Children's and YA Authors Call for 'No Kids in Cages'

On the eve of Children's Institute 6 in New Orleans, La., a group of 20 prominent children's and YA authors, including Marie Lu, Veronica Roth and Adam Silvera, have spoken out in protest against the Department of Justice's treatment of immigrant children and the separation of children from their families.

In an statement posted online on Monday, the group wrote: "We jointly and strongly condemn the inhumane treatment of immigrant children evidenced by the [DOJ] in the past week. We believe that innocent children should not be separated from their parents. We believe the 'Zero Tolerance' directive issued by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is cruel, immoral and outrageous. We believe the Department of Justice is engaging in practices that should be restricted to the pages of dystopian novels."

The authors have called for others to add their names to an online petition and make contributions to a group of organizations that includes the ACLU, the Florence Project and Kids in Need of Defense.

Within 24 hours the group had raised more than $42,000. By Tuesday afternoon, nearly 1,400 people had donated a combined $84,562, and a new goal of $125,000 has been set.

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