If my grandmother had come to America today, she might be in a cage right now.

My grandmother immigrated to America when she was just three years old. My great-grandmother and great-grandfather has come over to the United States from Poland a few years before. When they started running out of money, my great-grandmother returned to Poland to get help. But she didn’t realize something very important – she was pregnant. Because America didn’t allow babies into the country, the two of them had to wait three long years before returning to America. Passing through Ellis Island, they finally reunited with my great-grandfather. My grandmother’s first memories are of seeing the Statue of Liberty as they came into the harbor and meeting her father for the first time. She said he was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

Now imagine if they were immigrants today.

As I’m sure you’ve heard, the U.S. government has ripped 11,000 immigrant and refugee children away from their parents. Some have been as young as 14 months. Some have been in the middle of nursing when they’ve been taken. The government is keeping them in abandoned Walmarts and tent cities, places not meant for people to live in. They’re keeping them in facilities with no air conditioning and few facilities in 100+ degree weather. Some are literally in cages. Children are taking care of babies because no one else is. These are war crimes searching for a war.

My grandmother, at three years old, could have been one of those children. Instead of a happy reunion with her father, she could have been ripped away from her mother. Instead of fondly remembering the Statue of Liberty, her introduction to the United States could have been the trauma of living in an internment camp. Considering the administration’s complete lack of instructions to immigrant parents on how to get their children back, she may have never seen her parents again.

Yes, my relatives were legal immigrants. But my great-grandmother was not a citizen and barely had the equivalent of a green card back then. Plus, the requirements for immigrating here were far less strict back then than they are now. If they had to break the law to reunite with their family, maybe they would have.

Perhaps most importantly, families now who are refugees have committed no crime. The completely legal way to declare refugee status is to show up at the border and request it. That’s exactly what they’re are doing. Even those who are crossing over illegally are not committing a level of crime for which you have your children taken away.

The poem “The New Colossus” on the Statue of Liberty says that she is the Mother of Exiles who declares, “Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free / The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. / Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” I know that poems are never policy, but perhaps this one should be the basis for it.

This country once welcomed my grandmother. It rejected and abused many others, but I can’t forget the place who allowed my family to settle here. Now we’re booby-trapping that door for the rest of the world. My great-grandmother and great-grandfather just dreamed of a better future for their children and grandchildren. So do today’s immigrant parents. Instead of plunging their families into a living hell, let’s give them the opportunity to fulfill that dream.

To help the immigrants and refugees, there are a variety of organizations fighting in court to reunite these children with their parents as well as to end this policy. Good organizations to give money to include The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, United We Dream, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Together Rising (which is raising money for a number of organizations), and RAICES.

Besides that, calling your Congressional representatives (Congressional switchboard: (202) 224-3121) and demanding they pass a law to formally change this policy is probably the most powerful thing you can do. The ALCU has a tool to look up your Congressperson and an excellent script you can work from. For the Senate, encourage them to support Senator Diane Feinstein’s Keep Families Together Act. You can also call the Department of Justice’s comment line and let them know what you think of their current policy: 202-353-1555 Other options include calling the Republican National Committee and informing them of your opinion (202-863-8500).

Now is the time to act. There is no other time.