Trump politicises child deaths
President Donald Trump yesterday attempted to politicise the deaths of two immigrant children who died while in custody of the Department of Homeland Security in his latest bid to score points against Democrats in his fight for border wall funding.
In a pair of midday tweets, Trump asserted that the children, both from Guatemala, were already ill before being apprehended by federal authorities. He called the deaths of all children at the border the ‘‘fault’’ of Democrats because of their ‘‘pathetic immigration policies’’ – even though his administration created new policies to slow the ability of immigrants to seek legal paths into the country.
‘‘Border Patrol needs the Wall and it will all end,’’ Trump wrote.
The tweets marked Trump’s first public comments about the deaths of the children, and he offered no empathy to the families and took no responsibility for the government’s handling of their cases. The deaths of Jakelin Caal, 7, on December 7, and Felipe Gomez Alonzo, 8, on December 24, have raised questions about the care of immigrants by the US government as the Trump administration has toughened rules for those entering the country without authorisation, including families with children.
The administration has sought to limit the ability of immigrants to seek asylum protections and has worked with Mexico to create a new programme in which migrants, most from Central America, must remain in that country as their asylum cases are processed.
Trump’s tweets came amid a standoff with Democrats over a funding bill that lapsed eight days ago, forcing a partial government shutdown.
The president has refused to accept a bill that does not include at least US$2.5 billion (NZ$3.7b) for the border wall, but Democrats have said they will not go above US$1.3b for border security provisions that do not include a wall.
In his tweets, Trump said that Democrats support policies that ‘‘allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try!’’
US law allows migrants to seek asylum protections and, in most cases, win the right to a hearing before an immigration judge. The immigration court system has lengthy backlogs, and migrants are often released into the country to wait for their hearings. The Trump administration has sought to close what they call legal ‘‘loopholes,’’ detain immigrants longer and speed up deportations.
Democrats have said any such changes should be part of a more comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws and they have opposed rolling back due process rights for migrants.
– Washington Post