The stories and images of children separated from their families at the border are shocking. If you are not upset by what our government is doing, you have no heart.
There are times in history that call upon us to take action, raise our voices, do whatever we can to stop grave human rights abuses committed in our name. This is one of those times.
Sure, there are worse human rights abuses in other parts of the world. But this is happening here and now. It is happening because the President of the United States has ordered it to happen.
The Washington Post fact-checker reviewed the claims about the causes of the current human rights disaster.
Is it the fault of the Democrats? No. Is there a law requiring family separation? No.
Separating families was a choice made by Donald J. Trump.
The government has now opened what is euphemistically called “tender care” facilities for very young children, including toddlers and babies. The babies cry inconsolably and no adult is allowed to console them. Observers say that the older children change the diapers of the babies. When Rachel Maddow began reading a news clip about the “tender care” facilities, she broke down and cried on air. She couldn’t finish the sentence.
Trump said today he would sign an order to stop family separation. What happens next? Will he incarcerate entire families? What will happen to the children already removed from their moms and dads? Will they ever be reunited? Will we keep them as hostages? The local news station in New York City reported that we got a shipment of children from the border. Will they be put in foster care, never to see their families again? Perhaps auctioned off? What will happen to the babies in Trump’s “tender care” facilities whose parents were deported? Don’t be fooled. Pay attention to the details.
Whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, an independent, whatever, please do what you can. Contact your members of Congress. Join a protest. Act with others to amplify your voice. Bear witness.
Make no mistake. This is a defining moment. Decide where you stand and what you care about. Silence is consent.
I do not consent.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I too, do not consent to this gross injustice.
To Do List:
File a complaint against ICE with the Office for Civil Rights & Liberties within the Dept of Homeland Security: 202-401-1474
Call the RNC and blast them for trying to blame their policy on the Dems:
202-863-8500
Call the White House Comment Line and speak your mind: 202-456-6213
Call the Department of Justice Comment Line and tell Sessions your thoughts on his policies: 202-353-1555
Call the United Nations and ask them to intervene, in any way they can:
212-963-1234
THANKS, Priscilla. I just heard on the news something about that Dump changing his mind about family separations and detention camps. We will see how this plays out. We are IN THE THICK of the DYSFUNCTION in the WH and in D.C.
Vote those suckers out of office. And YES, separating families is ON that DUMP-BUTT.
Trump just said about an hour ago he was ordering it to stop. But for next time Trump violates human rights: one of the late night tv hosts said recently that if you want to influence U.S. policy, don’t call Congress. Call the people who make all the executive decisions. Call Fox and Friends.
Yes, I just saw that on the screen in the elevator. Hero Trump to the rescue!
I’m sure the next step (the obvious solution to the “problem”) is incarcerating whole families together. That will, of course, require some massive construction projects, supplies and people to run these brand-spanking-new facilities (emphasis on the spanking). Indefinite detention without charges on U.S. soil – something Bush and Obama only dreamed about – will be a reality. Money, money, money by the pound!
dienne77: Good comment with insight. Superman Trump to the rescue. Hand me a barf bag.
Quote of the day: “Misanthropy arises from the too great confidence of inexperience.” Plato
Now THAT, LeftCoast, is a TAGO + !!! (You know, kinda like an A+…)
Whoops–I have a reply to the last two sentences of your 1:48 PM comment stuck under your 7:48 PM Plato quote (although that’s a good one, too, but your own words rate the TAGO +!!). Brilliant!
Thank Diane for giving me the books of the ancients which I read. TAGO, That’s A Good One, Socrates and Plato!
Here is a work-in-process list of companies that are profiting off this atrocity: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16Z04gxhORlgmS5sDhnX_ryDfSF8T2a6AwZWV1PMY-H8/mobilebasic Please take time to call and email these people, and if you have any further information to add, submit it so it can be added to the list.
The Republicans also do not even have an accurate system for reuniting parents with children. This should be a human rights violation. Sessions and Trump have created a logistical, inhumane nightmare that they are too incompetent to manage.
BTW, they may be putting a “tender care” facility in downtown Houston.https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Immigrant-children-s-shelter-considered-for-12999084.php
“This should be a human rights violation.”
This country has been violating human rights around the world for decades.
