The Big Picture:
On May 20, 2026, MomsRising MOMbassador and mom-of-three Jean Nguyen brought her family to join children and family detention as well as immigration advocacy groups and organizations in Washington D.C. for the “Fund Care, Not ICE!” event, speaking out against family and child detention centers. The message is clear: fund care, not ICE!
Jean joined MomsRising and Mamás con Poder as well as other advocacy groups such as the National Coalition to End Family and Child Detention, the Read Them Home initiative, the Fund Care, Not ICE campaign, National Domestic Workers Alliance, NEA Today, Families Over Billionaires, MoveOn, Working Families Party, CASA, and more to speak out against the Republican-led budget reconciliation bill that gives $70 billion in funding for an out-of-control ICE and CBP, and Trump’s ballroom.
Moms like Jean and other passionate advocates share their stories on why Congress must end child and family detention centers, and instead invest in health care, child care, aging and disability care, food assistance, and lowering costs for families.
Engaged moms like Jean, caregivers, and people who love them in the DC, Maryland, or Virginia area can sign up to join MomsRising’s MOMbassadors program, who bring the voices of moms, parents, and caregivers to our country’s leaders when they need to hear them most.
On a bright, hot, muggy day, MomsRising MOMbassadors gathered our children, provisioned our diaper bags, and stroller-rolled into the Capitol. Our goal? To stand alongside the Honorable Stacy Abrams, community members, and collaborating organizations such as the National Coalition to End Family and Child Detention, the Read Them Home initiative, the Fund Care, Not ICE campaign, National Domestic Workers Alliance, NEA Today, Families Over Billionaires, MoveOn, Working Families Party, CASA, and many, many more, and thunderously tell our legislators to “Fund Care, Not ICE!”
Persevering Through the Heat to End Family Detention Centers
We braved the heat outdoors because:
This administration has detained 400,000 immigrants, “more than 93 percent of ICE book-ins were never convicted of any violent offenses.”
- More than 11,000 parents of US citizen children have been detained.
- Fifty-two known detainees have died in ICE custody around the country at this point in time.
- More than 6,200 children have been arrested by ICE at traffic stops, home raids, routine immigration check-in appointments, bus stops, hospitals, and airports.
- They suffer deplorable conditions, such as extreme temperatures, inadequate meals with rotten food and worms, health emergencies due to limited access to soap, clean water, and the spread of infectious disease in close quarters and unsanitary living conditions.
- They are imprisoned with no or extremely limited access to legal aid, school, books, crayons, play, and joy, stripping them of their childhood and subjecting them to trauma and human rights abuse.
- No one, let alone children, should be incarcerated without due process!
Powerful Stories from Advocates to Bring Them Home
As the sun and heat bore down on us and my daughter flitted and fluttered around, I was glad of my sunglasses. Not due to my sunscreen, but due to the testimony offered in the name of those not outside with us. Words offered by:
Justice-seeking leaders such as Representative Ayanna Pressley, stating: “No family should be torn apart by this government. No family should be detained…To every child and family detained at Dilley, know this Congressman loves you. You deserve to be safe. I’m proud to call you my neighbor. I will fight for your childhood like you are my own child.”
- Children such as Clara, who offered her own personal traumatizing testimony: “So many kids that I know, who are just like me, have been separated from their parents or sent to detention. I remember when my Dad was put in handcuffs and taken away from me when I was young. I cried so much. I remember the feeling in my stomach that I might never see him again. I didn’t know what was happening. And now, that’s a daily part of life for many kids in my community don’t deserve to live in fear of losing loved ones or being taken to detention themselves.”
“So many kids that I know, who are just like me, have been separated from their parents or sent to detention…. And now, that’s a daily part of life for many kids in my community don’t deserve to live in fear of losing loved ones or being taken to detention themselves.” — Clara, a child speaking out about her experiences with family detention centers
- MomsRising’s own Senior Director, Immigration, MCP, and Digital Strategy Linda Stone, who shared the story of two neighborhood children who witnessed the detention of a neighbor. “Sara and her two younger sisters in Utah. After ICE detained the mother of kids they played with in their neighborhood, the kids became terrified to leave their home or even go to school... Now the kids spend most of their time indoors, living in constant anxiety. No child should grow up carrying that kind of fear. What do we want? To free families! When do we need it? Now!”
