Yesterday I visited two detainees at an ICE detention facility in Maryland.

They were both fathers who had been separated from their children and neither knew where their children were or how they were doing. Heartbreaking doesn’t even begin to describe the pain I felt during our hour-long conversation.

Under absolutely no circumstance should children be punished and traumatized for the actions of an adult — let alone when that adult is trying to escape violence and seek asylum.

At its core, this is not a partisan issue. This isn’t about whether you have an R or a D next to your name. This is about who we are as Americans and what our country stands for internationally.

Asylum seekers and families fleeing violence have been through enough hardship and trauma. It’s unjust to cruelly rip their families apart and treat them like criminals for aspiring for a better life.

What these families are being subjected to cannot be defended or justified — and it must stop immediately.

Take one moment today to sign my petition and call for the immediate halt to Trump’s policy of separating families along the border.