Duane,
I know you don’t mean it but you seem to be rationalizing the detention centers for children since “we’ve been violating human rights around the world for decades.” By your twisted logic, nothing is intolerable. This is what—about-ism at its worst. You echo our Dear Leader, who defends tyrants by saying “we’ve done worse.”
It is not whataboutism. It is either a very clever attempt of our fearless leader to wake up the population because he in reality IS a fighter for the poor, or bhe is destabilizing the country as a service to Russia. Both seem very tall orders to me. A much simpler explanation would be that he is testing waters of what the American population allows to do in their own country. The American people got used to drone attacks on Yemenis and Afghanis, to war games against North Korea, to stifling sanctions towards Iran, but what would they allow in their own country? This is a litmus test. If there won’t be huge, massive, country-wide uproar – and it probably will not – then Trump will know that he can do anything. ANYTHING. It is funny how in the supposedly democratic country a single person can make all the key decisions, behaving like a king.
Just realized I replied to a wrong comment. My message is not whataboutism, but about the whole separation business.
I know the US is responsible for atrocities around the world, We are even indirectly responsible for this one. MS-13 is a cartel gang from LA. We deported a number of the early MS-13 members to Mexico, and they fought with the Federales for many years. When the Federales cracked down on the gang in Mexico, they went to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador where the police did not have the same training or resources that the Mexicans had. Now they are terrorizing the people, and police are unable to fight back. The people are running for their lives.
Diane,
Those are so not Swacker’s values. What he is saying is that this recent crime against humanity down in Texas can be added to a long list of human rights violations committed by the USA domestically and worldwide throught many, many decades.
Of course the USA has done many virtuous things as well, but Duane is willing to enrage in some sobriety and honesty about Amerian policy, and I praise him for doing so.
Being the true intellect and scholar that you are, I know you don’t condone human rights violations either. You are one of many champions of human rights.
Most Americans keep foreign policy as the last type of news or politics they care to learn about. I would point that this is catching up with us.
Thanks, Robert. I did not see your comment before writing my other responses. I stand by those responses.
Diane,
Is this strong enough of a condemnation of that fucking bastard that currently occupies the presidency? Fuck anyone who doesn’t understand the fact that I pointed out.
” By your twisted logic, nothing is intolerable. .. This is what—about-ism at its worst.”
My “twisted logic” Look, if you don’t understand what I’ve been saying on this blog for so many years, well, fuck that shit. Sorry Diane, but if you even begin to believe that I am excusing that fucking SOB T-rump You have it completely wrong.
If you haven’t figured out yet, Diane. You really punched a button that I can’t tolerate. I’ve seen this shit before in the run-up to the presidential election. And you know what, your attitude toward me is fucking wrong. No need for an apology. I know where I stand. I’m sorry that you are standing where you stand in condemning me. Because I know that we stand on the same ground when it comes to the SOBs that seek to destroy public education.
I don’t think that’s about Republicans (other than their candy-assed blinking at the new ‘zero-tolerance’ policy) – that’s just about executive agencies unconsulted & totally unprepared for what’s coming down the pipeline from ‘Fearless Leader.’ At Trump’s whim – borne of a suddenly-spied opportunity for brinksmanship-style negotiation w/Congress over “The Wall”, he institutes a fiat via Sessions – a nouveau, warped, previously-untried interpretation for how to execute existing law.
All of a sudden, down is up: any attempt to breach border outside ports of entry is a felony (instead of misdemeanor) – & simultaneously, any attempt to claim asylum at ports of entry is slow-walked… then slower-walked… encouraging desperate asylum-seekers to try illegal breach elsewhere [gotcha: felony, hence parents immediately separated from children]. (Meanwhile: reports that even families reporting at ports of entry are split up on some pretext.)
So – Oops! Suddenly, huge reqt to house separated children! Executive agencies do what they can on very short notice, resulting in nice facilities [thanx to private contractors] but exec agencies have zero digital infrastructure, so these separated/ transported kids will likely never see their parents again…
Yes, this is a bureaucratic nightmare, retired. Just seeing this mess–which was but a fraction of the number of immigrants involved here–with unaccompanied minors & other Haitians entering through Miami (those who worked there know that some–if not many–families were never found–causes great heartache, worry &, indeed, fear that these very large populations of children will never be reunited w/their families. We knew (witnessed it, lived it) how incompetent FEMA was for a situation but a tenth of the tragedy of Katrina & knew that the agency (jobs filled by many through nepotism &/or the hiring of downright unqualified or under qualified people) would never, ever be able to adequately help the American people.
