[liberationtech] Let's reunite the kids forcibly torn from their migrant parents

Tue Jun 26 17:38:52 PDT 2018

Thanks, Tim.

We've created a grassroots group called HelpFind.Us that is turning into a
movement of volunteers wanting to help reunite families. Would you be
interested in joining?

If so, please send an email to subscribe-helpfindus at riseup.net or just let
me know, and I can add you. It's probably good for the group to be aware of
what you're doing and for you to know about what HelpFind.Us is doing.

Note: There is a domain but no project website as of yet. The group got
started only last week.

On Tue, Jun 26, 2018 at 2:24 PM, Tim Schwartz <tim at timschwartz.org> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I’ve been organizing the Missing Persons Community of Interest since after
> Haiti. We work on bringing together partners from govt
> (national/state/local/city…), tech, and humanitarian orgs to share lessons
> learned and strategies to approach reunification after disasters. We have a
> call later this week to discuss the current crisis in the USA.
>
> From all that I’ve heard so far, many NGOs are ready to act, but can’t
> without requests from the federal government (which isn’t asking for help).
> Some NGOs have put out statements but many are holding back because this is
> unfortunately a politically caused crisis.
>
> In terms of technology for reunification, the main problem (from my
> understanding) is that even within the US government there are multiple
> agencies using different systems for tracking. Data interoperability is
> always a problem (though it was been worked on extensively in the
> post-disaster systems), unfortunately because this is a politically caused
> situation there are no standard protocols to follow.
>
> Heather Blanchard wrote a good post - https://medium.com/@
> poplifegirl/dhs-hhs-orr-sidestepping-use-of-national-
> mass-care-strategy-to-avoid-transparency-and-access-de36d1788e72 - about
> a possible way for local emergency managers to flip the switch on
> considering this an emergency which would trigger multiple agency
> collaboration. Unfortunately ESF-6 will never be triggered from the top
> down in this case.
>
> I will keep you all posted of what transpires in our group.
>
> Cheers,
> Tim
>
>
> On Jun 25, 2018, at 11:42 PM, Catherine Forsman <cforsman at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Received an email back from a friend at the Red Cross. I asked him how
> they setup coordination efforts to reunite families during and after
> disasters. I wanted to see if there was any way to put all of us together
> to try to help. however, he says the Red Cross already volunteered to help
> and submitted it to the department of homeland security and they denied the
> offering of help. I asked him to please let me know how they setup things
> to reunite families after disasters anyway. I know there is paperwork, but
> perhaps it will be good information to know in case their process has any
> interesting or helpful bits of process.
>
> On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 10:39 PM, Yosem Companys <companys at tmp.ucsb.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Interesting. Thanks for the info, Andrés. Please keep us posted, should
>> you hear any updates.
>>
>> I've already reached out but have yet to receive a response. That said,
>> I'm sure they're getting swamped with more important emails than mine
>> (e.g., the families affected).
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 2:57 PM, Andrés Leopoldo Pacheco Sanfuentes <
>> alps6085 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> You can contact the following organization:
>>>
>>> RAICES
>>> https://www.raicestexas.org/
>>> They were actually working on an “intake app” not sure how far they
>>> went, with the permanent state of emergency we’re in in Texas regarding
>>> refugee families..
>>>
>>> Regards / Saludos / Grato
>>>
>>> Andrés Leopoldo Pacheco Sanfuentes
>>>
>>> On Jun 20, 2018, at 4:00 PM, Yosem Companys <ycompanys at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> That would be awesome! Thanks, Catherine.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 1:58 PM, Catherine Forsman <cforsman at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thank you for doing this! Let me contact someone I worked with
>>>> volunteering after Karina and who has a lot of knowledge about the
>>>> difficulties of coordinating separated families. The coordination effort is
>>>> quite difficult, but perhaps, even if one child finds their parent, it is
>>>> worth everything.
>>>>
>>>> Crowdsourcing is a very good way to think about it, and also mapping.
>>>>
>>>> Again, let me see if there is any advice I can gather from
>>>> organizations that do this in how it could get off the ground quickly, even
>>>> if they can simply let us know best practices.
>>>>
>>>> warm regards,
>>>> Catherine
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 3:10 PM, Yosem Companys <ycompanys at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Note that I'm doing this in a personal capacity and NOT representing
>>>>> or speaking for Stanford in any way.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is just to kickoff a conversation...
>>>>>
>>>>> Suzanne has obtained a domain name to host a database to keep track of
>>>>> all of the kids who have been forcibly removed from their parents. We need
>>>>> to track down 10K+ children at 100 shelters in 14 states:
>>>>> http://www.businessinsider.com/children-in-custody-t
>>>>> rump-administration-immigration-zero-tolerance-policy-2018-5.
>>>>>
>>>>> As Suzanne suggests, we need to figure out how not to enable stalkers
>>>>> or deporting authorities while simultaneously helping the children find
>>>>> their parents, and vice versa. Suzanne suggests something along the lines
>>>>> of anonymous lost child posting: If tip gets added, connect to legal
>>>>> services to screen and verify. She also suggests connecting searching
>>>>> parents with legal services and with people who have tips but not involving
>>>>> law enforcement.
>>>>>
>>>>> Christina suggests finding some good coders to scrape names off news
>>>>> articles. There are a lot of names already there.
>>>>>
>>>>> Organizations that could help:
>>>>>
>>>>>    - *Southwest key*. Christina says that Southwest key has a
>>>>>    database of all of the kids but won't provide the info. Does anyone have a
>>>>>    good contact there?
>>>>>    - *IRAP*. Lina suggests contacting IRAP: https://refugeerights.org/.
>>>>>    Anybody have a contact there?
>>>>>    - *ACLU*. Catherine suggests talking to the ACLU. I know we had
>>>>>    several ACLU people on Liberationtech but from the tech angle. I don't know
>>>>>    whether they're still on the list?
>>>>>    - *RAICES*. Candace suggests we talk to RAICES. Anybody have a
>>>>>    contact there?
>>>>>
>>>>> I reckon that a massive crowdsourcing effort will be needed. Some
>>>>> crisis mapping might be useful.
>>>>>
>>>>> A question for everyone on Liberationtech and related lists: How does
>>>>> this effort get off the ground quickly?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Yosem
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>
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