USA NEWS NOW
ACCORDING FROM THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS PAPPER
The moral outrages from the Trump
administration come so fast that they blur
together, but this one stands out: the
unconscionably cruel policy of ripping the
children of would-be immigrants away from
their parents at the border .
Officials do not even try to hide the fact that
the purpose of this abhorrent and inhumane
practice is to instill fear. “ If you cross the
border unlawfully, even a first offense, we’re
going to prosecute you,” Attorney General Jeff
Sessions said last month. “If you’re smuggling
a child, we’re going to prosecute you, and that
child will be separated from you, probably, as
required by law. If you don’t want your child
separated, then don’t bring them across the
border illegally.”
“Smuggling” a child, Sessions said, as if
referring to chattel. There was a time when
my ancestors were forcibly taken from their
mothers’ arms and sold on the auction block.
Make America Great Again!
According to CNN , a Honduran woman at a
Texas detention center was breast-feeding her
daughter recently when the child was
snatched away. Other migrant families have
said their children were purportedly led away
for showers and clean clothes — but never
returned. This is the kind of behavior we
expect from monstrous totalitarian regimes
such as the one led by President Trump’s
“ talented ” new friend, North Korean dictator
Kim Jong Un. It is certainly not the policy of
any nation that strives to be a “ shining city on
a hill .”
Trump has no such aspiration, of course, and
Sessions has been a consistent anti-immigrant
xenophobe throughout his political career. But
most Americans — and, pertinently, virtually
all Republican officeholders — once at least
professed belief in U.S. exceptionalism.
I suppose the Trump-Sessions border policy
might be called exceptional, but only in the
sense that the rest of the world can be nothing
but appalled.
The practice of separating parents from their
children flows regrettably but inevitably, the
administration says, from its “zero-tolerance”
policy of prosecuting every single would-be
migrant caught crossing the border without
proper documents — a misdemeanor offense.
The parents are hauled away to detention to
await a court appearance. Minor children
cannot be left to fend for themselves, so the
government steps in. “ The children will be
taken care of — put into foster care or
whatever,” White House Chief of Staff John F.
Kelly told National Public Radio last month .
“But the big point is [the parents] elected to
come illegally into the United States. And this
is a technique that no one hopes will be used
extensively or for very long.”
How extensively the “technique” is being
applied is unclear, since officials refuse to
release comprehensive numbers. Whether it is
being used legally in all cases is doubtful. By
law, would-be migrants who are seeking
asylum — a group that includes many Central
American families fleeing rampant gang
violence — must be admitted to the country
and should be released pending a hearing.
This distinction, however, reportedly is not
being properly respected.
Clearly this does not bother Sessions, who
wants to erase the distinction entirely. On
Monday, abusing his authority over the
nation’s immigration courts, Sessions ruled
that asylum claims on the grounds of gang or
domestic violence “ generally . . . will not
qualify .” Sessions proclaimed that few such
applicants will even meet the “ credible fear ”
standard for obtaining a hearing — meaning
they can just be turned away at the border,
and then arrested, of course, if they later
enter the country without permission.
In the barrios of Guatemala, Honduras and El
Salvador, gang leaders often give teenage boys
a choice: join or be killed. For girls, the choice
is join or be raped and possibly killed. Parents
trying desperately to save their children’s lives
are not welcome in Trump’s America.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) brought the
separation issue into the spotlight this month
when he tried to visit a Brownsville, Tex.,
detention center where immigrant children are
being held — he was turned away. The
Facebook Live video of this outrage went viral.
This week, reporters were allowed into that
center , where nearly 1,500 boys were being
held. Most were unaccompanied by adults
when caught trying to cross the border; the
rest, though no one would say precisely how
many, had been taken from their parents.
