Last night, I woke at about 2 am, and I couldn’t get back to sleep. My head was filled with images of children torn from their mothers and fathers. Of children shipped to far-away cities. Of parents crying. Of children frightened and alone. Of babies in the care of strangers who don’t touch them. Of 6-year-olds, terrified and crying for their mothers. Children in cages.
I couldn’t fall asleep. I was tortured by the thoughts and images of the children and their weeping parents. Our government is doing this.
I was outraged by the decision of the Trump administration not to reunite children whose parents were criminals. Does the government have the right to steal the babies of criminals? When was that law passed?
I had a thought. A fantasy. Lock up the Secretary of Homeland Security until every child is reunited with their family.
Words can’t express my outrage at what our government is doing to families. What happened to family values? Maybe that’s reserved for native-born citizens. Maybe they didn’t mean it.
Some parents will never see their children again. They made the mistake of seeking refuge in our country.
Can we report the Trump administration to some international court? The Hague? Where do you go to register a complaint about human rights abuses committed by a nation?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It was upsetting to me, too, that children were separated from their parents upon arriving at the border. But criminals not being re-united with their children? What do you think happens when parents are sent to jail? Their children are not sent to jail with them. They must be cared for by their other parent, close relatives, or sent to foster care. The children are technically allowed to visit their incarcerated parent, but visitations may be rare or even denied depending on the feelings and circumstances of their parent or foster parents. Sometimes, children are even separated from their parents because Child Protective Services decided they weren’t doing a good job parenting, even if criminal charges aren’t filed. These are civil rights issues that should probably be addressed, but they apply to citizens as well as non-citizens. It is a child’s worst nightmare to be separated from their parents. We should do it as rarely as possible.
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The criminals are being deported. Send their children home with them.
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The “alleged” criminals are being deported. Trump isn’t allowing these alleged “criminals” to have their day in court or to have an asylum hearing as the law dictates.
Asylum is a protection granted to foreign nationals already in the United States or at the border who meet the international law definition of a “refugee.”
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/asylum-united-states
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Seriously? “They must be cared for by their other parent, close relatives, or sent to foster care…” These kids are flaunted by zero empathy president, congress – — and all the lackeys who are too afraid to speak up.
These kids are in states across the country. They were in cages; now their in shelters. They don’t speak the language YET. They have NO idea where their parents.are.
Want to say the law is the law? Fine. Say it. Give them a FAIR hearing and proceed.
.
But how sick is a president and the SILENT GOP who JUSTIFY this? They love talking about the gangs on Long Island (When was the last time this president went to New York or any blue state?).
How do they go to Church? How do the explain this to their kids? How will they explain their silence when this president gets blackmailed and exposed by the only real Red State.
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dgsiemer: procedures relating to domestic law-breakers and their children would seem to be irrelevant to immigrants seeking admittance at the border. Do you know for a fact those same procedures apply? If so, attempting to use them in this situation just illustrates that the border system had no advance warning of policy change – thus no time to put procedures in place that suited.
Zero tolerance w/ no supporting infrastructure – combined with sudden volume of refugees from the Northern Triangle – ensured a giant & predictable bottleneck w/ guaranteed multiple SNAFUS in identifying and tracking people. Even if the intention was to felonialize between-borderpoint crossing & use it to automatically deny asylum, why would Trumpistas want to take in a bunch of illegal kids indefinitely? Surely that was a product of yet another fiasco where a presidential whim ignoring norms & consequences becomes law overnight – facilitated by bullied lackeys & cynical coattail-riders.
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“Our government is doing this.”
The Trump administration and the GOP did this. I, for one, refuse to accept this government as our government. I consider them an illegal and/or morally corrupt government. Traitors all.
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Kidnapping seems to me the right word. The deadline will not be met. This Trump approved campaign is not just a matter of incompetence–although there was plenty of that. If an army of lawyers had not taken action the whole project of criminalizing families, most seeking asylum, would have been worse.
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Most minorities don’t get a good nights sleep because unlike white people, the police or either shooting us or the school system is suspending our children for no reason. White women put this Russian troll in office and white women need to look hard in the mirror when they go on about the unborn child and minorities who have no right to sell water outside their apartment building. The list goes on, minorities shouldn’t do anything to upset white people, god forbid..
A white Christian nation who allows children to be taken, placed in cages and a government that ensures minorities get an inferior education thanks to our education leaders. A surplus of for profit prisons and the list goes on. Most of us haven’t had a good nights sleep in decades. so please, why don’t you feel our pain and help us vs your discomfort and hollow words for a change.
We don’t need your pity and this generation is not going to be allowed to live a life of third rate citizens, enough with care because it doesn’t translate into action to help people.
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Don’t blame ALL white women. Only 53-percent of white women voted for Trump and most of those white women (61 percent of them) didn’t have college degrees. Put simply, ignorant, probably racist white women that allow men to abuse them voted for Trump.
Clinton actually beat Trump among college-educated white women.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/20/14061660/women-march-washington-vote-trump
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Yes, Lloyd, I agree. Some of my best friends are white women.
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Frankly, I can’t see how ANY educated person can support Trump. I feel like Trump supporters are a whole different species.
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I suspect that the few college-educated voters that voted for Trump attended mostly private sector, for-profit conservative colleges like the ones listed by the link where the brainwashing and programming of graduates is guaranteed.
2018 Most Conservative Colleges in America
The 2018 Most Conservative Colleges ranking is based on student reviews of the political leanings of the campus community.
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/most-conservative-colleges/
Yes, just like there is a conservative media propaganda machine like Fox, the far right also has its own colleges to ensure that their children are properly programmed to be an obedient minion of someone like Trump.
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True Lloyd, but I also know educated white women in NYC who voted for him becuase (1) they hate Clinton and (2) tax cuts. It’s amazing what lies people will tell themselves for those extra dollars.
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When does “educated” really mean “education”? Does a college degree ensure you are educated?
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“that allow men to beat them” – wow, what a sick comment.
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You changed what I wrote. I wrote “abuse” — not “beat”. Abuse is often psychological and is the most common form of psychological abuse.
Here’s where I used the word “beat”.
Clinton actually “beat” Trump among college-educated white women.
Different context from physically beating someone with fists or clubs.
