Kids In NYC Made Cards For Kids Being Detained In Texas, And It's Heart-Wrenching

"We are thinking of you. / Estamos pensando en ti."

Since early May, more than 2,300 children have been separated from their parents by immigration officials along the southwestern border of the US.

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

And with each passing day, another 60-70 children are taken from their families.

John Moore / Getty Images

Like many Americans, Rabbi Leora Kaye of New York City has been heartbroken by the news and wanted to find a way to show love and compassion to the children being detained. She works for the Union for Reform Judaism and is part of a group of clergy going to McAllen, Texas, to visit a detention facility.

Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism @TheRAC

TOMORROW, 40+ interfaith clergy incl. Rabbi @JonahPesner, @TheRevAl, and a dozen clergy & leaders across the Jewish community will travel to McAllen, TX to visit a detention facility and hold a press conference to demand #FamiliesBelongTogether. Details: https://t.co/qiArpCrq3e https://t.co/oWOMSUXiwO

03:05 PM - 20 Jun 2018

So she had the idea to bring cards with her from kids in her 8-year-old daughter's third grade class, and she asked the teacher if they could write them this morning.

Doug Gordon @BrooklynSpoke

Brooklyn 3rd graders making cards for children being held at detention camps. These kids and their teachers are showing more humanity than our nation’s leaders ever could. (Cards will be brought to Texas by a group of clergy tonight.) https://t.co/inShzq84m6

01:19 PM - 20 Jun 2018

With the help of the school's Spanish teacher, the students at PS 118 in Brooklyn made bilingual cards to send to the children being detained at the border.

Via Twitter: @brooklynspoke

Kaye's husband Doug Gordon, who tweeted the photos, told BuzzFeed that they had told their daughter that "there are some people in need who come here for help and that right now our country isn't doing everything it can to help them."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Rio Grande Valley Sector via AP

"We don't shy away too much from telling her that the government doesn't always do the right thing and that one of the things it's doing is keeping moms and dads and kids apart," he said.

"Usually we try to pivot quickly to the idea that we can help, even if it's just in what seems like a small way," Gordon said. "Writing cards to hopefully make people feel just a little better is a thing kids can get their heads around, even if it's not THE thing that will fix this."

Via Twitter: @brooklynspoke

"It's probably more than any kid her age can wrap her head around, but we think it's better for us to proactively have these conversations than to have her overhear the kinds of rumors and things that kids tend to share that could, in a way, be scarier."

"We've told her that at the very least, we need to put a little more kindness and compassion into the world."

Doug Gordon