“It is becoming increasingly clear that the goal of this White House is to cripple the U.S. refugee program.”
— J. Kevin Appleby, the senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies.
According to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Berkshire County has the most diverse foreign-born population of any county in the state.
"It’s about recording those ‘aha!’ moments, those flashes of recognition for younger family members to better understand who they themselves are, why they do what they do, the spark that started it all, and how it passes down through the generations.” -- Mark Farrell
To me it is fundamentally obvious that racism is at the heart of those most loyal to Trump. Underlying meaning of “Make America Great” again is really “Make America White Again.”
In her letter to the editor, Joanne Rogovin writes: "An estimated 500 men, women and children filled the hill next to the GB shrubbery, protesting the separation and detention of children and families at the Mexican border."
When children’s needs for comfort and connection are not addressed, their confusion and desperation can lead to lasting emotional and social deterioration.
This time, thankfully, the free press that our president mocks day after day as fake gave us the chance to hear firsthand from these mothers and fathers and their children, to see for ourselves the cages the children were sent to and to hear their cries.
The separation of the families originally began when, on April 6, the Department of Justice announced the original “zero tolerance” policy requiring officials to prosecute as many immigrants illegally entering the country on the southern border as possible.
Imagine fleeing for your life, walking, yes WALKING, about 1,500 miles with only the clothes on your back and a rucksack with a few minor possessions. Once here, ICE agents bind your hands with zip ties and steal your children.
"As soon as it was announced, we had people on the ground. We started speaking with people and urging them to share their stories about how this affects them." --Jeff Lowenstein, Berkshire Interfaith Organizing
"It was unfathomable to me that this president could do something so cruel, so un-American and, quite honestly, something that's just bad policy."
-- Brooke Mead, director of the Berkshire Immigrant Center
“The new federal action will create significant concern for the estimated 10,000 immigrants in Berkshire County as they face yet another anti-immigrant message from this White House."
--- Brooke Mead, director of the Berkshire Immigrant Center
For its new leader, the search panel chose a familiar face, Brooke Mead, who has been at BIC for 15 years, for many of those years the center’s only full-time staff member.