1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

I want you to read these quotes. They’re reports out of the Dilley, TX concentration camp. And while you read these, I want you to think about a child in your life whom you love. Your child. Your grandchild. A niece, a nephew, a godchild. I want you to hold that child’s image in your mind while you read this letter. I want you to imagine a world in which that child was not lucky enough (because that’s all it is- luck of the draw) to be born here. If you want to be ultra specific, imagine that child was not lucky enough to be born white middle to upper class American. And as you read, I want you to picture that child in a detention center living the horrors I’m about to list below. And tell me, would your response still be “blame the parents,” or “are they legal?," or “they have to pay for what their parents have done?” And this is not rhetorical. I want a genuine response from your office. “A two-year-old with an infected gum that Dilley staff did not treat for over 23 days, leading her to have a fever, infection, cry relentlessly, and be on a liquid diet the whole time" "The children chew their nails, many have regressed to wetting the bed again, they are all deteriorating psychologically.." "Parents are often particularly alarmed about their children's worsening mental health." “a 10-year-old child with Hirschsprung's disease who lacked proper medical care and diet resulting in no bowel movements for over a month" "[Workers] laugh at the kids' pain."); (staff laughed in child's face as he ripped up her drawing); (staff threatened to separate family when toddler wouldn't stop crying from untreated toothache). "A nine-year-old girl left scratch marks across her entire body due to allergies and no special diet provided." "The soap they have here hurts our skin and hair and make us break out in hives. It is making my and my daughter's hair fall out in big clumps." "My son has had a scaly rash all over his body from the water since week one and it never went away." "...throwing away the crayons for our security and so the children would not write more letters about the conditions at Dilley." ("[S]taff came into our room and took drawings from my daughters where they wrote down that they are in prison.") "Families consistently report their children are hungry, exhausted, perpetually sick, and despondent from the conditions of confinement at Dilley." "For any illness, the only advice is to drink more water, which is undrinkable." "Every day I am crying because there is not food for our son to eat.... I am so sad all the time that there is not baby food here." "...lights are still kept on all night while children try to sleep" "Children with disabilities and chronic medical conditions continue to deteriorate from Dilley's harsh, restrictive environment, separation from their medical providers, and interruption of their medical and mental health care plans." Any ONE of these things is torturous. It stands against human rights, and yet you sit there in your cushy office and tell us you’re “working on it.” How dare you? How dare you continue to wake up every day with the knowledge of what is happening on United States’ soil, and still do nothing? How dare you allow the children in your lives to persist in ignorance of what other children suffer here in these same United States of America? Now tell me. How did it feel to envision YOUR loved one in these situations? I’m asking. For real. WE THE PEOPLE demand answers.