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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGratuitous cruelty by Homeland Security: Separating a 7-year-old from her mother - WaPo Ed Board
By Editorial Board March 4 at 7:11 PM
WHAT, EXACTLY, did a 7-year-old Congolese girl do to the United States to deserve the trauma that has been visited upon her including forcible separation from her mother by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and her immigration agents?
There is no allegation that the little girl, known in court filings only as S.S., is a terrorist, nor is there any suggestion her mother is one. Neither was involved with smuggling, nor contraband, nor lawbreaking of any other variety. Rather, S.S.s 39-year-old mother presented herself and her daughter to U.S. officials when they crossed the border from Mexico four months ago, explaining they had fled extreme violence in Congo, and requesting asylum.
A U.S. asylum officer interviewed Ms. L, as the mother is called in a lawsuit filed on her behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, determined that she had a credible fear of harm if she were returned to Congo and stood a decent chance of ultimately being granted asylum. Despite that preliminary finding, officials decided that the right thing to do was to wrench S.S. from her mother, whereupon the mother could hear her daughter in the next room frantically screaming that she wanted to remain with her mother, the lawsuit states.
The Trump administration has said that it is considering separating parents from their children as a means of deterring other families, most of them Central American, from undertaking the perilous trip necessary to reach the United States and seek asylum. Now, without any formal announcement, that cruel practice, ruled out by previous administrations, has become increasingly common, immigrant advocacy groups say. In the nine months preceding February, government agents separated children from their parents 53 times, according to data compiled by the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
Make no mistake: Ms. L and S.S. could have been placed together in a family detention center. There has been no explanation of why the determination was made to separate them; nor is there any allegation that Ms. L. is an unfit parent. The only principle at work, if it can be called that, is the idea that future asylum seekers might be deterred if they are convinced that the United States is actually a crueler and more heartless place than their native country.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/gratuitous-cruelty-by-homeland-security-separating-a-7-year-old-from-her-mother/2018/03/04/98fae4f0-1bff-11e8-ae5a-16e60e4605f3_story.html
malaise
(267,813 posts)Last edited Mon Mar 5, 2018, 03:49 PM - Edit history (1)
fugging racist scumbags.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,097 posts)because the pretend president is an overt racist who deeply and seriously HATES all non white str8t males not named Donald Trump.
The world is watching, we are no longer the revered super power and haven of freedom.
DFW
(54,055 posts)The louts get their jollies by using their power to see children cry. This even happened to me.
One time we were flying as a family (our girls were 2 and 4, so this was the Reagan era) to Boston from Germany. At immigration they separated us, as my wife had to go through a different line, since she is a German citizen, and our girls were traveling on their US passports. They suddenly saw their mother separated, and after we got through the US citizens line quickly, my wife was stuck in the long line of "visitors." My girls didn't know from lines and didn't understand why their mama, who had been on the flight with us, was suddenly gone. I asked an officer if my wife could be brought forward so the girls would be reassured. I was threatened with detention myself if I didn't shut up and wait.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)DFW
(54,055 posts)Remember what I told you about sounding like a southern drill sergeant at the airport in Boston--they'll shove you through faster than Little Orphan Annie.