Over 30 celebrities teamed up to tell the story of Mirian, a mother who was separated from her 18-month-old son at the Texas border.
Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and dozens of more celebrities teamed up to read a heartbreaking letter by Mirian, a mother from Honduras who was separated from her 18-month-old son at the Texas border earlier this year.
In a four-minute video shared by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) earlier this week, Amy Schumer, Oscar Issac, Glenn Close, Thandie Newton, Chadwick Boseman, Kumail Nanjiani, Lena Waithe, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kurt Russell, Riz Ahmed and more bring light to the ongoing troubles at the U.S.-Mexico border by reciting Mirian's emotional story.
Mirian begins by explaining that she and her son left Honduras to seek asylum and "protection from government violence." However, when she arrived to the U.S. she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and her child was taken from her.
"On February 20, 2018, my son and I crossed the international bridge in Brownsville, Texas, and presented ourselves to U.S. immigration officers,” the letter reads. “The US immigration officers then told me that they were taking my son from me. They said he would be going to one place and I would be going to another. I asked why the officers were separating my son from me. They did not provide any reason."
"I had no idea that I would be separated from my child for seeking help," she continues, adding that the immigration officers made her put her son in a car and quickly shut the door before letting her say goodbye to him. "I was going crazy wondering what was happening to my son."
Mirian has not been able to speak to her son or comfort him. A caseworker told her that her son has been calling for her and had a slight earache and cough. “I need to be able to hold him and reassure him that he is safe and that his mother is here for him," Mirian explains in her letter.
Roughly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border during a six-week period in April and May.
Trump signed an executive order on June 20 to reverse his policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. However, the administration's "zero tolerance" policy of prosecuting illegal border crossings remains in place, meaning families can still be held in detention centers.
According to section one of the new order, the administration will continue to prosecute crimes of "improper entry" and "maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources."
Hollywood has spoken out against the family separations and also showed their support for the Families Belong Together march on June 30.
See how other celebrities have reacted in the video below.
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