Angered by federal immigration directives that have resulted in the separation of children from their parents at the U.S./Mexico border, more than a dozen state legislators and local advocates are calling on federal representatives fight against the immoral practice that is tearing families apart.

Several House and Senate Democrats will join State Senator Vincent J. Hughes (D-Philadelphia), SEIU, Make the Road, Casa de Maryland, El Movimiento de Inmigrantes Líderes en Pensilvania (MILPA), the Pennsylvania Commission on Children and Youth and other organizations for a press event at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 21 in the Capitol Main Rotunda. Both chambers will introduce resolutions to address the crisis urging the federal government to end family separation at the border and reunite parents and children.

Speakers are expected to address the injustice at the border as well as the effects of the zero-tolerance policy and the immigration issue as it relates to Pennsylvania. At least 2,000 students have been separated from their parents just this year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Children have been photographed in cages and in subhuman conditions while being detained and separated from their parents.