The fact that CAMathGuy thought I meant “to allow men to beat them” reveals more about CAMathGuy.
Stick to numbers CAMathGuy.
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You’re right, Lloyd, I confused the two.
But “that allow men to abuse them” is just as sick and twisted, and demonstrates a total lack of understanding of domestic violence. Do you really think women who are abused my men are just letting them do that?
And before you deflect; no, you weren’t speaking about it in a political sense.
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How do you explain why women would vote for and support Trump?
“22 Sexist Things President Donald Trump Has Said About Women”
https://www.self.com/story/sexist-president-donald-trump-comments
“Do we need any more proof that Trump is a misogynist?”
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/do-we-need-any-more-proof-that-trump-is-a-misogynist/article35505912/
Were these women raised by their abusive fathers/parents to grow up subservient hate-filled racists — when a child is raised to become a racist as an adult, that is child abuse?
Does their narcissistic male partner expect them to think the same way he thinks about Trump and prove it?
“Research Finds That Racism, Sexism, and Status Fears Drove Trump Voters”
“In the journal PS: Political Science and Politics, High Point University political scientists Mark Setzler and Alixandra Yanus analyzed data from the 2016 American National Election Study. They found that, somewhat to their surprise, the same factors that attracted men to Trump’s campaign and messaging explain his support among women.
“Controlling for the influence of other factors,” they write “possessing the levels of sexism and racism for the typical female Trump voter increased the probability that a woman would vote for him by 37 percentage points. By comparison, being a female Republican increased the probability that a woman voted for Trump by 29 points.”
https://psmag.com/news/research-finds-that-racism-sexism-and-status-fears-drove-trump-voters
CAMathGuy, I stand by my allegation that most if not all women supporting and voting for Trump has been abused and programmed by abusive males and/or even other older abused and programmed females to support Trump — or else.
Fear rules these women and manipulating and promoting that fear in these individuals is a form of abuse.
In the journal PS: Political Science and Politics, High Point University political scientists Mark Setzler and Alixandra Yanus analyzed data from the 2016 American National Election Study. They found that, somewhat to their surprise, the same factors that attracted men to Trump’s campaign and messaging explain his support among women.
“Controlling for the influence of other factors,” they write “possessing the levels of sexism and racism for the typical female Trump voter increased the probability that a woman would vote for him by 37 percentage points. By comparison, being a female Republican increased the probability that a woman voted for Trump by 29 points.”
Starting young, racism is learned through fear and abuse.
Starting young, hate is learned through fear and abuse.
Starting young, fear is learned through repeated lies, propaganda, conspiracy theories, and abuse.
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Lloyd: Here are the lyrics to a song from South Pacific. True, very true.
You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
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Please go ahead and stuff your tribalist diatribe against white women.
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Thank you Flerp, ditto. And same to you, Lloyd. Blaming Trump’s election on white women is as ridiculous as blaming it on any other single factor– the electoral college, Hillary skipping campaign stops in the rust belt, the neolib takeover of the Dem party, the slow recovery from recession etc– only more offensive!
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Please don’t blame all white men either. (See Lloyds comment on white women) Some of us have been working hard all our lives to vote for candidates who supported policies that helped folks, not hurt them. Meanwhile we have tried to live lives that brought people together rather than drove them apart. Someday this hostility will pass. At least we can hope.
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Beata:
You know Diane is white, right?
She has been speaking out against the government’s role in education and it’s negative effect on students and families of color since before you were born. She has taught thousands of teachers, parents, and students to question the system and to fight to change it. She has published books and speaks across the country and advocates changing the system. She was “woke” long before it was even a word in our vocabulary. Now, at 80 (!) she is still fighting to change the system by writing this blog, read by thousands across the US and the world. She could have settled into her later years by quietly enjoying her well-deserved retirement from academia, but instead she has continued to fight with every fiber of her being. I have personally seen her give everything she had at a conference last year, and then give just a little bit more, because she knows she is talking to the future: to those who will continue to fight for the oppressed, the marganilized, and the voiceless and she is desperate to make every minute count!
But I get it, Beata, and you are right on target with your comments that sleeping though the night is partly an economic privilege, which has it’s roots in white privilege. I appreciate the reminder; it’s important to always remember.
And you are right to remind us that T is not the first to rip children from their mothers on US soil, and that our country sadly has a long and dark history of doing so.
I hope you’ll have a chance to read some of Diane’s books, if you haven’t already, and stay with us as we fight to give ALL children the very best education there is. Clearly, that is your mission, and it is ours, too.
Diane was writing about the danger’s T presented long before most other bloggers were, and long before he was even elected. There are thousands of white women who read this blog who did not vote for T and who are fighting for change and equity for all. I am one of them. And Diane is one of them, too.
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Beautifully spoken. I agree with every word. [I’m also white.]
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Thank you, KRB.
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The UN has already declared this to be illegal. What are they doing about it?
……………………….
Taking Migrant Children From Parents Is Illegal, U.N. Tells U.S…NYT
By Nick Cunning-Bruce
June 5, 2018
The Trump administration treats all undocumented border crossing as a crime, jailing adults and splitting families. The U.N. says that violates the children’s rights.
GENEVA — The Trump administration’s practice of separating children from migrant families entering the United States violates their rights and international law, the United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday, urging an immediate halt to the practice.
The administration angrily rejected what it called an ignorant attack by the United Nations human rights office and accused the global organization of hypocrisy.
The human rights office said it appeared that, as The New York Times revealed in April, United States authorities had separated several hundred children, including toddlers, from their parents or others claiming to be their family members, under a policy of criminally prosecuting undocumented people crossing the border.
That practice “amounts to arbitrary and unlawful interference in family life, and is a serious violation of the rights of the child,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, based in Geneva, told reporters…
Without addressing the specifics of the accusation, Ms. Haley said: “Neither the United Nations nor anyone else will dictate how the United States upholds its borders.”..
The United States is the only country in the world that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, she noted, but the practice of separating and detaining children breached its obligations under other international human rights conventions it has joined…
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“The United States is the only country in the world that has not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child”
That’s not the only thing the US had not agreed to.
111 nations, minus the US, agreed to ban cluster bombs because decades later cluster bombs are still blowing up or crippling innocent adults and children.
