‘The snatching of children from their parents is entirely the result of the Trump administration’s policy’
IT IS unimaginable that in 2018 America, children could be snatched from their parents to be then put into cages.
Yet thousands of frightened youngsters have been taken from their loved ones as part of Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” crackdown on illegal immigration to the States.
After their parents crossed the US border from Mexico the children were removed, often under false pretences, before being held in makeshift warehouse-like centres devoid of any comforts.
Inside one, nearly 1,500 boys spend their days in cages not knowing whether they will ever see their mums and dads again.
President Trump feigned sympathy over the separations but claimed he was the victim of “bad legislation passed by the Democrats”, legislation which nobody else could find.
Make no mistake, the snatching of children from their parents is entirely the result of the Trump administration’s policy.
In 2014, under Barack Obama, hundreds of families and unaccompanied minors crossing the border into the US were detained, a practice the courts quickly halted.
But separating families as a matter of policy is something new and malicious, a measure of Trump’s obsession with undocumented immigrants.
This spring, his administration ordered that everyone caught crossing illegally into the States be prosecuted.
Ever since, people who illegally enter the country with children have had them taken away, as it is forbidden to jail minors.
Trump and his cronies are now charging every adult border crosser with federal crimes, rather than referring those with children mainly to immigration courts.
And so America has become a country where government staff tell parents they are taking their sons and daughters – some as young as four – for a bath, only to then spirit them away into detention facilities.
Detention facilities where, according to one whistleblower, children seeking to comfort one another are told that “they can’t hug”.
In justifying this abhorrent behaviour, the Trump administration has come back with a mix of “just following orders” and falsehoods while the Department of Homeland Security said it was merely catching criminals.
The United
Nations human rights council has labelled the policy a serious violation, while US Catholic bishops have denounced it as immoral. And when the usually Trump-loving Reverend Franklin Graham and other conservative religious leaders begin to openly question the President’s actions, it speaks volumes about how badly wrong he has got it. Even the First Lady felt moved to publicly distance herself from her husband’s cruelty, calling for a nation “that governs with heart”. Trump and his minions are expert at politicising the Stars and Stripes, as well as the American dream but he seems lacking in the slightest respect for genuine American values.
And his administration has no problem turning its back on the country’s proud tradition of offering protection to the persecuted.
Trump’s devotion to a policy so cruel it has separated more than 2,000 children because their mothers and fathers had the temerity to step foot on US soil in search of a better life is unfathomable.
After all, it’s the same thing his wife moved to America for.
It’s certainly true that America, much like the UK, needs immigration laws reformed.
But it is simply not right for Trump to hide behind Congress before the crisis of families being separated can be solved.
Late yesterday it appeared Trump had finally seen sense and it was reported he had signed an executive order promising to “keep families together” after being moved by pictures of children who had been taken from their parents while they were being jailed for illegal bordercrossing.
But this episode brings shame on Trump’s Presidency and even greater shame on America itself.