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Powell’s Books presents Senator Jeff Merkley
August 26, 2019 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
$37Jeff Merkley couldn’t believe his eyes. He never dreamt the United States could treat vulnerable young families with such calculated brutality. Few had witnessed what Merkley discovered just by showing up at the border and demanding to see what was going on behind closed doors.
Contrary to the official stories and soothing videos, on Senator Merkley’s visit he encountered mothers and children, newborn babies and infants, stranded for days on border bridges in blistering heat or locked up in ice-cold holding pens. There were nearly 1,500 boys jammed into a former Walmart, a child tent prison in the desert with almost 3,000 boys and girls, and children struggling to survive in gang-filled Mexican border towns after they were blocked from seeking asylum in the United States.
Worst of all, there were the children ripped out of their parents’ arms and sorted into cages in some profoundly warped attempt to discourage migration. Since that day, Senator Merkley has been on the forefront of this issue. Most recently, he has coauthored (with Senator Chuck Schumer) the “Stop Cruelty to Migrant Children Act,” which will end the practice of family separations, except when authorized by a state court or child welfare agency.
It was Merkley’s visits — captured live on viral video — that triggered worldwide outrage at the forced separation of children from their parents. Just by taking an interest — by caring about the people legally claiming asylum at America’s borders — Merkley helped expose the Trump administration’s war on migrant families. Along the way, he helped turn the tide against some of its worst excesses.
In his new book, America Is Better Than This, Merkley tells the inside story of how one senator, with no background as an immigration activist, became a leading advocate for reform of the brutal policies that have created a humanitarian crisis on the southern U.S. border. It represents the heartfelt and candid voice of a concerned American who believes his country stands for something far bigger and better.
Price includes a copy of Senator Merkley’s America Is Better Than This. Books distributed at event.
Tickets will be available beginning Friday, August 2 at 10:00 a.m.