URGENT: In its last months in office, the Trump Administration is seeking to deport vulnerable children and their parents from the Berks Family Residential Center and the South Texas Family Residential Center. (thread)

These parents and children fled unspeakable violence in their home countries in Haiti, Central America and South America. For many of them, deportation is tantamount to a death sentence. /2

Included is this group is a girl (15) who fled Honduras after gang members tried to torture, rape, and kill her; a boy (14) who fled domestic violence and human trafficking in Guatemala; a three-year-old who was ripped from his mother’s arms and held captive by gang members... /3

There's also a four-year-old girl whose father was violently murdered in Honduras immediately prior to her journey to the United States; a 16-year-old girl who was stripped naked, sliced with a knife, and almost raped by gang members in El Salvador; and so many more. /4

Katherin, 14 yrs old, wrote about her experience: “I don’t have the warmth of family anymore, I feel alone & sad...Our lives are also in danger because of so many people who are infected with COVID-19. Please, I implore you...I don’t want to spend another Christmas locked up.” /5

Jhoselyn, 11—and his sisters Zoe, 8 & Emily, 6—wrote: “We have been locked up here for 11 months already, we spent our birthdays here & it’s very hard...I can’t stand it anymore & I cry a lot… Please, I don’t want them to separate us. My sisters & I can’t go back to Ecuador.” /6

Juan David, 11 years old, wrote: “I’m afraid that the gangsters will hurt me..That’s why I ask God to soften the hearts of the asylum officers and that I can go live with my aunt and uncle in New York…I want to have a normal life...Here, I always have a headache and anxiety.” /7

. @SenBooker & I are calling on @DHSgov to halt the deportation of these 28 children & parents, immediately release them to sponsors & allow them to present their claims for asylum. DHS should be focused on protecting our national security, not innocents fleeing danger & violence