including words from refugees trying to build a life
here in Vancouver. Speakers also addressed the government of Canada’s
criminal treatment of Indigenous children and families, including forced
separations.
Following the speakers, there was a short and energetic march to the
Trump Tower. There, more speakers shared their condemnation of the
government’s the U.S. and Canada’s inhuman treatment of migrants and
refugees, and people were encouraged to sign an online petition sponsored
by the New Democratic Party (NDP) MP Jenny Kwan demanding that
Canada cancel the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S. This
treaty forces migrants to make their claim for asylum in the U.S., if they
arrive there prior to coming to Canada.
Leading up to and since June 30, there have also been continued protests
in many U.S. cities in front of the offices of the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) agency responsible for tearing families apart through
deportation.
As peace-loving people in Canada and around the world, we have the
responsibility to demand that the government of Canada and the U.S
open the borders immediately to all migrants and refugees fleeing wars,
occupations and economic devastation. It is the governments of the U.S.
and Canada themselves that have imposed on the world such a terrible
inequality and imbalance that 68.5 million people were forcibly displaced
in 2017. Let us join together in solidarity with people in the U.S. out on
the streets fighting for an end to the criminal immigration policies of the
U.S. government!
Follow Alison on Twitter: @Alisoncolette
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