Highlights magazine condemns family separations at U.S.-Mexico border
Popular children's magazine Highlights has taken a stance on an issue affecting many children and their parents — separations of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border. Highlights CEO Kent Johnson released a statement this week, saying this "not a political statement about immigration policy," but one about human decency.
"As a company that helps children become their best selves — curious, creative, caring and confident — we want kids to understand the importance of having moral courage. Moral courage means standing up for what we believe is right, honest and ethical—even when it is hard," the statement said.
It also highlighted the company's core belief: "Children are the world's most important people."
"With this core belief in mind our minds and hearts, we denounce the practice of separating immigrant families and urge our government to cease this activity, which is unconscionable and causes irreparable damage to young lives," the statement said.
At Highlights, our core belief is that children are the world's most important people. In light of the reports of the living conditions of detained children & threats of further deportation & family separation, here is a statement from our CEO Kent Johnson. #KeepFamiliesTogether pic.twitter.com/CNF5LTv4az
— Highlights (@Highlights) June 25, 2019
Johnson invited readers, regardless of their political leanings to "join us in speaking out against family separation and to call for more humane treatment of immigrant children currently being held in detention facilities. Write, call, or email your government representatives."
Earlier this week, the U.S. government removed many of the more than 300 migrant children who were found last week living in squalid conditions at a border protection facility in Texas. Lawyers said hundreds of migrant children were forced to sleep on the floor for weeks without enough food, many battling the flu and a lice infestation.
Highlights is just one company speaking out against the conditions at the border. Several hundred Wayfair employees walked off work Wednesday to protest the company's sale of furniture to a new detention center in Texas intended for detained migrant children.
Before the walkout, Wayfair's founder offered to donate $100,000 to the Red Cross "to help those in dire need of basic necessities at the border," the Boston Globe reported. But that fell short of what employees wanted — an end to doing business with companies involved in the migrant holding facilities and a donation of the reported $86,000 profit from the sale to RAICES, a legal services nonprofit that works with immigrants.