Valerie Durant / A.M.P.A.S.Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix are speaking out about children—including their own.
In a new op-ed published on Monday, Nov. 2, the two Hollywood actors spoke out against the migrant children crisis in the United States. In the process, both Rooney and Joaquin spoke about their newborn son for the very first time.
"Last week, we learned that the parents of 545 children separated at the border by immigration officers have not yet been found," the couple wrote in an op-ed published by People. "The weight of that number is staggering. Five hundred forty-five children."
"As new parents, it's unbearable to imagine what it would feel like to have our child taken away from us for a day, let alone years," they continued. "But that's the very situation those 545 children and their parents have been living through. As Americans, it's our responsibility to continue paying attention to the plight of these families and get answers for why they still have not been located."
Back in September, director Victor Kossakovsky confirmed at the 2020 Zurich Film Festival that Rooney and Joaquin had welcomed a baby boy. He also confirmed that the couple's son was named River.
Pop culture fans speculated that the name could be in honor of Joaquin's late brother River Phoenix, who passed away in 1993 at the age of 23.
Ultimately, much of the op-ed was focused on the Trump administration's family separation policy that has continued to make headlines in recent months.
According to the engaged couple, children separated from their parents will have "lifelong" damage such as "irreparable emotional harm."
"We have to ask ourselves: Is this the country that we want?" Rooney and Joaquin wrote just one day before Decision 2020. "Are these our values? How will it feel to explain to our son, when he asks us about this time and how we treated scared, defenseless children, some of whom may never see their parents again?"
The couple continued, "For the sake of our nation's character, I hope we will be able to tell him that America unequivocally rejected this cruelty and demanded that our representatives did everything in their power to find those missing parents."