Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who is representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuits against President Trump, will meet children in Phoenix on Thursday who were separated from their mothers at the U.S.-Mexico border, he announced.
Avenatti tweeted Wednesday that he represents the mothers of the children he will be visiting at the shelter.
“Looking forward to visiting detained children tmrw in Phoenix who were shipped there from Texas after being taken from their detained mothers (my clients). This will be their first ‘contact’ with their mothers in weeks. I will be delivering letters and messages of love and hope,” Avenatti tweeted.
[Also read: Melania Trump makes surprise trip to Texas facility where illegal immigrant kids are being held]
Looking forward to visiting detained children tmrw in Phoenix who were shipped there from Texas after being taken from their detained mothers (my clients). This will be their first “contact” with their mothers in weeks. I will be delivering letters and messages of love and hope.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) June 21, 2018
According to the Arizona Republic, Avenatti is visiting a facility run by Southwest Key Programs and will speak about the plight of the children who have been separated from their parents.
Avenatti is also attempting to raise money for the mothers through a crowdfunding campaign.
“The Trump administration speaks of making America great, but on our southern border it is now committing atrocities that we would have never thought possible,” Avenatti says in his plea to prospective donors. “The forced separation of children from their parents runs counter to our values as a nation, the core principles our country was founded upon, and what we stand for. This is not my America. This is not our America.”
The campaign says the money will be used to cover the cost of release bonds to help mothers who are working to get out of detention centers and out-of-pocket expenses “for our work reuniting families and changing the policy.”
Avenatti says the money will not be used to cover attorneys’ fees.
Under a zero tolerance immigration policy implemented this spring by the Trump administration, adults who are apprehended illegally crossing the southern border are referred for criminal prosecution. The new policy has led to children who cross with their parents to be separated from their families.
Images and videos of the immigrant children housed in shelters sparked outrage this week.
On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order intending to end the family separations. The order would allow children and their families to remain together at detention facilities through the duration of criminal proceedings.
A 1997 settlement agreement, though, says the government cannot hold children in family detention centers for more than 20 days.
Trump’s executive order instructed the attorney general to file a request with a federal court in California to modify the agreement, called the Flores Settlement Agreement, “in a matter that would permit the Secretary [of Homeland Security] … to detain alien families together throughout the pendency of criminal proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration proceedings.”
On Thursday, the Justice Department formally asked the court for immediate relief from the terms of the agreement to allow families to remain in detention together during immigration proceedings.
[Also read: House kills conservative immigration bill, delays Paul Ryan compromise amid struggle to find GOP votes]