Oh, so people of color & elderly people died because the government could not be bothered to use the TAXPAYERS monies to properly build/fix the levees? Too bad, how sad…
June 30 is national day of protest. Commit to join: https://act.moveon.org/survey/June_30_Pledge/
I believe the most important point in this squalid separation policy is that it inflicts the most harm on the separated children (“irreparable harm that can carry lifelong consequences for children” states the American Academy of Pediatrics in their policy statement against this separation policy). Even if the parents acted wrongly, the children had little choice in the matter yet they are the ones to suffer the most.
There’s no “even if” about it. Crossing the border without documents is a misdemenor. It would be the country taking children for driving without insurance, jaywalking, disorderly conduct.
Furthermore, many of these families are applying for asylum, and thus aren’t breaking any law at all.
There’s nothing that these parents have done that justifies this in the slightest.
There are several links in Teacher Tom’s last three posts. I’ve posted a couple above, but others are through Facebook, which I’m not on. http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/ Most notably, Southwest Keys, the “non-profit” running these concentration camps has only a Facebook page, no website (at least that I can find).
Southwest Keys runs charter schools.
No sh–? Yikes!! The parents of their kids should be afraid to drop them off. Do they work in cages all day?
Wow–the other night, Democracy Now! interviewed a former Southwest Keys Detention Center employee (he quit & is blowing the whistle on them, which is why he was on Democracy Now!) TMI to repeat here: go to democracynow.org to watch the program; I think it was on Monday night, June 18th.
& your comment about S.K running charter schools: this is the very reason people are being held in detention centers–all now are FOR PROFIT. As I’ve said before, ot’s the new Military-Industrial/Education-Industrial Complex. Do you think it will get the oligarchy/1% to lay off the publics, w/all this new revenue to play with–?
NAH!!! They NEVER have enough money…KA-CHING!!!
Don’t forget: TRUMP LIES.
FAKE President!
Yes, and FAKE U.S. Senate….
Instead of name calling…come up with solutions that will keep this country safe, keep the drug cartels and gangs out (and potential recruitment of these kids) stop child trafficking and child abuse and keep track of all people claiming asylum until their cases come up.
We have so many problems in this country that are not being handled because of poverty and so much of our resources are going to the border. Some of our own kids are suffering. How about stopping this exodus in Central America? It is obviously the economies and lack of government safe guards in those countries that are painting this country as the land of milk and honey. Our incentives are hard to resist and understandable. Americans are very generous people toward refugees and immigrants. True asylum seekers would go to the nearest country ie. Costa Rica, Panama, Belize , Mexico etc. for safety. Instead they are seeking economic enrichment. Again, understandable, but that does not help the US. How can we bring in more people when many of our major cities are looking like 3rd world cities?
The ICE folks are not the enemy. They are parents as well and are sensitive to these children. Yes, some comments are heartless but they are blown up for media purposes . Calling these centers concentration cramps and Nazi enforced is over the top. Many of these children have never seen such luxury…even in a tent. They just made a trip that we would label as child abuse and endangerment. That is so sad.
Attacking Trump supporters as immoral, heartless dopes is wrong. We want to solve this problem too. Quoting the bible will not change the situation but perhaps prayer will. Call your congressmen to enact laws to do something that will be lasting. Executive orders are not law. DJT simply wants a law that is fair to all and not crippling to us. He wants to work with everyone. This requires a legislative fix and not game playing to create a political issue for the mid term elections. We have a representative democracy and not a dictatorship. DJT is blamed for taking the law in his hands but congress does not want to do their jobs and act. DO SOMETHING that will address immigration.
“Instead of name calling…come up with solutions that. . . ”
Here is my take on that “what’s your solution” debating/arguing technique. From the Afterword of “Infidelity to Truth: Education Malpractice in American Public Education” (pgs 63-64):
• Correctly identify malpractices that hinder the teaching and learning process and that cause harm to or do injustice to students. (see just a few identified above).
• Immediately reject those malpractices, cease doing them as soon as is practically possible.
• Maintain a “fidelity to truth” attitude in identifying those malpractices and instituting new practices.
