George and Amal Clooney believe families belong together, and they’re putting their money where their mouths are. In response to the immigration crisis wherein children are reportedly being separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, the high-profile Hollywood couple is making a sizable donation to help those families in dire need of assistance.
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Putting the crisis into a stark light for the Clooneys are their own children, twins Ella and Alexander, and how they’ll one day interpret what is happening now.
“At some point in the future, our children will ask us: ‘Is it true, did our country really take babies from their parents and put them in detention centers?’ And when we answer yes, they’ll ask us what we did about it. What we said. Where we stood. We can’t change this administration’s policy but we can defend the victims of it,” the Clooneys said in a statement to People.
To that end, they elaborated, “Today, the Clooney Foundation for Justice will donate $100,000 to the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.”
According to the center’s website, their mission is to champion the interests of unaccompanied immigrant children with due regard to the child’s expressed wishes and to act as trusted allies for these children during deportation proceedings.
Maria Woltjen, the Young Center’s executive director, expressed the organization’s gratitude to the Clooneys for their gesture, saying, “We are doing everything we can to advocate on behalf of the thousands of children who are separated and alone, and we are grateful for the generous support of George and Amal Clooney and the Clooney Foundation for Justice — it could not have been more vital at this time.”
Woltjen also echoed the Clooneys sentiments toward the nation’s new zero-tolerance immigration policy.
“This Administration’s policy disregards international law and basic principles of human decency,” she told People. “To treat children in such a cruel manner not only violates their legal rights but also their basic needs.”
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Per the Associated Press, more than 2,300 children have been taken from their parents since the White House announced and enacted this stringent policy in early May.
It’s heartening to see the Clooneys once again make a donation to a cause they care about in an effort to help those in need. Hopefully, their example is one that will be followed in the days and weeks to come.
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