Have You Ever Worked With Migrant Children? We Want to Hear From You

Help us shed light on the effects of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy.

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Do you currently work with migrant children, or have you ever worked with them? Mother Jones wants to hear from you.

The Trump administration’s new “zero tolerance” policy has led to thousands of families being separated at the border. After widespread outcry, President Donald Trump signed an executive order largely ending the practice on Wednesday. Rather than separating parents from children, agencies must now detain families together on a temporary basis. The order also called for the attorney general to modify the Flores settlement, a court decision that prohibited children from being detained for longer than 20 days. Changing the Flores settlement could allow the Trump administration to detain families indefinitely, but it will likely face legal challenges. The administration’s zero-tolerance policy will remain in place, however, and little information has been offered as to how the administration plans to handle the reunification of thousands of children with their parents.

In light of these new developments, we want to hear from people who have worked with migrant families and children. Have you worked in a shelter or detention facility, or as a lawyer representing some of these kids? Have you worked with kids after they have been released? Or, has your family been affected by this new separation policy? Help us shed light on the effects of these policies and how they affect you or your work.   

Get in touch with us through this form below, or email us at talk@motherjones.com. You can also reach out to us securely via the Signal app at 202-809-1049, or through our proton mail account at mother_jones_mag at protonmail.com. (Read more about other ways to securely communicate with us here.)

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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