• Focus on inputs and resources. Are they adequate to provide that all children have access to a learning environment in which they can learn to “savor the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the fruits of their own industry”?
• Involve all, interested community members, parents, students, teachers, aides, other support personnel, administrators and the school board in revising and formulating new policies and practices
Carol Malaysia,
The USA is not the land of milk and honey anymore for most Americans and most immigrants, alas. It is a plutocracy.
April: “DJT simply wants a law that is fair to all and not crippling to us. He wants to work with everyone.”
You made some good points. This is NOT one of them. DJT caused this turmoil. He is a racist bigot who does NOT ‘want to work with everyone’. He wants life to be better for himself because he never will get enough. There is something mentally off with him. He is a pathological liar who has loyal followers who believe anything he says.
I’m fed up with the nonsense and hurt that comes from the WH. I can’t imagine the pain that these innocent children are enduring. I can’t imagine the pain that their parents are enduring just because they want a better life, one that is impossible in their native lands. We are NOT a beacon of light and beauty. We are now a disgrace to the rest of the world.
I send a video of a refugee boy who, with his parents, were trying to get into the US. The boy had been badly beaten up and had scars on his body with one eye that could no longer function. They repeatedly tried to enter the US and were told to keep coming back. They did for 20 times and ate next to nothing because they had no food.
Tell me again now ‘Trump wants to be fair”. This crisis was set up by him. No other president has had this problem.
……..
Watch the U.S. Turn Away Asylum Seekers at the Border
Jun 18, 2018 | 70 videos
Video by The Atlantic
“The [narcos] threatened to kill every last person in our house—even the dog,” says Wayner Berduo, a young Guatemalan asylum seeker at the U.S.-Mexican border, in a new documentary from The Atlantic. Berduo says he lost his left eye and the use of his right arm in a violent attack late last year. Like thousands of Central American families, the Berduos say they’re seeking legal protection in the U.S. because of gang violence at home.
But now, the Trump administration is taking steps to prevent them from finding safety in the U.S. On June 11, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ruled that the U.S. would no longer accept gang violence or domestic abuse as valid reasons for asylum. Meanwhile, citing lack of space, U.S. agents have started to turn back asylum seekers at ports of entry in recent weeks, leaving throngs of hopefuls at bridges all along the border. Critics say “slow-walking” asylum applicants is just one more measure meant to discourage Central Americans from entering the country.
Repeatedly turned away by U.S. border guards, the Berduo family spent days sleeping on the ground next to the international bridge—trapped in a kind of purgatory that spans the Rio Grande.
Author: Jeremy Raff
https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/563084/us-border/
About This Series
Original short documentaries produced by The Atlantic
April, I sent this video to a friend in Malaysia. Here is her response:
“Too heartbreaking reading abt it that I don’t want to even see the video…..”
The world is watching and is sick over what this country has become.
“The ICE folks are not the enemy. They are parents as well and are sensitive to these children.”
Yes, a lot of the Nazi concentration camp guards were parents too and they were sensitive to the families and children they dealt with. They were just doing the best they could to find a solution to the Jewish problem. We really should have more consideration for them and stop calling them names.
And you can put your Godwin here: https://www.salon.com/2010/07/01/godwin/
NOTHING I have seen with the way these ICE officers are treating immigrants shows sensitivity to children.
To you, everyone & especially to April: did you all know that, after the audio of those children crying for their parents & the Border Patrol Guard snidely stating, “That’s an orchestra…but we need a conductor!” (or something to that effect), the commentator (or a news person said), “That’s a translation of what the B.P.G. said,” because the B.P.G. was Spanish-speaking. That’s what they did in Miami in 1980: the INS employed Cuban refugees to guard the Haitian detention center &, being immigrants themselves,they were pretty much forced to “follow orders.” So I suspect that they’re doing the same now.
Let’s not forget how the Nazis did this w/their Jewish “capos.”
It’s an (unwritten)–& useful–collusion: you follow/obey our orders, or you go down too.
Can I have a glass of Kool Aid too, please?
April: “True asylum seekers would go to the nearest country ie. Costa Rica, Panama, Belize , Mexico etc. for safety. Instead they are seeking economic enrichment.” You seem to be trying to counter all the news sources, which are reporting that the current influx is seeking asylum from the violence in Guatemala/ Honduras /El Salvador, as opposed to seeking employment.
