One year ago this week, then Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice would implement a “zero tolerance” policy.
As a result thousands of migrants fleeing poverty and violence were cruelly separated from their children. Many were mothers who had walked thousands of miles in search of a better life—mothers like Emiliana, who, with her daughter Emily, came to the United States from Guatemala seeking asylum over a year ago with only the clothes they had on their backs.
These migrant mothers were met at the U.S.-Mexico border with an unconscionable policy that tears at the core values of our nation—babies ripped from the arms of their mothers and thrown into cages.
Images of what was happening to children at the border shocked the American conscience. Average people, with mothers and women at the forefront, stood up to say that this was unacceptable. They organized more than 700 protests on June 30 last year, and hundreds of thousands of people turned out across all 50 states.
Nearly 3,000 children were separated from their families under the zero-tolerance policy, and thousands more were likely separated before the official policy was formally announced. The total number of separated children is unknown—because the government office responsible for refugees never developed a coordinated tracking system. The administration recently claimed it could take up to two years to reunify children and parents because U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not start collecting information from separated families until well after the practice had started.
Today countless children remain separated from their families due to the Trump administration’s inhumane policies. Emiliana has been able to remain with her daughter while the Immigrant Defenders Law Center works to help her and her family, but heartbreak and separation is a common reality faced by too many.
Mothers and women were at the front lines of the resistance against this inhumane policy from the start, because that’s what we do. We are fiercely protective of our families, and we’ll do anything for those we love. As hundreds of moms remain separated from their children this Mother’s Day, women will fight for them.
The Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign and Families Belong Together (FBT) are mobilizing mothers across the country to help end family separation by drawing attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the border. The campaign is in honor of all mothers who had to face the unfathomable, who would move heaven and earth for their families, and who are going to sleep tonight without their children.
Sometimes just wrapping your mind around what is happening at the border is overwhelming, and it’s easy to feel that one person can’t make a difference. But Dolores Huerta once said, “Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.”
In that spirit, Phenomenal Mother is an invitation for all people to make a powerful statement and to raise awareness in solidarity with the mothers at the border. It’s a simple way to advocate for dignity, unity, and compassion for all children and families. It’s also an occasion to pause and reflect. In an increasingly busy world, it’s easy to get lost in your to-do list, but the campaign is a reminder to remember your compassion. Each of us has the power to speak out and make a difference on the issues we care about, and you never know where that discrete act of civic engagement will lead you.
There are lots of opportunities to get involved. Perhaps it’s proudly sharing a picture of yourself wearing your Phenomenal Mother shirt. Or maybe starting a conversation with your neighbors about what’s happening at the border. Or heading to familiesbelongtogether.org to get updates about the next demonstration, or to get connected to a local advocacy group that is taking action in your community.
It’s important that we as a nation ensure those who were affected by this horrific policy have all the resources and support they need to begin the healing process—in fact, it’s our moral obligation to do so.
Join us to make sure that next year, on Mother’s Day, no mother will be separated from her child.
Meena Harris is the founder of the Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign. Ai-jen Poo is the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and codirector of the Caring Across Generations campaign. Proceeds from the Phenomenal Mother campaign support Families Belong Together, an organization that was born thanks to the protests that swept the nation last year.
