I had no intent to set off all the pyrotechnics that my comments made, and, for that, I apologize to AAm. The last thing I want now is to get down in the mud and the blood to grapple with people I have a genuine fondness for. However, after the moderators clarified the rule against political discussion, they discussed politics, making some points I passionately disagree with. Now I demand a moment to have my say. After which I will happily leave the topic behind in the dust.
The point was made that the children are not being held in concentration camps. It’s true the children are not retained in Nazi styled death camps or slave camps, but they are being held in concentration camps somewhere between the Nazis camps and the facilities run to contain the Japanese in the USA during WWII.
“At least eight children are known to have died in immigration custody since last year, after almost a decade in which no child reportedly died while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” One died of the flu just two days ago. He lay dead on the floor for four hours before the staff found him. The reason we know this is that security cameras recorded the boy’s death.
The cages were indeed constructed under Obama, but as temporary containment facilities in which families were not separated. “Temporary” as in hours, not days, weeks, or months as they are currently being used. These cages have no facilities for overnight containment. They have benches with no backs to sit on and nothing more. The children in them have nothing to occupy themselves during the day and must sleep on the floor without mattresses or pillows. The conditions are torturous. When circumstances allow, the children are removed to privately run, for profit tent cities surrounded by barbed wire where they are kept indefinitely—in other words concentration camps.
The logic for separating children from their parents is to terrorize foreigners from coming to the USA. The reason for locking up children I hear from my conservative friends (most of whom are Christians—for crying out loud) is that “Well, they broke the law, so . . .. We are talking about children so young that legally they cannot break the law. Also, it is not a violation of the law to enter the USA without a visa then apply for asylum. The USA has never separated children in-mass (by the thousands) from their parents before. When parents are abusive, yes, the government has separated families, but for the good of the children. In this instance, “for the good of the children” is not a consideration. There are numerous studies showing that “institutionalizing” children has negative lifelong impacts. There is no reason to separate families other than to purposely inflict cruelty as a political strategy. Trump’s policy is intentionally designed to inflict injury.
The United States should be better than that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzZwca4rEWc
https://www.esquire.com/news-politic...ilities-trump/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/23/o...nts-camps.html
This video is not of an actual court scene. Because cameras are not allowed in the court, this video is a reenactment of what happens in court.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ztvPsJmIcU&t=8s