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The International Red Cross? Amnesty International? I’m shocked that no international agency has spoken up. I too am feeling literally sick about this situation.
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I couldn’t find anything about the Red Cross with a Google search, but Amnesty International did protest. You probably didn’t hear about that protest because most or all of the major US media didn’t report it.
USA: Authorities must stop separating and locking up families
28 June 2018, 23:03 UTC
US authorities must put an immediate end to both the separation and detention of children and families who come to the US border with Mexico seeking asylum, while also immediately reuniting the thousands of families who remain separated as a result of the Trump administration’s unlawful and damaging policies, said Amnesty International ahead of the Global Day of Action against these practices planned for 30 June.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/06/usa-authorities-must-stop-separating-and-locking-up-families/
I was wrong, CNN reported AI’s protest.
Amnesty International blasts Trump administration’s family separations: “This is nothing short of torture”
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/immigration-border-children-separation/h_808b0bd4caf0341d0db1547a29cb47bc
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“Words can’t express my outrage at what our government is doing to families. What happened to family values?”
I feel the same, and cannot help but seeingg the images, and imagining my sweet grandkids torn from their parents.
But this author talks about what is before our eyes today…and how to move on.
Some Thoughts on our Collective Predicament — The Recovery of Humanity
https://www.opednews.com/articles/Some-Thoughts-on-our-Colle-by-Blair-Gelbond-Collective-Intelligence_Paradigm-Shifts_Worldview-World-View_Zeitgeist-180725-807.html
This piece is designed as an introduction to a series of occasional notes, based in the idea that we have become inured, and in a sense “addicted”, to a worldview/paradigm that is ready to be outgrown. These ideas, of necessity, will be developed in a step by step format — each step building on former entries. Former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has described our world as moving through a time of “Great Transition”:Former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has described our world as moving through a time of “Great Transition”: “Throughout the ages, people have said that the world is in the midst of big change. But the level and degree of global change that we face today is far more profound than at any other period in my adult lifetime. I call this period the Great Transition.”
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Rather than being Reagan’s mythical shining city on the hill, we have become the shiny sh*thole in the gutter.
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That city on a hill thing was Puritans quoting the Bible.
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You are correct. Peggy Noonan wrote that line for the faux Gipper. But we truly have become the world’s leading sh*thole nation with the perfect president to for our times. The general indifference to this issue makes me wonder if we, as Americans, can ever rightly take pride in this ruse of a nation ever again.
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Reagan’s son recently said, “Trump’s base would pick Putin over any Democrat as U.S. President.”
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Not to mention you have to be suspicious about how Trumpdom is defining “criminal,” right? It’s racist white nationalism again. They believe in their own “white” families but think others, non-whites, Mexicans, Muslims, poor brown people, families are an “infestation” of “chain migration” and “criminals”/”illegal aliens.” It is a crime against humanitarian law based on international agreements we’ve been part of since WW 2, if not longer, and the admin should be held accountable. The UN has already condemned the policy but more formal prosecution is needed. It should NOT be okay that they reunite only half the families. Shameful. Best wishes, Jack
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Many private charities and volunteers are working to help reunify parents and children. The worst cases are those in which the parents have already been deported, but the children, even pre-verbal are floating around God knows where. This whole sickening episode along with all of Trump’s repeated lies and gaffes has lowered our standing in the free world. I hope the ACLU or some other group brings a lawsuit against the US, or implements a fine against the administration. Otherwise, we only have our vote or protest to show our level of discontent.
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Retired Teacher: The A.C.L.U. has filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in San Diego, calling for a halt to the practice and for reunification of families.[This came from the NYT article posted on June 5, 2018.]
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Despite Today’s Court-Ordered Deadline, More Than 900 Migrant Children Remain Separated From Parents
BY
Amy GoodmanDemocracy Now!
PUBLISHED
July 26, 2018
It has been nine weeks since the Trump administration sparked a national crisis by forcibly separating more than 2,500 migrant children from their parents at the US-Mexico border. Most were seeking asylum from violence in their home countries of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Instead, the parents were charged in federal court with a crime for illegally crossing the border, then held in jail and detention. The children, some still breastfeeding, were sent to shelters around the country. Today is the deadline federal District Judge Dana Sabraw set to reunite these families. But the process has been chaotic, and the government admits at least 900 children have yet to be reunited, and some 463 separated parents have been deported — even as their children remain in US detention centers. Officials say the parents voluntarily agreed to leave their children behind. But in court papers filed Wednesday, the ACLU argued many parents say they were coerced or misled into signing forms they could not read, and were confused about what they were agreeing to. We speak to two immigration lawyers, Ofelia Calderón and Carlos García. They are both representing and providing pro bono assistance to parents separated from their children, some of whom have still not been reunited by today’s court-imposed deadline…
Check out this article: https://truthout.org/video/more-than-900-migrant-children-remain-separated-from-parents-despite-deadline/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=mashshare&utm_campaign=mashshare
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Where to register complaints? See if it does anything: https://services.india.gov.in/service/detail/register-online-complaints-with-national-human-rights-commission
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This is ugly and shameful, an historical and moral disgrace. Trump is using the enormoous power of his office and his control of all branches of govt. to do deep damage. Hoping you find sleep soon.
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IRA SHOR: I’ve read about Trump supporters saying that people who don’t follow our laws need to be put in prisons and deported. They shouldn’t bring their children here. Most of those people are desperate for a place in which they won’t be starved or killed.
Those asking for amnesty are following our laws. Trump called it the magic word to get into this country. The whole thing is sickening. It was done in such a hurry that the government has no idea where the parents are of children in custody. We are turning into the scourge of the world.
We can do better than this. The world used to look up to the US. Not any more. So much for Trump’s vision to Make America Great Again. There has to be a lot of fear and hatred spread by Trump for this to be happening. Hitler spewed hatred towards the Jews and ignorant Trump, the want-to-be-dictator, is spreading his hatred for Muslims and immigrants.
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SPLC sues DHS for failing to produce records on unconstitutional arrests of immigrants [Southern Poverty Law Center]
The SPLC today sued two federal agencies that operate under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), for failing to provide public documents detailing their unconstitutional methods of arresting and detaining immigrants in Florida.
