Watching Jacob (Israel) weep over the loss of his son, every one of the brothers had to feel responsibility for the ruse before them. The text doesn’t include individual commentary on the role each brother played. Only Reuben, the eldest, made any attempt to rescue Joseph, and that was wildly unsuccessful.

Years later, standing before Joseph in his capacity as ruler, the brothers collectively felt fear and dismay over their actions. The way collective action works, only a few carry out the will of the group. The shared responsibility lightens the psychological weight of the decision made, especially if the act is wrong or evil. This is the same logic behind the firing squad. In these instances, no one person carries the guilt of having ended the life of another. As humans, we seek a way to lighten our conscience.

May it not be so.

We, Christians in the United States, have been distracted and deluded. We have failed to keep a close eye on what our nation was doing. We have failed to provide the moral and prophetic voice we owe to our nation. We have failed where our ancestors succeeded. At least, this has been true so far. While there is still time, may we awake, learn, repent, and act.

The United States government is actively trying to eliminate the limits to which they can hold children in detention facilities. This is not fear-mongering. This is not liberal spin. This is an active and clear case. In June-2026 the Ninth Circuit court will hear arguments on whether the current law which limits detention to 20-days will be upheld, or whether all duration limits will be removed as passed in the One Big Beautiful Bill / H.R. 1.

Do we understand what this means?

Our government is directly and clearly advocating for the right to hold children indefinitely in detention facilities.

Ms. Rachel has been on the front lines of advocating for the release of the families being held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. We applaud her willingness to risk her own platform in order to speak out for what is right. May the Christian community come alongside her and join in the work.

Below we’ve included a few questions and answers to help you work through where we are in this moment. Before getting there though, we encourage you to sit for a moment and imagine. Right now there are children—babies, toddlers, high-school students, young mothers—sitting in a warehouse, waiting. They don’t know when the next stage will begin, but they have no other options. They see the insufficient food placed before their kids, with no option to fix it. They watch as week after week the children in their makeshift warehouse home grow more weary, listless, and drained. Depression sets in slowly. Fear of what comes next grows. They hear stories from others who have been there for months. They hear stories that some are fighting to hide how long residents are stuck inside.

Will you be the type of Christian who stands up, who protects the children, who advocates for the families, who demand we not inflict lasting damage on the most vulnerable in our country? What would Jesus do?

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When would they be released under the new proposal? Only when their immigration proceedings conclude.

When would that be? The current backlog has produced countless instances of years of waiting.

Why does it take so long? Our system lacks the judicial infrastructure to deal with the vast numbers of cases waiting to be adjudicated.

What have previous administrations done? Several of the holding facilities were opened under President Obama. This is not a new approach, but historically most of these cases allowed waiting under monitoring (ankle monitor or periodic check-ins with a judge) rather than housing at the tax-payer expense in detention facilities.

How much does this really matter? So much! The psychological toll, especially on children, of long-term or indefinite detention is devastating, having lasting impacts. The research is thorough, widespread, peer-reviewed, and unequivocally conclusive. The British Journal of Psychiatry synthesized 21 studies covering 9,620 children in detention facilities and found that 42.2% experienced depression and 32% developed PTSD. A separate systemic review in BMC Psychiatry covered 26 studies and 2,099 participants and found that anxiety, depression, and PTSD were consistently the most common outcomes both during and following detention. Finally, a systemic review in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry found “Compelling evidence of detrimental psychical, mental, neurodevelopmental, and psychosocial outcomes,” with a clear link between duration in detention and severity of symptoms.

Whether we ignore these details, determine them to be important but someone else’s problem, or decide to get involved and advocate for a better path forward, the reality is that our decision is a reflection of how we understand who God is and what God desires.

“Immigration detention harms children. No period of detention can be deemed safe, as all immigration detention is associated with adverse impacts on mental health.”

As Christians, representatives of Jesus Christ, what we do with this information matters. While what is “right” could differ from person to person, the choice to do nothing is wrong. We encourage you to find creative ways to encourage your network to discuss this very real and tangible situation.

Make art.

Share this article.

Pray.

Write your own article.

Talk to your friends.

Talk with your family.

Call your congressional representatives.

DO.

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Grace and Peace.