Over 2,340 migrant children have already been separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexican border as a result of the Trump administration's recent “zero-tolerance” policy, and public outrage continues to grow. Public figures ranging all the way from Pope Francis to Willie Nelson have criticised the inhumane way the United States government is treating the families who have crossed the U.S.-Mexican border in search of safety.
And now, George and Amal Clooney have added their voices to the conversation with the announcement that they'll be donating $100,000 to help migrant children in the middle of this crisis.
In their statement to People, the Clooneys made it clear that their decision to donate was influenced in part by the message they want to send to their own children.
“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 help defend the victims of it.”
Their donation to the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights will come from the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which has also previously sponsored the resettlement of Yazidi and Syrian refugees in the United States.
The Clooneys have always been politically active, and were some of the most vocal supporters of the Parkland students' efforts to end gun violence. The couple donated $500,000 to the March for Our Lives event in Washington, D.C. which took place earlier this year.
Elena Hilton is the assistant editor for Esquire.com, where she manages Esquire's social media and writes about culture and politics.
