Approximately 200 children who were separated from their parents at the border have still not been reunified with their parents. Additionally, the zero-tolerance policy that seeks to criminally prosecute all people arriving at the border continues, and there are efforts to expand the detention of children and their parents. As we face continuous policy changes that harm children and families seeking protection in the U.S., Congress has an important role to play in allocating funds for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Join the Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC) and hundreds of people of faith in a national call-in day, Wednesday, September 26^th to ask your Member of Congress to reject family separation and detention and champion alternatives that honor the human dignity of all.

Family detention is inhumane and unnecessary. Community-based alternatives, such as the Family Case Management Program (FCMP), are humane, cost-effective and successful in ensuring families continue their immigration cases. Families that used the FCMP had a 99% compliance rate in continuing their immigration process. In addition, while family detention costs $319.37 per person per day, the FCMP costs $36 per day per family. Beyond punishing children and parents who have already been through a difficult journey to arrive in the U.S., there is no reason to continue to spend our tax dollars expanding detention.

You can act today by joining IIC’s Call-in day rejecting family separation and detention.

1. Call your Members of Congress.​ Dial the IIC line (866) 940-2439 three times to be connected to your 2 Senators and 1 Representative. You can use this sample script for guidance, although your own story can also be influential:

“I am your constituent from [CITY/TOWN], and [as a person of faith] I urge my Senator/Representative to reduce funding for immigration detention, deportation, and border militarization. Enforcement alone without underlying reform is causing harm in my community and tearing families apart.

“I also urge my Senator/Representative to reject family detention. Detaining children with their parents is not a solution to family separation. Rather than detention, Congress and the administration should use and invest in community-based alternatives to detention such as the Family Case Management Program. The administration must end ‘zero-tolerance’ criminal prosecution of families and asylum seekers for crossing the border, and immediately reunify families already separated. My community welcomes and values immigrants, and we urge you to do the same.”

2. Share on Social Media: ​Share the same message with your Senators & Representatives on social media.

Go to the Interfaith Immigration Coalition’s Summary Sheet to learn about more actions you can take to support children and families seeking protection.

“I was so moved,” said Elena Robles of a talk she heard about stress and farmers near the end of her term as a Hunger Fellow with the ELCA Advocacy office. Farm Bill conferees are engaged in the task of bridging differences between the Senate’s (S.034) Agriculture Improvement Act and the House of Representative’s (HR.2) Agriculture and Nutrition Act, aiming for Farm Bill consideration before upcoming midterm elections. The speaker Robles heard, Matt Perdue, shares his insights here with us about very human elements the Farm Bill addresses.

By guest blogger Matt Perdue, Government Relations Representative for National Farmers Union

There is a lot that weighs on a farmer’s mind. Farming is a tough occupation. Unpredictable weather, staggering financial risk, volatile markets, and the strain of heavy workloads are all routine aspects of a life in farming. Spend a few minutes in a small town coffee shop, and you quickly realize that the struggles of farming often dominate those conversations. Farmers are comfortable talking about their stressors. What they rarely acknowledge is their actual stress.

The reality is that mental health struggles among the farming population is a persistent and growing problem. Farmers and agricultural workers have a much higher rate of suicide than the general population. This is exacerbated by the fact that 60 percent of rural residents live in areas that suffer from mental health professional shortages. When farmers do acknowledge their stress, they often find that there’s nowhere to turn for help.

Farmers are under greater stress today than anything most have experienced since the 1980s. Net farm income has declined for five years and is now less than half of what it was in 2013. As trade uncertainty compounds already low commodity prices, experts suggest that a rebound could be years away. While the economic challenges aren’t necessarily the same as those of the 1980s, many worry that a similar farm suicide crisis is brewing.

Many are optimistic that a new Farm Bill will, at the very least, bring farmers and ranchers a desperately needed measure of certainty. Among the legislation’s hundreds of pages is the farm safety net, which supports farmers when market forces make it all but impossible to turn a profit. It includes credit programs that can keep a farmer afloat between the costs of planting and the revenues of harvest. The Farm Bill also includes programs covering conservation, trade promotion, rural development, renewable energy, and everything in between.

As Congress makes progress toward passing a new Farm Bill, a bipartisan group of legislators has worked diligently to address the agricultural community’s growing need for mental health services. Led by Congressmen Tom Emmer and Tom O’Halleran, and Senators Tammy Baldwin and Joni Ernst, the coalition has resurrected a long-forgotten and never-funded program: the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network.

FRSAN was established in the 2008 Farm Bill to provide grants to extension services and nonprofit organizations that offer stress assistance programs to farmers, ranchers and farmworkers. The program would fund farm hotlines and websites, community outreach and education, support groups, and home delivery of assistance. In short, FRSAN helps communities better support farmers when they need it most.

The Senate and House have each passed their versions of the Farm Bill, and each includes reauthorization of FRSAN. As they hurriedly work to reach agreement and pass a final product, it’s important that a strong and diverse coalition of groups continues to advocate for the inclusion of the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network. It’s important that members of Congress hear from farmers, health providers and the faith-based community about the need to better support our agricultural community.

Beyond the Farm Bill and far from the politics of Washington, it’s equally important that we continue the conversation around farmer mental health. We need to educate members of our communities to better recognize and respond to the signs of distress. We must also identify those mental health resources and services available in rural areas and leverage those to better serve our agricultural population. Most importantly, we need to make sure that when the stress mounts, farmers have somewhere to turn.