Heidi Li Feldman

First, let’s recall that last June thousands of us did participate in marches and rallies to express opposition to #familyseparation and zero tolerance as tools of US immigration policy. 2/

Last year’s efforts motivated litigation and action by Dem Senators to try to achieve family reunification. Mitch McConnell is the reason that bills to address the problem have not been enacted. In other words, we need to flip the Senate blue in 2020. 3/

But why no marches now, you ask? Well, one issue is getting them organized. Many groups are concentrating so hard on local, state, and fed elex they just don’t have the bandwith to focus on immigration horrors. 4/

We don’t have to find energy and resources each of us in isolation, however. Get involved with #CitizenPresence if you want to go to TX and help others go. 6/

We don’t need a million people to show up at or near detention centers all at once. We need a constant flow of Americans, in small and mid-sized groups publicly indicating that we would not accept these centers. And then we call attention to this flow. 7/

If you think about being part of an ever growing stream of individuals making the journey to Clinton or El Paso to bear witness and to protest, it is easier, IMO, to motivate yourself to act. 8/

If you act, if you start the drive or get a plane ticket, and get to El Paso to bear witness, to demonstrate you won’t be sitting there in frustration over the fact that nobody is marching. 9/

And by showing up, you will motivate other people to show up: you will give others confidence to turn out even if they have never traveled far to protest or bear witness. 10/

Also, by traveling to El Paso or Clint and being present at one of these wretched detention facilities, you will make it more usual for Americans to do likewise. And that will make it easier to gather larger numbers of people faster for necessary further action. 11/

In other words, not only is it morally imperative for people to get to El Paso and Clint bc of the horrible US govt action we know is happening there, it is useful for building all of our habits of collective action. 12/

That’s another reason there aren’t already marches over the unconscionable treatment of immigrant kids: Americans in the Trump-McConnell era are still building necessary habits of collective action in the face of government depriving people of all sorts of rights. 13/

It might feel strange to go to El Paso or Clint or to give funds to help somebody else go when there’s no “official” march, no website, no swag. Go and give anyway! #CitizenPresence 14/

If you want my help, you can DM me to be connected to others planning travel to El Paso and Clint. Or you can donate to this fund to help less well off travelers. https://paypal.me/pools/c/8fSpBEcR6O … 15/

Like anybody, I’m going to miss some messages, fail some people. But by working on getting people to Clint and El Paso, I am developing my own habits of engagement and collective action. Some people will think #CitizenPresence a bad idea or me undignified for working on it... 16/