Veterans Group Teams With Grandmothers For Humanitarian Action At US-Mexico Border

Less than a week ago Citizen Truth confirmed that Veterans Service Corps (VSC) and Grannies Respond were coming together to provide humanitarian aid for immigrants seeking asylum at the United States-Mexico border. From their combined press release:

Veterans from Standing Rock to facilitate and mobilize veterans in support of “granny caravans” traveling to McAllen, Texas, on August 6th for 24 hours of action July 23rd, 2018 – Grannies Respond and Veteran Service Corps announced a partnership today to mobilize Americans to the US-Mexico border on August 6th, 2018, for 24 hours of action, including rallies, vigils, and volunteering with local organizations. In support of Grannies Respond, the Veteran Service Corps will offer expertise by providing trained personnel on the ground to facilitate the arrival of the caravans in McAllen, Texas. In partnership with local organizations and activists who have been active in supporting asylum seekers and refugees for decades, VSC will ensure that the caravans will make an impact on their 24-hour stay.

Later in the week, VSC released a call to action reaching out to fellow Veterans who may have an interest in aiding Grannies Respond in their excursion to McAllen, Texas. The entirety of that press release is below:

Grannies Respond is caravanning from New York, and across the country, to McAllen, Tx to call attention to the border crisis. They have requested Veteran Service Corps assistance with their mission. Specifically, they are asking for veterans to join the caravan, meet them at cities along the way and/or, meet them in McAllen, Tx., on August 6-7, for a march and rally. Further information about the caravans and their travel plans is available at https://www.granniesrespond.org/

Veteran Service Corps is calling on veterans to support local action assisting Grannies Respond. You may not be able to join a caravan or get to McAllen, but how about welcoming the Grannies as they come through a city near you, attending their rally, or collecting spare change to help with gas costs. If you are a veteran and want to join this worthy endeavor, please complete the form here:

http://bit.ly/VetsGranniesVolunteer

Once the form is completed a VSC volunteer will contact you to discuss your participation options. All veterans interested in participating must be able to self-fund and be self-sustaining. We cannot guarantee travel reimbursement. This operation is one of a number that Veteran Service Corps is currently running. Our ongoing undertaking, Operation Eagle, in South Dakota is active and is not affected by our collaboration with Grannies Respond. To learn more about what we are doing please visit our website:

www.vscamerica.org

If you cannot participate directly with VSC please donate to the VSC operational fund, you can donate here:

http://bit.ly/VSCoperations

If you wish to donate directly to Grannies Respond, please visit their donation page at:

https://www.granniesrespond.org/

Veteran Service Corps is dedicated to supporting human, civil and constitutional rights for all. This is the reason we formed the organization after Standing Rock, and why we are supporting efforts on behalf of refugees seeking asylum at our southern border. If you have questions, please email them to: [email protected]

The action came after an April announcement by Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he stated, “The situation at our Southwest Border is unacceptable. Congress has failed to pass effective legislation that serves the national interest—that closes dangerous loopholes and fully funds a wall along our southern border. As a result, a crisis has erupted at our Southwest Border that necessitates an escalated effort to prosecute those who choose to illegally cross our border,” according to the United States Justice Department.

According to CBS Session would say that the ‘zero tolerance’ policy ‘may’ cause families to be separated at the border in May. “We don’t want to separate families, but we don’t want families to come to the border illegally and attempt to enter into this country improperly. The parents are subject to prosecution while children may not be. So, if we do our duty and prosecute those cases, then children inevitably for a period of time might be in different conditions,” Sessions would also state in May.

“It’s still not clear how many children have been separated from families under the zero-tolerance policy, or how many remain separated. Trump administration officials have said 2,342 children were separated from 2,206 parents between May 5 through June 9. Mr. Trump’s order stopped separations on June 20,” CBS reported on July 9th.

On July 26th, Time gave the following report:

As of Thursday morning, the government said it reunited 1,442 children 5 and older with their parents in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. An additional 378 were reunited with parents in different locations around the country or given to sponsors, who are often relatives or close family members.

That leaves about 700 who remain apart, including 431 children whose parents have been deported, officials say. Those reunions take more effort and paperwork as authorities fly children back to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.