The Trump administration has cooked up a vile new scheme: ripping children away from their parents in order to discourage immigration. Separating families is more than cruel and unnecessary – it’s torture.

ICE, Border Patrol, and other Homeland Security agencies are taking the children of immigrants and asylum-seekers and sending them to faraway detention centers. It doesn’t matter how young the child, how terrible their situation, or how unnecessary their separation. They have one goal in mind: to warn immigrants not to come here, or else they might lose their children.

But the Trump administration is showing signs that it will bend to public pressure. That tells us that if enough of us raise our voices, we can end this practice for good.

Recently the ACLU filed a lawsuit to reunite Ms. L and her seven-year-old daughter, who were separated for four months. Mother and daughter had traveled a long journey from the Democratic Republic of Congo to reach the United States, where they hoped to find safety. Instead, at the border ICE agents forcibly removed the child, who cried and screamed for her mother.

The Trump administration is sending the clear message that immigrants aren’t welcome here – and they don’t mind sacrificing constitutional rights and basic human decency just to get that across. They want to scare people away from coming to this country to seek a better life and aren’t afraid to admit it.Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen even said so herself: “We're looking at a variety of ways to enforce our laws to discourage parents from bringing their children here.”

We have the power change this cruel policy - if enough of us raise our voices. Sign this petition to tell Homeland Security to end the vicious and inhumane practice of separating children from their families.