In one of the two complaints, the SPLC sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for failing to provide records describing ICE’s “Basic Ordering Agreements” with 17 Florida sheriffs. The agreements detail the ways in which sheriffs hold immigrants in their custody – people who are otherwise eligible for release – until ICE can detain them for immigration issues.
The other complaint, against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is for that agency’s failure to provide documents detailing the way in which it arrests and detains immigrants on interstate buses and at bus stops.
The SPLC filed both lawsuits today after ICE and the CBP failed to provide the documents in response to two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The SPLC filed each request more than five months ago. FOIA is a federal law that allows members of the public to request and receive documents that detail government activities. Both lawsuits also name the DHS as a defendant…
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I remember the good ole days when the SPLC monitored and let us now about fringe hate groups. Got to know them well when I worked against David Duke. Now those fringe groups have direct access to positions of power up through the president*. And 40% of our population now think the SPLC is the fringe. Whatever deities exist, help us.
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I do not understand the “selective outrage”. When an adult with a child or children is arrested for allegedly breaking the law, the children are not permitted to remain with the parent(s). Illegal aliens, entering this nation without proper authorization and visas forfeit their parental rights, when they illegally cross our borders.
A house without walls is not a house. A nation without borders is not a nation.
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Charles,
No one said anything about open borders. The children should be reunited with their parents.
Do you want one?
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When a person is arrested for allegedly breaking the law, the person does not have the right to keep their children with them, while they are incarcerated, pending trial (or deportation).
The children must be treated properly, foster care, or an appropriate facility.
I am not interested in taking any children into my home at this time.
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Take them all, Charles.
There are about 500 children separated from their parents who may never see them again.
Take them, Charles. You. Step up to the plate. You want to keep these children in the US while their parents are deported, do a good deed and foster them.
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A federal judge ordered the reunification of families whether or not they are incarcerated.
Did you know that?
The Trump administration misplaced 500 of these children, can’t find them, forgot to give them identifiers.
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I am not interested in participating in the foster care program. Please stop asking.
It is proper and fair, to keep the minor children of illegal aliens in foster care and/or housed in an appropriate facility, while the parents’ case is under adjudication.
If the parents of minor children are to be deported, then the minor children must be re-united with the parents, and the family deported.
If a federal judge has ordered that the minor children are to be re-united with the parents, then the government must comply with that order. Well and good, and the sooner the better.
Someone obviously screwed up, and misplaced 500 children! These children must be relocated, and re-united with their parents, in accordance with the court order. The sooner the better.
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Charles,
The children are lost! They were not tagged. They are lost. Don’t you get it. There is a federal court order to reunite them with their parents, and the federal government has failed to do it.
The children were lost, stolen, misplaced. They were separated by the idiots in charge of our government.
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Q The children are lost! They were not tagged. They are lost. Don’t you get it. There is a federal court order to reunite them with their parents, and the federal government has failed to do it.
The children were lost, stolen, misplaced. They were separated by the idiots in charge of our government.
END Q
I get it. The children are lost. I hope that every effort is being made to locate them, and arrange for re-unification with their parents. I understand this.
I have been a federal employee, and I work on a federal contract now. This sounds like a typical government (expletive)- up. I see them all the time.
The idiots in charge of our government is US. We the people. We elected this government, and we are responsible for these idiotic policies. The buck stops here.
“Government is like fire, a dangerous servant, and a terrible master” George Washington.
“Amen” – Charles Martin
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No, this is not my government. This is the Orange Idiot’s government. And yours, Charles. Not mine
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Charles,
I think you should be separated from society and adopted by a nice set of foster dictators who will keep you safe and focused.
Anyone want to adopt Charles?
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A child without their parent is an abused and traumatized person for life. A child is innocent no matter what.
A nation without open arms for refugees is a shameful and hateful place. Anyone who voted for Trump or supports his administration’s actions is a person without morals, without respect for other people’s rights, without compassion or a heart at all, and without any integrity.
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No one is asserting that the children are not innocent. They had no choice, when their parents illegally crossed the US border, without permission, and in defiance of our laws. The parents should have considered that, prior to choosing to violate US immigration laws.
The USA takes in over a million legal immigrants each year, including political asylees, and refugees.
Hospitality has limits, and no nation is required to have totally open borders, and accept all applicants.
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The US government does not have the right to steal children from immigrants, whether legal or illegal.
Show me where in the law or Constitution that such a right or power exists.
This is a crime against humanity.
Stephen Miller should be arrested and exiled from America to a fascist country.
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Charles,
Sometimes your comments make me sick. This is one of those times. You prove you have no heart. None. Put your hand on your left breast and see if something is beating.
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Charles: Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. It took around 650,000 Rohingyas since they were being genocidally killed in Burma [Myanmar]. If a poor country can help what is wrong with the US? Jordan has an immigration camp of 86,000 Muslim people and they have lived there for years.
It is a total lack of compassion that leads people to be so stingy with helping those who are suffering. Most of the people who come to our southern border are fleeing from governments that are starving or killing people. Many of them signed papers and had no idea what they were signing. Then, they are put into a for-profit prison and their kids are shipped away. What a great way for the US to show its humanity.
………………………….
“More than 650,000 ethnic Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since August, when Myanmar’s military launched a brutal crackdown in Rakhine state after a militant group attacked police posts. Myanmar’s army described it as “clearance operations” against terrorists, but the United Nations and the U.S. have called it “ethnic cleansing.”
Despite having lived in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar for generations, Rohingya Muslims have been denied citizenship, freedom of movement and access to basic social rights. They are generally called “Bengalis,” a reference to the belief that they migrated illegally from Bangladesh.”
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Q The US government does not have the right to steal children from immigrants, whether legal or illegal.
Show me where in the law or Constitution that such a right or power exists. END Q
Please see ICE Policy Directive 11064.2 see also
Click to access directiveDetainedParents.pdf
The ICE policy directive has the force of federal law.
Children are not being “stolen”, because children are not property.
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You are truly heartless. If something is ticking in your vest pocket, it must be a watch
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I stand by the law. If that is heartless, then so be it.
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What a ridiculous argument. In this country, people do not automatically lose their parental rights because they have broken the law –as it should be.