Google around a bit. Panama is not contiguous, & is already full up, as the major hub for Nicaraguan & Colombian refugees. Belize has been turning away asylum-seekers for over a year. (They had their fill after taking in a 10% pop increase during the ’80’s/ ’90’s civil wars – in which we played a major role). Last year Mexico approved only 2k out of 15k applications for asylum – in a process that routinely takes months (and they invite reps to the process from the home countries asylum-seekers are trying to escape). Costa Rica does its best but its population is 4% that of Mexico (& it’s half forested).
Your concept borrows from older paradigms of Central American (esp Mexican) immigration, where male heads of households – accompanied perhaps by an older son – immigrate undocumented – many smuggled in by US employers – to fill low-level jobs, staying often for years while sending earnings back to families, becoming legal (or not) and sending for family. Stats show that sort of immigration still exists but has been waning (w/many re-patriating), dropping steeply since ’07-’08 recession. A tip-off that the current influx are asylum-seekers: the women & kids. That tells you they are not safe at home.
&, April, do you even read the news?* If you don’t, I strongly suggest that you at least watch Democracy Now! At least one-quarter of their one hour show–the other night–was devoted to major unrest in Nicaragua, so it’s doubtful that anyone would be fleeing TO Nicaragua!
*I have to apologize for that one, April; of course, this isn’t reported on msm. (That’s why we all have to watch Democracy Now!)
I read Democracy Now online. It comes each day to my emails. It’s well worth reading or seeing it on TV.
democracynow.org
I just sent a letter to my Senator Todd Young [R-IN] saying, among other things, that since he hasn’t spoken out on the subject of abuse that he is complicit. [I would guess that Todd Young wishes I’d disappear. The staff by now probably says, “Oh no, not another one.”]
I want to cram Donald Trump and his family in cages half the size of their bodies and leave them there for weeks. We can feed them dry dog and/or cat food and only water from the rivers and streams of coal country to wash it all down.
How about separating Ivanka and her children, putting them in cages?
Good idea but in different locations so they aren’t in the same state even.
As much as I would like to see this, we cannot stoop to their level. These people have never learned empathy, and probably never will. And I include a LOT of Republican congresspeople who have said nothing, or next to nothing, about this situation. Tepid condemnations without action is useless.
The U.S. Founding Fathers were active. They fought a revolution 1775 – 1783 and it was bloody and destructive.
There’s a reason why they fought and that’s because they were dealing with a tyrant who didn’t care what they thought or wanted.
And if we have to,, we will fight. BUT, the suggestions made that we should lock up Barron Trump to see how DJT likes it misses the point. Not only is Barron a child, who has no say over this, but that would assume that the orange slimeball would have enough empathy to feel awful, even for his own son. I’m not sure he does.
I signed on to AFT’s filing a complaint [1] with the United Nations “against Donald Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and the administration for their cruel behavior at the border” and asked that the complaint include citing violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [2, 3]. For example, Article 19 (child friendly version, [3]): “You have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, in body and mind.”
[1] https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/justice-for-children-and-families-separated-at-the-border
[2] https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdf
[3] https://www.unicef.org/rightsite/files/uncrcchilldfriendlylanguage.pdf
Here’s more on the executive order: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/trump-family-separation-executive-order-w521783?utm_source=rsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=062018_16
I would caution against this, however: “But this embarrassing reversal may be the starkest proof yet that Trump and his administration have absolutely no idea what they’re doing.” Don’t fall into the incompetence trap. Trump has made a major score here. After horrifying us all with viral stories and pictures and audio of kids being ripped from their families, he has now normalized the idea that “detaining” – in fact, imprisoning – entire families is okay – at least it’s better than tearing families apart. Anyone else thinking about the internment of Japanese-American families during WWII?
We really shouldn’t stop protesting this. This Order is not humane.
I’m not sure I buy that. Obviously it has not been “normalized” since folks from all qtrs spoke out as soon as they heard about it: a process started in mid-April has been roundly excoriated by mid-June, at which point Trump is forced to back off. I see the outcry more as a line drawn in sand saying “no, this is not a norm for US.” Similar to the reaction to Trump’s Jan 27 “Muslim Ban”, & March “Muslim Ban 2.0,” both of which were stayed by a flurry of lawsuits.
