Celebrities Are Calling Out Ivanka Trump (Again), So Break Out The Popcorn
Though Ivanka Trump has been intensely involved in her father's presidency, when it comes to highly controversial issues like his immigration policies, she tends to be disturbingly quiet. Take the family separation policy, for example: the first daughter unfortunately didn't speak up openly until after President Donald Trump had already put a stop to the practice, and when she did, she spoke of the ongoing issue in the past tense, upsetting tons of onlookers. That's why celebrities are posting #DearIvanka posts on social media in the wake of the crisis and they're all serious AF.
The posts are the result of an interview Trump did with Axios on Aug. 2, where she addressed her father's now-abandoned "zero tolerance" immigration policy, which resulted in thousands of migrant children being separated from their families and placed in detention facilities for weeks, or even months at a time. In her remarks, Trump said the policy "was a low point," but neglected to talk about the fact that many children were still separated from their families. Her latest comment prompted several celebrities who she follows on Instagram — including Amy Schumer, Alexa Chung, and Sophie Amoruso — to call her out on Aug. 6 and 7 for referring to the ongoing crisis in the past tense.
The identical posts read, per TIME:
Dear Ivanka, You follow me on social media. You said family separation was a ‘low point’ for you. The low point is for the separated families. You spoke in past tense. This crisis is ongoing. As of now, 57 children have not been reunited. A child has died after separation. Approximately 400 parents have been deported without their children. There have been multiple claims of sexual and physical abuse in detention. There have been psychotropic drugs administered to children in detention without parental consent. These abuses have occurred on your father’s watch and under the leaderships of Secretary Nielsen. End these racist, inhuman and unconscionable abuses now! We demand you call for the resignation of Secretary Nielsen.
In addition to these celebs, the separation practice has been harshly criticized by many onlookers, as it permitted the separation of more that 2,000 children from their families after they crossed into the United States illegally. As guardians were sent through the criminal justice system to be prosecuted for illegal entry, the children, some as young as babies, were treated as unaccompanied minors and held in separate detention facilities.
Although more than half of the families have since been reunited, in late July, the Trump administration admitted in court that over 400 parents may have been deported without their children, who remain in U.S. government custody. So, all things considered, Trump saying the policy "was" a low point while people are still experiencing its effects certainly seems misplaced, TBH.
In all of this, it isn't the first time celebrities have flooded Instagram timelines with "Dear Ivanka" messages, though.
According to Elle, celebrities like Cara Delevigne, Olivia Wilde, Chung and Sophia Bush were cranking out the posts in efforts to get Trump to support the DREAM Act back in November 2017. The DREAM Act was legislation intended to help recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, a program that protected young undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children from deportation, and gave them the ability to work and go to school. The Trump administration rescinded the program in September 2017, and as a result, many people took to social media to urge the first daughter to use her influence and support the "Clean" Dream Act — a bipartisan effort to maintain protections for those enrolled in DACA, per TIME.
Although she publicly never acknowledged the #DearIvanka posts in 2017, perhaps these new ones might get through to her. Fingers crossed.
