The ACLU has released a video compilation of celebrities reading the affidavit of one migrant mother who was separated from her 18-month-old baby at the Texas border.
Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal spearheaded the project titled “My Name is Mirian,” which features more than 30 celebrities including her brother Jake Gyllenhaal, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chadwick Boseman, Lena Waithe, James Franco, Oscar Isaac, Alia Shawkat, Kumail Nanjiani, Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Riz Ahmed, Thandie Newton, Ilana Glazer, and many more.
In the letter, Mirian explains that she left Honduras with her baby on January 15, 2018 to seek asylum and “protection from government violence" after the military tear gassed her home. When she reached the Texas border, Customs and Border Patrol took her 18-month-old son out of her custody.
"On Feb. 20, 2018, my son and I crossed the international bridge in Brownsville, Texas, and presented ourselves to US immigration officers,” she wrote. "The US immigration officers then told me that they were taking my son from me. They said he would be going to one place and I would be going to another. I asked why the officers were separating my son from me. They did not provide any reason."
She "had no idea" that she would be separated from baby for seeking asylum in the U.S. and is part of an ongoing lawsuit from the ACLU. Mirian's son turned two on July 4. "I have not been able to speak to my son because he does not really talk yet since he's so young,” she wrote. “I need to be able to hold him and reassure him that he is safe and that his mother is here for him."
A federal judge issued a ruling that all separated migrant kids must be reunited with their parents.
