“Hi my name is Lucy, I want you to know you’re not alone,” says one of the 4,000 letters the non-profit TODEC has collected for the thousands of undocumented children being held at detention centers, isolated from the outside world.
“These are letters that express love and express hope, something they are not seeing withing the centers
The campaign called letters of love to kids was started by children volunteers who come from immigrant households themselves who wanted to do something for the children … The letters from across the country are in Spanish …
“Mi familia, mis amigos y mi gato estamos pensando y orando por ti,” reads the letter, which translates into: My family, my friends and my cat are thinking of you and praying for you.
Luz Gallegos who is with the non profit and is accredited by Department of Justice to practice immigration law says the deadline not being met to reunite children under the age of five with their parents is catastrophic on many levels, “What we’re seeing right now is a crisis and it’s not only for our families but also as a nation how we continue seeing the administration drop the ball,” adding the children are bearing the burden of our broken immigration system, “with the family separation the crisis that we’re seeing with the kids and the parents is the crisis as far as trauma, just being there they are going through trauma.”
She says judges having to explain immigration law to babies drinking from bottles in legal proceedings is a new low, “Definitely we’re in a totally different reality.”
But she says whether it’s voting, educating people on their rights or campaigns like letters of love to kids are actions that will change hearts and minds, “It’s a way of us as community that we’re bringing the support to the kids and to know that they’re not alone.”
To send a letter to be delivered to a child to a detention center address it to:
TODEC
P.O. Box 1733
Perris, CA 92570
They prefer they be in Spanish but they say you are welcome to send love in any language.