Just more pretzel logic from a heartless right-wing troll. Ignore his inane comments.
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I am not asserting that parents who are lawbreakers, forfeit ALL of their parental rights, when they are accused/convicted to breaking our laws.
When a person commits a crime, or is accused of committing a crime, from homicide to border violation, the person is entitled to due process. Due process does not confer the ability to keep their children with them, during the hearing/trial process.
The children of accused criminals must be treated properly. They can be placed in foster care, or housed in an appropriate child services facility.
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None of the people entering the US whose children were removed were convicted of a crime here.
How do we have the right to steal their children?
Some parents have been deported without their children, and they may never see them again. Do we have a right to steal their children too?
Why don’t you take one of them, Charles, to show your good faith.
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ALL of the people who entered this country illegally, and had their children removed from their custody, knowingly and willingly broke US law. ALL of them are lawbreakers. When a person commits a crime, or is accused of committing a crime, the person forfeits the right to keep their children with them, while the individual’s case is adjudicated. On a case by case basis, individuals could be granted bail and/or temporary custody of their minor children, pending outcome of their case.
The US government is not “stealing” anyone’s children. Children are not “property”, and cannot be bought, sold, nor stolen. Placing minor children of accused lawbreakers into temporary custody at an appropriate facility, is legal and accepted practice.
Of course, every effort must be made to return minor children to deportees, when the individual case is adjudicated. Of course!
As I said previously, I am not interested in participating in a foster care program at this time.
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I will urge the Department of Homeland Security to send any of the lost babies to you, Charles. You approve of family separation. You think the parents and children need to be punished.
Take them. You are a heartless, soulless man.
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Diane,
Give it up and don’t let him raise your blood pressure. Charles is emotionally disabled and not rehabilitatable. He is who he is. Let him stay in the living room and remind us all of what we are fighting against. He helps sharpen us, despite his dullness.
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NF,
Thank you.
I needed that.
You should see the crackpots and cranks I delete. Or better, you should not see them. I will not let them into my space.
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Diane, I sometimes read comments on other sites. I can imagine what people on your site are saying. It is hideous what some people think…bigotry, ignorance and hatred are definitely alive.
You are a very welcome relief for all of us. As I’ve said before, I need to sound off. I see something outrageous daily. THANK YOU for letting me speak.
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Carol, I enjoy your comments.
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In the living room — really? I wouldn’t let him in the house. Instead, I suggest leaving him outside on the porch or better yet, out on the sidewalk next to the street in front of the house.
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Diane and all,
We need to be very skeptical of everyone on social media sites, including this blog, who comes to sow discord and divisiveness, because that’s exactly what Russian trolls did and continue to do to us, as well as to other democracies, such as France and Germany.
Please see: “An Ethical Hacker Explains How the Russian Government Used Disinformation and Cyber Warfare in the 2016 Election” https://www.alternet.org/ethical-hacker-explains-how-russian-government-used-disinformation-and-cyber-warfare-2016-election
Of course, some agitators may be right-wing Americans, too, and whoever they are, it often seems necessary to counter their lies and abhorrent claims, because no one deserves to live in the hateful, intolerant, authoritarian ruled caste system they are peddling under the mask of nationalism, which undermines democracy, promotes corruption and benefits mostly rich, white, Christian men. If it wasn’t apparent before (though I think it was), what people like the Putin-owned Trump, his supporters and his party really want is power at any cost, so they can control the rest of us and take away our freedoms, so we do need to take measures to defend and protect ourselves, our rights and our country.
Whatever the case, Diane, you have the power to prevent and to end such discussion(s) at any point and I totally support your right to do that when you so choose. That includes by cutting them off and stopping the discussion, such as after the last cogent statement revealing their heartless, selfish and manipulative intentions. I am relieved to see you taking action like this and I trust completely in your ability to do it. Thank you so much for taking this stand!
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P,S. Remember. All, that “cyberwarfare” which has weaponized social media, means that WE ARE IN THE TRENCHES RIGHT HERE!
And I salute you, Diane, Oh Captain, My Captain!
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Let’s make Charles a citizen of a war torn country, a nation destabilized by inadequate resources, or plundered by the richest 0.1%. Then, let’s watch what he does for his family.
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“Dying Father Implores Voters to Back Democrat, Danny O’Connor”. Where’s the justice- Charles and David Koch get to live and this man, who champions healthcare for the American people, suffers from ALS”?
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Well said, Diane. Thank you.
This is child abuse. As a teacher, I am a mandatory reporter. How do I report state-sponsored child abuse, dictated by our President?
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Tim,
There must be an international tribunal that monitors state-sponsored child abuse.
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International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect
“ISPCAN’s mission is to prevent cruelty to children in every nation, in every form: physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, street children, child fatalities, child prostitution, children of war, emotional abuse, and child labor. We are committed to increasing public awareness of all forms of violence against children, developing activities to prevent such violence, and promoting the rights of children in all regions of the world.”
https://www.ispcan.org/
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They showed on TV last night how Trump 2020 T-shirts are already being made –in China, of course. I hope he has to pay more for importing them now. I’m waiting for the Make America Great Just for Whites Again hats to come out this time.
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Add “rich” to that hat…”Rich Whites.”
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With any luck, we won’t have to endure the 2020 ‘Make America Great’ garbage. I’d love to see our Great Liar in an orange jump suit. As I’ve said before, it goes well with his orange complexion and he can wear the long, long red tie that ‘covers’ his fat self. I read yesterday that Cohen has 100 tapes. Hope they prove our Orange IDIOT is complicit in working with his beloved Russia.
………..
Russia investigation
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, claims then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower in which Russians were expected to offer his campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton, sources with knowledge tell CNN. And Cohen is willing to make that assertion to special counsel Robert Mueller. Cohen alleges he was present, along with several others, when Trump was informed of the Russians’ offer by Donald Trump Jr. By Cohen’s account, Trump approved going ahead with the meeting with the Russians, according to sources.
