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TRUMP AND CHILD TORTURE

The single most tragic policy of the Trump Administration is the child separation from families at the border.  The Trump Administration argues that this was not a policy at all, however the way policy direction was implemented it has the same effect.  The policy origins were investigated by the DOJ inspector general and revelations are now coming out in the NYTimes.

Between Jeff Sessions the Attorney General at the time and Steven Miller advisor, and a Session’s protégé, and  xenophobic ghoul were instrumental in developing and implementing the policy.  If you compare immigration policies of Trump and Obama you come to the conclusion that the policies you find the motivation of the Trump Administration seems to be monetary.  The separation of children, the holding facilities for refugees seeking asylum being privatized for profit, holding facilities lacking oversight, and the Trump administration’s prosecution for misdemeanor crimes are all differences.

A meeting at the White House where the policy was approved, everyone around the room was asked for a show of hands to approve the policy, all present knowingly were voting to allow the separation of children at the border. Kistjen Nielsen was the only dissenting vote. 

Kistjen Nielsen former Sec. of Homeland Security signed the declaration in May 2018 that implemented the child separation policy to start referring all illegals parents for prosecution.  It was known the children would be separated and sent to HHS from DHS when the policy was signed based on meeting notes..

The policy was reiterated in a news briefing where Kistjen on June 18, 2018 said: “This administration did not create a policy of separating families at the border.  DHS is not to separating families legitimately seeking asylum at ports of entry, DHS does have  responsibility to protect minors and in that case as well we will only separate the family if we cannot determine if there is a familial relationship, if the child may be at risk from the parent or legal guardian or if the parent or the legal guardian is referred for legal prosecution.”   

Sessions saw that the Obama immigrant policy had allowed to separate children if the parent was incarcerated for a crime, and almost all the other rational given above by Nielsen.  The significant differences includes Obama released on their own recognizance with their children promising to return for the court date for a hearing on the asylum claim.  Some were released with ankle bracelets others, if relatives lived in the U. S. were released with only the promise to return.  This policy was 96% successful, it may be a greater success as some of the individuals may have returned to Mexico prior to the hearing date.

 Mass incarcerations and detention facilities are now a new booming business.  The policy was that soap and toothpaste and toothbrushes were not necessities.  The thin foam bed with a metallic space blanket and cages were the norm. 

Torture is what the world court has ruled when a mother is forcibly taken from a nursing mother.  This was a case where 5 US Attorneys along the Mexican border that  had been resisting the administration doing this very thing. They told top officials they were “deeply concerned” about the children’s welfare.  When contacted about the situation, Sessions told them to take the baby from the mother. He said: “We need to take away children” Mr. Sessions told the prosecutors, according to participants’ notes from a conference call. 

Rod Rosenstein, the then deputy attorney general, went even further in a second call about a week later, telling the 5 prosecutors that it did not matter how young the children were.  He said that the government lawyers should not have refused to prosecute two cases simply because the children were barely more than infants.

The policy was to be a deterrent showing those wanting to seek asylum coming with children that their children would be taken.  Prosecutors recoiled when they were ordered to arrest any undocumented individuals even if it meant it would separate families.

The prime difference is a few words “at ports of entry”  and the last phrase of the current policy given by Kistjen Nielsen “if the parent or the guardian is referred for legal prosecution.”  The difference came when Sessions insisted that anyone not coming through a point of entry be prosecuted for the misdemeanor, whereas the Obama administration did not prosecute and incarcerate the asylum seekers.  When you combine the pseudo-closure of the border crossings by slowing down entry to a only a few an hour causing the dire individuals to potentially cross illegally.  After crossings the incarceration begins and so does the profits. 

There were over 3,000 children known to be separated and an untold number that have not been reunited. DHS has stated that some may never be reunited as they lost track of either the child or the parent.  The human tragedy of this policy has been well documented with lifetime effects on both the parents and their children.  The lie that this was not a child separation torture policy is not now under dispute with these revelations based on the Inspector General report.

I have voted and mailed in my ballot on the 8^th of October.  Vote early, and if you are in Chicago you also need to vote early and often.