TRUMP BELIEVES THAT THE “CHILD SEPARATION POLICY” IS ONLY WHAT WORKS

…These are the housing "cages" at the border for Trump’s “child separation policy’

Trump falsely claimed that President Obama had the same separation policy.

It is amazing that the Trump administration is actually considering a revised version of the dreadful, “family separation program”.  You know, the one where they separated children from their families and yet didn’t track where the children were placed and who were assigned as their caregivers.  (Yes, babies that didn’t know their own names or their parent’s names were taken away from their parents and given to other caregivers and this event was not recorded!)  This occurred with over 2700 children at the US/Mexico border before they figured out what they were doing and they then stopped the program.  

No kidding! Over 2700 children were separated from their parents, and they were not tracked for where, and to whom they were assigned.  Incredible.

Trump’s new “separation endeavor idea” is due to the increased influx of immigrants at the US-Mexico border, coming from Central America.

Now, the Trump administration is working on the concept that would force parents to choose whether to remain detained as a single family at the border, or to agree to a separation for keeping their children out of the border patrol custody.  Yes, they would be given to foster parents.  The Trump administration is also looking into requiring a fine for those that come to the border to claim asylum.

Yes, they would actually fine a family that was leaving a country, and coming to America because they were in fear for their lives.

As expected for our president, Trump falsely claimed that President Barack Obama had carried out this same family separation plan.  Actually, Obama’s people only separated families when one of the family members was found to be a criminal or if they had been deported from the US before.  It very rarely occurred in Obama’s administration as compared to Trump’s separation order.  And yes, this was just another of Trump’s many lies.

Trump has falsely maintained that his decision to halt the separation practice last year was the reason that so many Central Americans have since been again, coming to the United States.  Just another false Trump claim.  These immigrants are just trying to stay alive by leaving their countries.

Trump said that: “We’re not looking to do that now,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office, when he was asked to respond to reports that the White House is planning to separate families again. “But it brings a lot more people to the border when we don’t do it [the separation].”

Well, yes that’s probably true.  But this is your answer for stopping people that are just afraid for their family’s lives?

Administration officials stated that the previous “family separation tactic”, known as “zero tolerance,” is not again in the works.  But instead, the White House is considering what they call a “binary choice” policy, which would give parents the option of remaining in detention with their children or allowing their children to be separated and placed with another caregiver.

Trump’s comments came amid growing concerns among Senate Republicans about the recent shake-up at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with the ouster of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.  In addition, the removal of Ronald Vitiello’s nomination to be director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the departure of US Secret Service Director Randolph D. “Tex” Alles. 

Alles and Vitiello had both reported to Nielsen.

Trump says he wants “stronger people in these positions”.  It is well known how Trump has not been happy with those working in the DHS.

But the real reason that the DHS hasn’t done what Trump wants is that most of what Trump wants is illegal, and the DHS can’t do what Trump wants them to do!

Claire Grady, the DHS acting deputy secretary, was also forced out.  Her removal was an administrative step for US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, who then took charge as acting DHS secretary.

The administration is struggling to deal with increasing numbers of migrants at the Mexican border. According to statistics released by Customs and Border Protection, more than 103,000 migrants were taken into custody along the border, and that was just in March.  That’s the highest one-month total in more than a decade. They included nearly 9,000 unaccompanied minors and 58,000 migrants who arrived as part of family groups.

It obvious that this is a serious issue, but child separation is an insane way to deal with the problem.

The president’s longtime allies on Capitol Hill have fortunately expressed opposition to any return to a family separation policy, even the new Trump idea of a “binary choice.”  Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he was working on bipartisan legislation addressing the border crisis and would be open to prohibiting the separation practice as part of that bill.

“If anybody in the administration is thinking about that [separation policy], I’m opposed to it, and most members of Congress would be opposed to it . . . it’s simply not acceptable,” said Johnson, who said he shared his reservations about the “growing leadership void” at DHS with acting White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney in a phone call.

Questioned specifically about “binary choice,” Johnson said, “That is not going to work.”

He has proposed the expansion of family detention facilities that would offer a more kid-friendly setting than immigration jails, with recreational and educational programming, and better food and medical care.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she was alarmed by suggestions that the administration might institute the “binary choice” idea.

“There’s no doubt that this flood of families over our borders is a legitimate concern and problem, but separating children from their parents, unless the parent is abusive or there is some other valid reason, is never a good idea,” Collins said.

In his comments to reporters, Trump criticized the use of Border Patrol holding pens with chain-link partitions that have been widely derided as “cages.”   Images of migrant children wrapped in plastic sheeting behind chain link exacerbated the backlash against Trump’s separations when they appeared last spring.

“Those cages that were shown — I think they were very inappropriate — were by President Obama’s administration, not by Trump,” the president said.

On that point, the president was correct: The facility with the chain-link pens is inside the Border Patrol’s Central Processing Center in McAllen, Tex., built in 2014.

The facility was established in a converted warehouse that the Obama administration opened to cope with record numbers of Central American minors arriving at the border, leaving Border Patrol stations dangerously overcrowded.

The open-floor facility uses the fencing to keep boys and girls apart, and to keep mothers with children in a separate area whose see-through barriers allow a small number of agents to supervise large numbers of minors. Migrants have nicknamed it “la perrera” — the dog kennel.

The Trump administration argues that Central Americans have been gaming the US asylum system, taking advantage of laws that allow people to seek protection from persecution.  Trump alleges that people are submitting false claims and that the US immigration system is not tough enough on them. Those seeking asylum can be released into the United States while they await court hearings, which can be delayed months or years because of a massive backlog. US courts have limited the government’s ability to hold families with children in detention.

“Now I’ll tell you something, once you don’t have it [family separation], that’s why you see many more people coming,” Trump said, referring to family separations. “They are coming like it’s a picnic, because, ‘Let’s go to Disneyland.’ ”

Trump also challenged claims that the spate of recent dismissals of top DHS leaders amounted to an attempt to clean house. He has expressed frustrations with the agency and its inability to reduce the number of migrants entering the country via the southern border.

“I never said I’m cleaning house,” Trump said. “I don’t know who came up with that expression. We have a lot of great people over there. We have bad laws.”

DHS officials say the White House’s moves have left the department “decapitated” and in administrative disarray, which has frustrated congressional Republicans. DHS general counsel John Mitnick is expected to be removed in the coming days. And a prominent GOP senator, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), has expressed alarm to the White House about rumors that Lee Francis Cissna, the director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, will also be forced out.

Trump was flooded with senators calling to urge him not to close the border, and this week senators have begun calling asking him to pick officials for top DHS jobs whom they can actually confirm, according to two senior administration officials.

“We can’t have this degree of vacancies and this degree of chaos. It’s a critical agency,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

But in the Trump administration, they will continue to try to get around the rules and do some kind of separation policy.  That’s because Trump feels it’s the only way to stop those living in Central America from attempting to come to the United States.

Copyright G. Ater 2019