Cohen’s claim would contradict repeated denials by Trump, Trump Jr., their lawyers and other administration officials who have said the President knew nothing about the Trump Tower meeting until he was approached about it in July 2017 by The New York Times. CNN’s Chris Cillizza says if Cohen’s telling the truth, it’s the biggest step to date toward suggesting or proving collusion between Trump and the Russians. But if Cohen’s bluffing or can’t deliver, this Russia bombshell is much ado about nothing.
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Aren’t the Cohen tapes already in the hands of Mueller? No matter really, because even if Cohen has tapes that Mueller didn’t get a hold of yet, I doubt it’s a ruse since Cohen has been sending signals that he wants to flip, in which case, he’s got to tell the truth in order to be able to make a deal with Mueller. Plus Cohen’s layer is involved in this and I think he would have advised Cohen that concocting a story like this is not the way to go about it.
I always thought there was a very strong chance that Trump knew in advance of the meeting with the Russians at Trump Tower, since he’s such a control freak, and, also, that it was probably Trump who has the private number that Jr called after the meeting was over. These people are not very bright!
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The new slogan is “MAWA.” Make America White Again.
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“Trump 2020 T-shirts are already being made –in China, of course.” My hope is that these tee shirts never get used and rot in some warehouse. They make nice nests for mice and other vermin.
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Trump heads the U.S.branch of a global right-wing nationalist movement engineered by Putin. This is the many-headed hydra behind Brexit, Marine LePen in France, the rise of the AfD in Germany and other similar uprisings. It is meant to destabilize Western democracy and power world-wide to counter Russia’s waning influence. It rests upon nativism, the fear and vilification of foreigners and their ideas. Like any war, they seek to dehumanize the perceived “other”, casting immigrants as an alien threat to our employment and values, our “way of life”. This appeals to the basest, racist emotions and fears and is a potent motivator. Russia has been honing such psychological warfare techniques for decades. We better wise up to this new form of brainwashing or they will destroy this great experiment from the inside out. Here is your republic…”if you can keep it”.
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Quick Signature: Stop a discriminatory question on the U.S. Census!
The 2020 U.S. Census is coming up soon and it is a BIG deal. We’ve seen time and time again over the past couple of months just how powerful our voices are when we speak up — and we need your voice again right now to stop yet another bad Trump idea.
What’s happening? Every 10 years the U.S. Census takes place and its results have very real impacts on our day-to-day lives, including determining if a state gains or loses seats in the U.S. House of Representatives AND also how redistricting happens. [1] The results will also impact funding for schools, housing, health care, as well as business investment in our communities.
It’s critical that the U.S. Census gets an accurate headcount of everyone in the United States, but — here’s the bad news: The Trump Administration is using the upcoming U.S. Census as a backdoor attack on immigrant communities by adding a discriminatory question related to citizenship, with the goal of discouraging participation and threatening the accuracy of the count.
Submit a public comment telling the U.S. Secretary of Commerce: No discriminatory questions on the Census!
Here are the details: In March, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, with the support of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ anti-immigrant Department of Justice, announced that he had directed the Census Bureau to add a question related to citizenship to the 2020 Census.
Send this link to your family and friends so they can sign on too!
https://action.momsrising.org/sign/2020Census?source=aae&aktmid=tm4990683.Q6k5Es&akid=a21350283.39721.4j3aEq&t=2
Together we can raise many voices – thank you for all you do!
Sara
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The “Christians” who follow Franklin Graham should entertain us, by stumbling over their feet in defense of Kim Guilfoyle and Eric Bolling from Fox and Trump’s son, Junior. (Huffpo article).
The blind eye of the “evangelicals’ ” to the most vile actions of Trump and those associated with him prove their souls are hollow and, that they are duplicitous.(Paul Weyrich training manual at Theocracy Watch)
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I have been SICK thinking about the children separated from their families. I can’t express my disgust.
And … Child Trafficking is a REAL phenomenon in America. And I wouldn’t put this pass Dump and his supporters. They are SICK people to the MAX.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/nation-now/2018/01/30/sex-trafficking-column/1073459001/
IMPEACH that DUMP.
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What that DUMP has exposed is HOW SICK America IS.
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Democratic presidential hopefuls, John Delaney and Andrew Yang, and possibly Tim Ryan, are all in for charter schools, because they are following the corporate-funded CAP playbook that lost Dems, 1000 legislative seats.
At the first sign that Avenatti or any other candidate, opposes privatization of public education, I will donate to his/her campaign.
The reality that well-connected Dem and all Republican politicians are pushing for the destruction of public education spells no less than catastrophe, for the U.S.
Ohio is case in point. The state is suffering and will suffer for decades from the charter school debacle.
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The Network for Public Education has taken a strong stand against charter schools and vouchers.
Our political action organization–the NPE Action Fund– will encourage voters this fall to draw a line in the sand and support candidates who support truly public schools, not faux public schools.
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The work that you, Diane, and NPE do is a credit to the country.
What Fordham, DFER, Gates’ Impatient Opportunists and The 74 do is an abomination, in no small part, because it is an attack on democracy.
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This article speaks for itself. These children are often being abused.
……
Immigrant Youth Shelters: ‘If You’re a Predator, It’s a Gold Mine’
By Michael Grabell and Topher Sanders, ProPublica
28 July 18
ust five days after he reached the United States, the 15-year-old Honduran boy awoke in his Tucson, Arizona, immigrant shelter one morning in 2015 to find a youth care worker in his room, tickling his chest and stomach.
When he asked the man, who was 46, what he was doing, the man left. But he returned two more times, rubbing the teen’s penis through his clothing and then trying to reach under his boxers. “I know what you want, I can give you anything you need,” said the worker, who was later convicted of molestation.
In 2017, a 17-year-old from Honduras was recovering from surgery at the shelter when he woke up to find a male staff member standing by his bed. “You have it very big,” the man said, referring to the teen’s penis. Days later, that same employee brushed the teen with his hand while he was playing video games. When the staff member approached him again, the boy locked himself in a bathroom.
And in January of this year, a security guard at the shelter found notes in a minor’s jacket that suggested an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.
Pulled from police reports, incidents like these at Southwest Key’s Tucson shelter provide a snapshot of what has largely been kept from the public as well as members of Congress — a view, uncolored by politics, of troubling incidents inside the facilities housing immigrant children.
