Quick reminder for orgs, institutions, academics, and journalist who use the #migrantchildrenarechil

Quick reminder for orgs, institutions, academics, and journalist who use the #migrantchildrenarechildren hashtag and who disattach it from its origin and call to action. #migrantchildrenarechildren came from a place of urgency and demand to shift the language when it came to speaking about “unaccompanied minors” . I noticed that even in our advocacy spaces and journalism that these children where being spoken and advocated for as data/ statistic/ as “adults”/ almost inhuman figures. THESE ARE CHILDREN not talking points!!! THESE ARE CHILDREN !!! 3 years ago I created the hashtag - me, someone who was also a child when I left my home country and migrated to reunite with my parents. I was 5 years old. I asked fellow #undocumented / #migrant folks who also migrated when they were children to share their story with their childhood photo as a social media intervention and in solidarity with the children that were being called “unaccompanied minors” and their childhoodness were being erased. It was a call to action during that time to support efforts on the ground around the many children who were migrating and seeking asylum ( many South and Central American children) and to highlight the case of
Jakelin Ameí Rosmery Caal Maquin who died in Border Patrol custody. This is part of a larger conversation of how things get watered down or erase or disattached . If you are using the hashtag remember its origin, cite it, and remember Jakelin Ameí Rosmery Caal Maquin and the many children that have died at the border and or in the hands of immigration or at detention centers.

[ second slide image is #art by @broobs.psd ] #migrantchildrenarechildren #undocumented #migrant #migration
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