The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in December announced that it was requesting public input on preventing the inhumane and traumatic separation of children and parents at the southern border. The recommendation should actually be very quite simple: Don’t separate them.

But the federal government needs to hear that directly from you. The government also needs to hear how we can bring justice to the thousands of families ripped in two by the prior administration. With the deadline for public comments coming up tonight (11:59 PM EST), we need you to speak out now.

Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, Families Belong Together, and Immigration Justice Campaign have created a tool that allows you to send a message urging an end to family separation in just minutes. While groups include a template, they urge comments be unique. “For example, you could include why you disagree with a family separation policy, or how the government should be held accountable for past family separations.” That includes ensuring separated families receive financial compensation for their suffering. Click here to leave your comment now.

The first-ever qualitative analysis of the mental health effects of “zero tolerance” last fall confirmed the traumatic effects of stealing children from their parents. The Physicians for Human Rights study found that kids separated from parents continued to meet criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a year after reunification. One 8-year-old boy continued to meet criteria for PTSD, as well as separation anxiety disorder, two years after reunification.

“Yet many people have responded to the Biden administration’s request for input with anti-immigrant comments,” organizations said. “These include statements like ‘I don’t care that people were separated from their children,’ ‘Build the wall,’ and ‘Send them all home.’” Tanton network hate group FAIR has also boasted of sending a public comment and urging a slew of anti-asylum and anti-immigrant policies.

That’s why we need you to voice your support for families, even if it seems obvious that the government shouldn’t be separating them in the first place. “Getting … public participation is fine, but there should be no question at this point that the United States should never again take children away absent imminent danger to the child; otherwise we are engaging in child abuse,” American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt told CNN.

“Often, the voices of those who serve and advocate for children and families seeking safety in the US are left out when considering policy changes,” Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service President Krish O’Mara Vignarajah said in the report. “It’s important we take action now to ensure family separation is never again used as a cruel deterrence policy.” Click here to leave your comment today.