The center, a converted former Walmart, was
clean and orderly, if overcrowded. The boys,
ages 10 to 17, were well cared for — but could
not leave. It was a prison for Spanish-speaking
children. Trump and Sessions must be proud
ACCORDING FROM THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS PAPPER
The moral outrages from the Trump
administration come so fast that they blur
together, but this one stands out: the
unconscionably cruel policy of ripping the
children of would-be immigrants away from
their parents at the border .
Officials do not even try to hide the fact that
the purpose of this abhorrent and inhumane
practice is to instill fear. “ If you cross the
border unlawfully, even a first offense, we’re
going to prosecute you,” Attorney General Jeff
Sessions said last month. “If you’re smuggling
a child, we’re going to prosecute you, and that
child will be separated from you, probably, as
required by law. If you don’t want your child
separated, then don’t bring them across the
border illegally.”
“Smuggling” a child, Sessions said, as if
referring to chattel. There was a time when
my ancestors were forcibly taken from their
mothers’ arms and sold on the auction block.
Make America Great Again!
According to CNN , a Honduran woman at a
Texas detention center was breast-feeding her
daughter recently when the child was
snatched away. Other migrant families have
said their children were purportedly led away
for showers and clean clothes — but never
returned. This is the kind of behavior we
expect from monstrous totalitarian regimes
such as the one led by President Trump’s
“ talented ” new friend, North Korean dictator
Kim Jong Un. It is certainly not the policy of
any nation that strives to be a “ shining city on
a hill .”
Trump has no such aspiration, of course, and
Sessions has been a consistent anti-immigrant
xenophobe throughout his political career. But
most Americans — and, pertinently, virtually
all Republican officeholders — once at least
professed belief in U.S. exceptionalism.
I suppose the Trump-Sessions border policy
might be called exceptional, but only in the
sense that the rest of the world can be nothing
but appalled.
The practice of separating parents from their
children flows regrettably but inevitably, the
administration says, from its “zero-tolerance”
policy of prosecuting every single would-be
migrant caught crossing the border without
proper documents — a misdemeanor offense.
The parents are hauled away to detention to
await a court appearance. Minor children
cannot be left to fend for themselves, so the
government steps in. “ The children will be
taken care of — put into foster care or
whatever,” White House Chief of Staff John F.
Kelly told National Public Radio last month .
“But the big point is [the parents] elected to
come illegally into the United States. And this
is a technique that no one hopes will be used
extensively or for very long.”
How extensively the “technique” is being
applied is unclear, since officials refuse to
release comprehensive numbers. Whether it is
being used legally in all cases is doubtful. By
law, would-be migrants who are seeking
asylum — a group that includes many Central
American families fleeing rampant gang
violence — must be admitted to the country
and should be released pending a hearing.
This distinction, however, reportedly is not
being properly respected.
Clearly this does not bother Sessions, who
wants to erase the distinction entirely. On
Monday, abusing his authority over the
nation’s immigration courts, Sessions ruled
that asylum claims on the grounds of gang or
domestic violence “ generally . . . will not
qualify .” Sessions proclaimed that few such
applicants will even meet the “ credible fear ”
standard for obtaining a hearing — meaning
they can just be turned away at the border,
and then arrested, of course, if they later
enter the country without permission.
In the barrios of Guatemala, Honduras and El
Salvador, gang leaders often give teenage boys
a choice: join or be killed. For girls, the choice
is join or be raped and possibly killed. Parents
trying desperately to save their children’s lives
are not welcome in Trump’s America.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) brought the
separation issue into the spotlight this month
when he tried to visit a Brownsville, Tex.,
detention center where immigrant children are
being held — he was turned away. The
Facebook Live video of this outrage went viral.
This week, reporters were allowed into that
center , where nearly 1,500 boys were being
held. Most were unaccompanied by adults
when caught trying to cross the border; the
rest, though no one would say precisely how
many, had been taken from their parents.
The center, a converted former Walmart, was
clean and orderly, if overcrowded. The boys,
ages 10 to 17, were well cared for — but could
not leave. It was a prison for Spanish-speaking
children. Trump and Sessions must be proud
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