I interpret the April “zero-tolerance” policy [backed-off of today] as typical of Trump’s brinksmanship-negotiating style. It is exactly the same as his executive order rescinding Obama’s DACA executive order [which had more success, as it resulted in stand-off rather than recapitulation]. He simply goes to the logically extreme position and attempts to hold hostages [in both cases, young immigrants] in exchange for congressional capitulation to a campaign promise [read, red meat for his 30% base – in both cases, “the wall”/ isolationism].
What makes me very happy about his sudden capitulation? I spent all morning yesterday & today listening to Trumpistas call in at CSPAN’s “Wash Journal”, plus watched the same cohort blather at CNN & other outlets as to how this fiasco simply represented “enforcing our laws” [et al Fox talking pts about how asylum-seekers were disguised coyotes bringing in sex trafficants et al] — but for once they did not prevail — presumably because the other 30% Republicans that represent the folks that voted this POS in for once called his bluff.
I have done a considerable amount of research on Japanese internment, and have personally met dozens of survivors of those camps. What is being done is exactly what happened to Japanese Americans then. And the rhetoric is the same. Trump’s “infesting” comments are the same as Earl Warren (California Secretary of State during WWII): “A Jap is a Jap.”
Right, Dienne–I engaged in a protest today, & the organizer e-mailed us & stated it wouldn’t be called off, even though E.O. was signed earlier. I believe that organizers are urging us to continue the protests nationwide. I’m sure that large numbers of people will have signs out at all the Pride Parades, as well.
If anyone reading this lives near/in Glenview, IL, there will be a rally (bring a sign) at Village Hall, corner of Shermer & Lake Ave. from 5-6 PM (okay to be there after 5 PM).
Sorry for the late notice; bring friends, neighbors, family. Indivisible Glenview (IL)
I am worried that now Trump is going to be a ‘hero’ for allowing immigrants and their children to be put in confinement for an unspecified period of time. This is still an abuse of humanity. These people are, for the most part, trying to survive impossible conditions in their homeland. “We have the most generous immigration laws in the world”…Jeff Sessions. Somehow, this doesn’t ring true. He wanted children to be put in cages and taken from their parents. How low can this country get? With Trump around, I’m sure we’ll find out.
……………
President Trump Signs Executive Order Allowing Joint Family Detention..NYT
“President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday afternoon to end the practice of separating children from parents accused of illegally crossing the border,” Steven Nelson reports in the Washington Examiner. “I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated,” the President said from the Oval Office.
“The laws need to be changed,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said at the signing. “We ask Congress to do their part.”
“We do not want to separate parents from their children. What we want is a safe, lawful system of immigration that would end this question altogether,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions writes in USA Today. “Those who want to come to this country can and should apply legally. We have the most generous immigration laws in the world — but they should be enforced. At the Department of Justice, that is what we intend to do, and we ask Congress to be our partners in this effort.”
There will always be that 26+% xenophobic, anti-immigration, racist Trump base who put him over the top – who will rejoice that he caged families seeking asylum. What we want to celebrate here is that the representatives of the other 25% or so Trump voters – the centrist Republicans – spoke up against his radical-fringe position – joining (for the first time) the other half of the country. It’s a good start.
This is too much for nothing. I wrote my expression that is automatically wiped out !!! Back2basic.
All educators must successfully fight for their professional right and union right. Next, they educate and cultivate parents and students how to fight for their working class’ union right successfully. Finally, all American unite to fight for their human right to live and to work without harassment.
As a result, Americans will be strong, smart and powerful enough to set the best example to the world. Hopefully, world peace will be in a reality sooner one day. May
The president is heartless, vindictive, and loves this s**t. He wallows in the lather of his goose-stepping followers and wall street cronies.
But finally – for the first time except for Sen. McCain, former Sen. Danforth, and the Bush family – some other republicans actually have criticized the president. They may be as conservative as can be – but this one crossed even their line. Bravo to the Governors – GOP and Dem who said they would take back their national guard troops. To the senators – yes GOP – who have publically criticized the president.
BUT MOST HAVE NOT. And, some have made even more outrageous comments than he.
DO NOT FORGET THAT in November.
