BREAKING: House Republicans abandon refugee children

The refugee children is a humanitarian and moral crisis.  But when this message arrives with all the other hysterical please for money and action, it has no effect.  Well, that's not quite true.  It has the effect of trivializing the lives of the children, as they are piled together with all the other crying from the Democratic Party.

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Charles Chamberlain, Democracy for America" <info@democracyforamerica.com>

Subject: BREAKING: House Republicans abandon refugee children

Date: July 31, 2014 at 4:14:48 PM EDT

To:

Reply-To: info@democracyforamerica.com

Christine --

"I don't want to go back to my country because I don't want to die."

That's what 15-year-old Saul Martinez told Congressional officials last Tuesday. Saul is just one voice speaking for tens of thousands of children who are trapped on the U.S. border right now after fleeing unthinkable violence in their home countries.

Republicans want Americans to think this is a border crisis -- but it isn't.

These children are refugees fighting to stay alive. They've come to America for our help and sending them home or not is literally a question of life or death. Yet House Republicans couldn't muster the political will to take any action at all to help them, thanks to the meddling of Sen. Ted Cruz and other hardcore Tea Party politicians.

It's time to stop letting Republicans play politics with children's lives. If Congress won't act, President Obama must.

Don't let racists in Congress hold back lifesaving services from child refugees in need. Tell President Obama to reclassify unaccompanied minors from violent Central American countries as refugees and send in FEMA to provide emergency food, water, and shelter immediately.

If the President leads, Americans will support him.

A new poll released Tuesday by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 69% of Americans believe that children from violent Central American countries should be treated as refugees and be allowed to stay here.

That's right, 7 in 10 Americans think these children deserve proper shelter -- in homes, not detention centers -- and legal assistance while we find long-term solutions to their situation.

But this polling shouldn't be a surprise. Americans have a long history of helping refugees escaping violent, dangerous, and corrupt regimes. Just over 30 years ago, over 125,000 refugees escaped from Cuba during the Mariel boatlift and were received with open arms. The U.S. government even orchestrated the acceptance of over 14,000 Cuban children during "Operation Peter Pan."

We did it then, because we did what was right. Americans know that children are not "invaders" -- no matter what the Tea Party would have them believe. Now, it's up to President Obama to act.

Tell the Obama Administration to stand with the American people now: Stop treating the children at the border like criminals who need to be punished. Give them the refugee status they deserve and the humanitarian care they need.

Reports from detention centers are appalling. Children being kept in kennels. Tent cities in desert heat with not enough water or supplies.

That's not who we are as Americans. There's simply no excuse for Democrats to be cowed by Republicans trying to make this about politics. We are better than that -- and it is well past time for the administration to take action and prove it.

- Charles

Charles Chamberlain, Executive Director
Democracy for America

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