“What the administration has decided to do is to separate children from their parents to try to send a message that, if you cross the border with children, your children are going to be ripped away from you. That is traumatizing to the children who are innocent victims. And it is contrary to our values in this country."
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.:
"President Trump could stop this policy with a phone call. I'll go tell him: If you don't like families being separated, you can tell DHS, 'Stop doing it.'"
House Speaker Paul Ryan:
“We don’t want kids to be separated from their parents.”
Former first lady Laura Bush:
“I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.”
Evangelical leader Franklin Graham:
"It's disgraceful, and it's terrible to see families ripped apart and I don't support that one bit.”
- So explain yourself wingnut. No real conservatives want any part of this bullshit.
The minors involved are not unaccompanied by adults. What's happening now is that parents, with their children, are being arrested for illegal crossing - then forcibly separated and moved to different detention facilities. Kids as young as 4 are being jailed and denied any contact with family members.
Claiming to be "held hostage" by these parents or their children is, frankly, outrageous. If we've come to the point where any of us really believe this is the way to enforce our laws, then no one is safe or free.
@BatRinseRepeat Adults with children who have proper documentation [birth certificates, marriage licenses, passports, visa's, etc.] are not being separated from their children. Those with documentation are processed immediately, and released.
Correct - But that means legal entry. This whole controversy is about new policies that effect handling of illegal immigrants and their children, and whether or not its humane or consistent with other rules on due process.
After nearly a month of "zero tolerance" the facts look like this :
" According to the Department of Homeland Security 2,342 children have been separated from their parents after crossing the Southern U.S. border since early May, as part of a new immigration strategy by the Trump administration.
" In April, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered prosecutors along the border to 'adopt immediately a zero-tolerance policy' for illegal border crossings. That included prosecuting parents traveling with their children as well as people who subsequently attempted to request asylum. White House officials have repeatedly acknowledged that under that new policy, they separate all families who cross the border. Sessions has described it as deterrence.
" U.S. Customs and Border Protection explains on its site and in a flyer that border-crossing families will be separated.
"The policy is unique to the Trump administration. Previous administrations did not, as a general principle, separate all families crossing the U.S. border illegally. And the current administration could choose to end this practice and release families together from detention at any time.
"A two-decade-old court settlement, the Flores settlement, and a law called the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act both specify how the government must treat migrant children.
"They require that migrant children be placed in "the least restrictive environment" or sent to live with family members. They also limit how long families with children can be detained; courts have interpreted that limit as 20 days.
"Previous administrations have released families to meet these requirements. President Trump has said the law requires him to separate families, which is not true. His advisers have presented a more complicated argument for how the law requires family separation."
- What We Know: Family Separation And 'Zero Tolerance' At The Border
@Jackaloftheazuresand what have you said that was right? An invasion means a military from a foreign nation is coming over armed to occupy and/or take land. How is moving for work or safety "invasion"?
@Jackaloftheazuresand I'm done with you too. All your ramblings sound like a bunch of ethnostate bullshit and justification for xenophobia. Enjoy your pure nation states (that never existed anywhere and can never exist properly).
It's easy when you think about it. On one hand, the crime being committed is attempting to immigrate to a country that is safer and more prosperous than the one they are coming from without authorization. Such an act, though illegal, does display great concern for the child's wellbeing and does not present violent threat or a threat to the peace.
On the other hand, many other crimes can be taken to show that a parent is unfit. Taking certain drugs, dealing certain drugs, child neglect, acts of violence, etc.
Pretending that all crimes warrant the same outcome is a dangerous thing to do.
@sunsporter1649 Strangely enough, countries have rather intricate justice systems already fleshed out and operational. If some nation wants to check the people who get sent back for fugitives, they should do that.
@sunsporter1649 Yeah, but what about the idiots (like yourself) who support the government taking kids away from parents... oh wait... trump is no longer supporting that kind of action. Now what?
I’m not a liberal, but you can hardly compare an offense where you get locked up to a family crossing the boarder... it’s just not the same. People don’t get locked up and thier kids taken away for speeding or running a red light...
@Stargate but now your adding stipulations... it’s not a fair comparison... anyone can cater a situation that fits thier mold... and they will send your kids to a trusted friend or family member.. I’m sure some had to go to foster care, but let’s be honest... the vast majority aren’t dealing with this... you can’t honestly believe it’s equal... where has people’s decency went... seriously
Need more information- What law did she break? Is she a danger to herself and/or her kids? Is she in jail for an extended period of time? No father in the picture to care for the kids? No family to take care of the kids? Was there due process before her kids were taken away?
I ask because it's surely an understandable thing to want a better life for them. If a parent risks breaking the law by moving from one country to another, does that make them an evil person?
@akindheart There was no crisis a year ago. Although immigration has always been part of a political platform, it hasn't recently been used to veil racism.
The influx of illegal immigrants was down over the last 8 years. This is fear-mongering and nativism at its most diabolical. It's only a problem because Trump says it's problem.
@Graylight with all DUE respect, are you out of your mind??? we are seeing over 50,000 per month according to the head of ICE who was on tv last night. they are trying to get in before the wall. and forget that damn rascism tactic. this is NOT about rascism. this is about foreigners coming in and taking advantage of us. WE can not support them. so your idea is to let everybody in...of course you don't live where i live and see the absolute destruction being wrecked on my beautiful city.
@akindheart Except that isn't true. It is sharply on the rise again, but that's been attributed to immigrants trying to cross the border before laws become so strict it's simply no longer possible. https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/04/10/illegal-immigration-to-america-is-rising-again
As for taking care of immigrants, they take care of themselves to a large extent, most of them paying taxes. I would encourage some research on how immigrants contribute to the economy and to society. https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/spring-2011/ten-myths-about-immigration http://www.pbs.org/pov/madeinla/immigration-myths-and-realities/
As for understanding issue firsthand, I live in a city that is 65% Hispanic, and that doesn't include the enormous illegal immigrant population we have here, which I used to see daily on a first-hand basis. And yet the city runs, the citizens get along, and it's no different than any other town in America. Just slightly darker skin.
You people aren't so stupid that you actually think there's an equivalence there. You just love baiting "libs" into arguing against idiotic justifications for policies that are deliberately cruel to people who don't deserve it. You love it because it makes them angry, and you love it because it obscures the fact that you just get off on that deliberate cruelty toward a group of people you view as being inferior to "your people".
@akindheart I don't think anyone except a whack job suggests the children entered any way other than illegally. Or that they and their parents should not be deported. Or that their parents should not be prosecuted.
It's not a political position to object to this child internment. It's an objection to their quality of care. Full stop.