Diane and others – please keep publshing who said what when and where with emails and phone numbers. Thank you
So agree w/your last sentence, W2. &–get trained to register voters, sign up with your local election protection organizations, attend meetings at your county board of elections, sign up to be an election judge or a poll watcher, sign up to do after-election citizen audits (100s of people are needed!), report instances of voter suppression & vote ON Election Day (depending where you live; you can get paper ballots in some states–like CA–during early voting)–remember–machines can be old, they can be tampered with (in Ohio, it was proven that the security switches had been shut off on voting machines prior to the opening of the polling place). “Paper is safer!”
If nothing else, 2016 elections should have shown us we MUST VOTE & we MUST make sure that our votes count (if you are registered, do NOT accept being told that you are NOT, do NOT accept a “provisional” ballot; they are NOT counted). Before you arrive at your polling place, make SURE that you have #s to contact should there be problems (you can get all sorts of info. & training from your local League of Women Voters).
&–most importantly–work for candidates who will make a difference: knock on doors, contribute, have petitions signed, hold/organize fundraisers &–last but not least–DO YOUR HOMEWORK–READ about your local candidates, talk to like-minded people, join organizations, go to town halls & ask questions, LISTEN to answers–& ask MORE ???, never rely on info. given in TV ads or in mailers.
Vote as if your life depended on it…because now you know it really does.
Thank you Diane Ravitch … Yes, like everyone I know, I have signed every ‘petition’, ‘protest’ and ‘outcry’ against the abuse of the mothers/children — that comes on my e-mail. I believe the ‘vocal’ and ‘written’ protest has been continuous and widespread …
(meanwhile, back to the homebase – and the insult to Public Education called Charter Schools.) Thank you, J. Ellingston – Green Party
On Wed, Jun 20, 2018 at 1:01 PM, Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: “The stories and images of children separated from > their families at the border are shocking. If you are not upset by what our > government is doing, you have no heart. There are times in history that > call upon us to take action, raise our voices, do wha” >
This just came out on WaPo. Unbelievable how much hatred Trump is spreading. How long can we take this miserable [I have worse words but this will do for now] ignorant bigoted, incompetent, misogynistic creep? Every day brings a new crisis.
Thank you, Diane. I have to have a place to ‘blow off’.
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Trump claims immigration laws are ‘a mockery,’ seeks to deprive migrants of due process by deporting them without trial
In a pair of morning tweets, President Trump described immigrants as invaders and wrote that U.S. immigration laws must be changed to take away trial rights from undocumented migrants.
“We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country,” Trump wrote. “When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order. Most children come without parents…”
Trump’s tweets came ahead of a crucial vote in the House this week on GOP immigration legislation.
And now Trump wants all of them to be immediately deported with no access to legal help. What a great leader he is. Please attend a June 30 protest “Families Belong Together”.
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All I hear is my daughter, crying’: a Salvadoran father’s plight after separation at border
Arnovis Guidos Portillo was deported from US but his six-year-old daughter remains in custody…Guardian UK
..Portillo and his daughter left home on 18 May with just a backpack holding a colouring book and a change of clothes. It was the second time he had fled to the US – both times after death threats from the gangs that dominate his hometown.
Since the end of its 1980-92 civil war, El Salvador has been ravaged by a horrific conflict between rival street gangs and the security forces. The country’s murder rate has dropped a little since it reached a peak of 104 per 100,000 citizens in 2015, but the violence has climbed again this year…
“Since January, 7,167 Salvadorans have been detained as part of a travelling family, according to US Customs and Border Protection statistics. While the harsh measures may deter some potential migrants, many say they will keep trying to reach the US.
…The gruelling journey to the border took nine days, and included 52 hours in the back of a freezing truck. They travelled with his brother-in-law and a friend, who were also with their daughters.
When they reached Hidalgo, the Mexican town across the border from McAllen, they crossed under the international bridge to dodge Mexican officials who would turn them back, in the hopes of finding US border agents to whom to hand themselves in and request asylum, he said.
Portillo was transferred to an ICE detention center outside Laredo, Texas, where he was held for several weeks. He is unsure what became of the other two men, but he knows they too were separated from their daughters.
Several other migrants with whom he was held had also lost their children. He describes seeing three agents hold a migrant down while another agent pulled the man’s child away.
“All I hear is my daughter, crying. All I can see is her face when they took her – she was terrified,” Portillo says…
https://gu.com/p/8peex/sbl