Using state public records laws, ProPublica has obtained police reports and call logs concerning more than 70 of the approximately 100 immigrant youth shelters run by the U.S. Health and Human Services department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. While not a comprehensive assessment of the conditions at these shelters, the records challenge the Trump administration’s assertion that the shelters are safe havens for children. The reports document hundreds of allegations of sexual offenses, fights and missing children…
Check out this story on USATODAY.com: https://usat.ly/2v9PfRuhttps://usat.ly/2v9PfRu
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Nadia, MomsRising info@momsrising.org
2:52 PM
Hi Carol,
Thank you so much for signing our letter urging your U.S Senator to support the Stop Shackling and Detaining Pregnant Women Act.
We need as many people as possible to take action on this!
Send this link to your family and friends so they can sign on too:
https://action.momsrising.org/sign/we-must-stand-pregnant-immigrant-moms/?aktmid=tm5008589.1RZaFc&akid=a21369075.39721.VOH2At&t=2&source=conf
Thank you for standing with us at this critical moment in our nation’s history.
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I often wonder what this situation would be like if it was taking place on our Northern border instead of our Southern one, and if the families and children were not impoverished, had a strong formal education, were white instead of brown, and spoke English, or even French, instead of Spanish or Indigenous languages… would our government still be separating children from their parents? I believe it would not.
Charles:
You kept your cool, and you kept your words clean. Thank you.
There is a world of difference between children of the legally incarcerated in the US and what is happening at our Southern borders.
You are correct that when adults in our country are legally incarcerated, they are not housed with their children. However, they know where their children are (if they want to know), and they are allowed to communicate with them. Both parties can send letters, make telephone calls, and in most cases, the children can visit their parents in prison if both parties desire. Clearly, this is not the case with the immigrants at the border.
If an incarcerated would like to communicate with their child, s/he can contact their lawyer; lawyer being the operative word here. The immigrants at the border do not appear to have much, if anything, in the way of access to lawyers, representation, translators, or due process. They are not being afforded the same legal rights as US citizens. You can argue that they should or should not have those rights, but that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that the legally incarcerated in the US have legal representation and can contact their lawyers at any time. The immigrants at the border do not have that access or those rights.
If an incarcerated would like to begin to communicate with their child/children, having not done so prior to incarceration, they can contact their lawyer and the lawyer and social services will track down the child/ren and extend the offer to communicate. In most circumstances, the incarcerated know where their children are and with whom they are living. Most of the immigrants at the border do not not know where their children are.
Even if the legally incarcerated don’t know, don’t want to know, or are forbidden to know where their children are due to safety issues for the children, the state knows where those children are.
Whether children are in foster care, with a relative, or living with another parent, the state maintains standards of safety for those children.
When those standards of safety are violated, the state (in the form of Child Protective Services) can and will remove the child from an unsafe environment. There are currently stories floating around that the children of the immigrants are being abused, but there is no verification either way at the present time because….
Counselors and child care workers have been prevented from entering all of the camps to verify that the children are safe and being well cared for. Our own elected officials have been forbidden from entering some of the housing facilities. Reporters have been denied access. Why? CPS can check on any child whom they believe to be in danger. Children in foster care are regularly visited by their social workers to make sure that the children are safe and well cared for. Why not put us all at ease and let professional child care workers, electeds, and even reporters into the housing units to verify that the children are safe and well cared for?
The bottom line is that in most cases there appears to be no communication between the children and their parents after they are separated. No one appears to have any legal or due process rights, including the children. It is becoming more and more obvious that there is no paper or electronic trail which is following the children or the parents, and no one appears to know which children belong to which parents (or with whomever they crossed the border). There is no verification that the children are safe and that they are well cared for. Whether there is abuse going on, from reports of attempted human trafficking from some crossing the border, or from those who are supposed to be caring for the children taken from their parents, the situation is ripe for all kinds of abuse. I believe that the government is not doing all it can and should do to ensure that the children are safe, well cared for, free from abuse, and identified and linked with a paper or electronic trail to the adults with whom they entered the country.
Charles, with all due respect, you made a poor comparison by comparing the children taken from their parents at the border to the children of the legally incarcerated. The two are like apples and oranges; there’s really no fair comparison at all. I hope this provides you with some additional education on the differences between the two groups of people.
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“Brutal and Sadistic”: Noam Chomsky on Family Separation & the U.S. Roots of Today’s Refugee Crisis…Democracy Now
STORYJULY 27, 2018
…NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, actually, these people are fleeing from the wreckage and horrors of U.S. policies. So, take Guatemala. No need to go through the whole history, but back in 1954, the U.S. intervened, sponsored a military coup, overthrew a mildly reformist elected government. Since then, the country has been a complete horror story—hundreds of thousands of people killed, all kinds of atrocities, every imaginable sort of torture. It peaked in the 1980s under Reagan. In fact, some of the places where people are fleeing from, the Mayan areas, there was literal genocide going on, carried out by the man who Reagan called a stellar exponent of democracy, a really good guy. When Congress imposed some limits on direct U.S. military aid to this—to Ríos Montt, the person who was—general who was implementing the genocidal attacks, Reagan set up an international terrorist network.
The U.S. does not hire terrorists, it hires terror states—it’s much more effective—so, Taiwan, Israel, Argentina—as long as it was under the rule of the neo-Nazi generals. Unfortunately, they were overthrown. They had the good news, Argentina. The people are still fleeing from the destruction there. It’s been a horror story ever since. Same with El Salvador, where about 70,000 people were killed during the 1980s, almost all by the security forces, armed, trained, directed by the United States. Again, horror story since.
In Honduras, which not long ago had the plurality of refugees, the refugee flow started to peak after a military coup threw out the elected government, the Zelaya government, condemned by the entire hemisphere and the world, with the usual exception of President Obama. Hillary Clinton refused to call it a military coup, because that would have meant terminating military aid to the junta, which the U.S. continued to do. ..
So, essentially, what President Trump is saying is, we’ll destroy your countries, slaughter you, impose brutal regimes, but if you try to get out, you’re not going to come here, because America is full.