- Beloved child icon and helper Mychal Threets, “It’s so important for me to show up because these are all of my library kids. I’m showing up in Washington DC to call for an end of family detention. It should never happen, it should never happen again. We want to bring them all home…Families should not be separated. They should be together. I hope they get to be in libraries, going to schools, going to spelling bees, going to parks...Being kids, being people who have access to care, to belonging. You have a chance to be on the right side of history, to be a helper, and I hope you make it.”
- National Domestic Workers Alliance’s President Ai-jen Poo, “The scale of family separation is almost unfathomable. But I think we have to try to understand it to wrap our heads around it. Think about filling Yankee Stadium two times over just with children, who have been torn apart from their families and loved ones in our country, under our watch…There are thousands of children who have been robbed of those basic, simple aspects of life that allow you to develop into a whole human being and realize your potential in life …It just feels so stunningly cruel and unacceptable.
It is wholly immoral and unconscionable. What’s more, the Republican-led budget reconciliation bill proposes an additional $38.2 billion dollars for ICE and $26 billion for Border Patrol funding for these two agencies through fiscal year 2029. This is in addition to the $75 billion allocated to ICE and the $65 billion to Border Patrol through the One Big Betrayal Bill. That very same bill cut nearly $1 trillion dollars from Medicaid, $536 billion from Medicare, and $211 billion from the ACA.
Rather than funding health care and care infrastructure (e.g. child care, public schools, hospitals, elder care, etc.), this administration seeks to fund cruelty, ripping children, families, and community members from our cities and towns. Incarcerating them in taxpayer-funded detention camps. Why is there always money for war, prisons, and ballrooms, but never for health care, schools, aging with dignity, and infrastructure communities actually need?
Sharing Affordability, Care-Centered Stories with Congressional Offices
With this burning question in mind, we took our sweaty, gummy, toothy, giggling, squirming, curious children and rolled through the cool, air-conditioned Congressional Halls, knocking on the doors of legislators (who have beautifully taxpayer-funded health care, paid maternity/paternity, and pensions, by the way). We parallel parked our strollers inside and met with the staff of Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, sharing Floridian constituent stories of #AffordabilityChaos and our concerns about the upcoming budget reconciliation bill, urging her office to fund care, not ICE. What began as a worried, hurried visit became an exchange and conversation. What began as a moment of encouragement, we fervently hope turns into across the aisle courage – that legislators take heed of the moment, take heed of our nation’s needs, and prioritize compassion over cruelty!
Join us. Call, write, and shout it from the rooftops. Tell your legislator to fund a care economy– not ICE. Not on our dime. Not in our time. And not in “We the People’s Name.” Let’s work together to #EndChildDetention and #EndFamilyDetention. Let’s #ReadThemHome!
Take Action!
- Call your legislators (or text CARE to 855-714-1332) and demand Republicans in Congress reject $70 billion in funding for an out-of-control ICE and CBP, and Trump’s ballroom, and instead invest in health care, child care, aging and disability care, food assistance, and lowering costs for families!
- Sign our petition to tell your Member of Congress to fund care, not ICE!
- Live in the DMV? Become a MomsRising MOMBassador!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of the “Fund Care, Not ICE!” event in Washington D.C. on May 20, 2026?
The purpose of the “Fund Care, Not ICE!” event in Washington D.C. is to demand Republicans in Congress reject $70 billion in funding for ICE and instead invest in health care, child care, aging and disability care, food assistance, and lowering costs for families!
What activities did MomsRising members like Jean participate in for the “Fund Care, Not ICE” event?
Members like Jean participated in the “Fund Care, Not ICE” event by listening to powerful testimonies from advocates like Representative Ayanna Pressley, children such as Clara who have experiences with family detention centers, MomsRising’s Senior Director, Immigration, MCP, and Digital Strategy Linda Stone, Beloved child icon and helper Mychal Threets, National Domestic Workers Alliance’s President Ai-jen Poo, as well as delivering storybooks about the affordability crisis to Congressional offices like Representative Maria Elvira Salazar's office and sharing concerns about the upcoming budget reconciliation bill.
How can people join events like the “Fund Care, Not ICE” in the future?
You can join MomsRising’s MOMbassador program for moms, caregivers, and people who love them in the DC, Maryland, or Virginia area who can bring the voices of moms, parents, and caregivers to our country’s leaders when they need to hear them most.
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