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/27/brutal_and_sadistic_noam_chomsky_on
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This is cruelty beyond imagining. It is impossible to think of the hardships these kids have gone through, all having picked up the hope that their parents had for a better life. Now, they find themselves in places that are reported to be lacking in even basic needs. Good grief…over-medicating so kids don’t complain. Lack of decent food, dirty clothing, don’t touch even a sibling. We are not “Making America Great Again’ by such mistreatments of those who are struggling. This is a tactic of dirty politics and degradation.
……………………….
Does the Trump Administration Not View Central American Immigrants as Fully Human?
By Eugene Robinson
July 31, 2018
WASHINGTON — As of Monday, 711 children who were effectively kidnapped and held hostage by the Trump administration remain in government custody, supposedly “ineligible” to be reunited with their families. What happens to them now? The government won’t say, apparently doesn’t know and evidently doesn’t care.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who had ordered that those children and nearly 2,000 others be returned to their loved ones by last week, summed up the administration’s cruel incompetence at a court hearing Friday: “What was lost in the process was the family. The parents didn’t know where the children were, and the children didn’t know where the parents were. And the government didn’t know either.”
That was, of course, the whole point of this sordid and unforgivable exercise. The xenophobic cultural warriors in the administration — President Trump, policy adviser Stephen Miller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions — sent a message to refugees fleeing rampant violence in Central America: If you show up at the border seeking asylum, as is your right, you might have your children taken away and never see them again…
In 120 cases, according to the government, a parent “waived” reunification with the child. This claim cannot be taken at face value, however, since immigration advocates cite widespread reports of parents being coerced or fooled into signing documents they did not understand.
Human nature binds parents with their children. It shocks and depresses me to have to write this, but I wonder whether Trump and his minions see these Central Americans — brown-skinned, with indigenous features — as fully human…
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/07/31/does_the_trump_administration_not_view_central_american_immigrants_as_fully_human_137667.html
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Things never seem to change. This just came out in an email from the WH:
In the Courier Journal, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell writes that it’s time to “stand with ICE, stand with the rule of law, and stand with all the American families who would rather have fewer drugs and less crime in the communities where they’re raising their children.” Sen. McConnell points out that leading Democrats are “taking cues from the open-borders socialist crowd and proposing to eliminate the very agency that enforces federal immigration laws within the interior of our nation.”
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Inhumanity to mankind is Trump’s way to Make America Great Again. Looking down upon those who are suffering by trying to escape scarcity and violence is a really difficult way to make this country great. I’d say it doesn’t get much lower.
………………………….
Detainee Attempts Suicide After Trump Administration Jams Migrants Into Troubled Prison…HuffPost
A controversial federal prison complex in Victorville, California, that is currently housing roughly 800 immigration detainees despite infectious disease outbreaks and workers’ concerns about inadequate medical care, is now facing another danger: Detainees at risk of dying by suicide….
Prison workers had been warning since the detainees’ arrival that inadequate staffing and the resulting lack of proper care meant such risks were increasing, as HuffPost has reported.
“You’re going to get more suicide attempts and suicides,” one medical staffer told HuffPost. “We just can’t take care of them, and they’re resorting to self-murder and manipulation. They’re becoming inmates.”
The ACLU filed a lawsuit Tuesday against President Donald Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Prisons over the “inhumane conditions” at Victorville, saying they violated the constitutional rights of immigrants detained there.
Article: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/victorville-prison-suicide-attempt-migrants_us_5b6267cce4b0de86f49dcbda
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Petition: Investigation launched in abuse in detention centers
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) called for an investigation of allegations of abuse of immigrants at detention centers. This is an important first step to ensuring all immigrant children are treated humanely.
I signed a petition thanking these two senators for their bipartisan leadership. Will you join me?
https://savethechildrenactionnetwork.org/actions/thank-senators-grassley-and-feinstein-for-calling-for-an-investigation-of-abuse-of-children-in-detention-centers/?sp_ref=433200045.225.189846.e.612759.2&tag=email
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Is the Trump administration admitting that it can’t put children back with their parents? Of course putting some children with their parents isn’t possible since this wasn’t something this administration was planning to do. Now they got caught and want help from the ACLU.
……………………………………
Trump Admin: ACLU Should Take Lead in Reuniting Families
The Trump administration told a court Thursday that the American Civil Liberties Union should use its “considerable resources” to find the parents who have been separated from their children and deported by the government. The Associated Press reports federal officials requested that the ACLU help find deported parents in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras who have been separated from their children under the Trump
administration’s family-separation policy for undocumented immigrants. The organization, which sued the federal government on behalf of the separated parents, responded that the Trump administration “must bear the ultimate burden of finding the parents.” While the ACLU said it would help, it pinned “the crisis” on the Trump administration and said it would need to take “significant and prompt steps” to find deported parents on its own. The government has a database of home-country addresses but does not present any useful information for about 120 of the children now in custody. According to the most recent count, 431 children were in U.S. custody while their parents were outside of the country.
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The people should shout out — scream and protest — to the Trump Administration that the ACLU would probably be willing to do the Trump Administration’s job as long as Trump paid the ACLU’s expenses out of his billionaire pocket change and not take a penny from the taxpayers to clean up the mess Trump created.
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I think Trump should pay for these phone calls.
……………………………………………..
Immigrant Parents Are Being Charged Up to $8/Minute to Call the Children They’re Separated From
by: Kevin Mathews
recipient: Ronald D. Vitiello, Acting Director of ICE
The Trump administration’s terrible “zero tolerance” approach to immigration has resulted in kids be forcably separated from their parents and detained in substandard conditions. Not only do these families not get to see each other, but the goverment is making it difficult for them to even get in contact.
That’s because the government is charging immigrant parents as much as $8 per minute to call their children. Obviously, that’s a lot of money for people who typically don’t have any.
Per ICE’s own rules, detainees should have the right to contact immediate family members via phone for free, but media outlets have discovered that immigrants are being charged to make such calls anyway.
The Texas Tribune has accounts from a Guatemalan mom who could only call her three children after saving up enough money to place the call, as well as a father who was denied a call to his son because he did have sufficient funds in his account.
These families should be speedily reunited, and in the meantime, there’s no reason to compound the cruelty. We sign this petition to demand that ICE ensure that all phone calls between separated parents and children be free of charge. It’s important for these families to still feel close even when being detained thousands of miles apart.
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/embed.js
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