Oh What Has Become of My Children: America’s Disgraceful War on Children

I don’t know how else you can think of what is going on than to wonder at America’s war on children. The iconic photograph at the left tells of the policy  the United States government has toward the least among us.

What is the worst thing about it is that the leaders of the nation profess to be Christians yet Jesus said holding a child: “If a person accepts children like these in my name, then that person is also accepting me. . . . “ He also said: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Christians are supposed to care for children and see that no harm comes to them. That, though, is not just Christians. It is members of every religion and race. How we raise our children will determine what type of nation we will become. The years of poor education in some areas of the country produce a poor uniformed citizenry as I indicated yesterday.

We recently saw the most horrible of happenings which was the separation of parents from their children. We saw the parents were put in one place and the children another. Unless for some reason you think these parents and children do not have the same feelings as you do because they are a different color or nationality, what we have seen should send shivers down your spine if you are not totally heartless.

Attorney General Sessions now says“The American people don’t like the idea that we are separating families. We never really intended to do that.” Just a bit ago he quoted the Bible to justify the separation. Homeland Security boss Kirstjen Nielson say: “Under the “zero tolerance” policy, when families cross the border illegally, “Operationally, what that means is we will have to separate your family. That’s no different than what we do every day in every part of the United States when an adult of a family commits a crime.” This, of course is total nonsense. The White House chief of staff John Kelly to his eternal discredit said: “Separating families is “a tough deterrent. … The children will be taken care of — put into foster care or whatever.” So how can Sessions say they never intended to do this? Sessions has described it as deterrence. Others as a bargaining chip for Trump getting his wall.

Hopefully this may or may not have stopped. Trump said he stopped it. But Trump’s word is as reliable as one written in the sand at the low tide level when the tide is out. He can change it again at a whim and with Sessions, Kelly and Neilson he has some enthusiastic witting allies

Even though it may have stopped we now find out what a real disaster it has been. We are now seeing the possibility that there may be problems ever reuniting all the children with their parents.  Think of this having occurred at a hearing before a federal judge. A defense attorney “asked the agent on the stand about the whereabouts of our client’s child, the prosecutor objected to the relevance of the questions. The judge turned on the prosecutor, demanding to know why this wasn’t relevant. At one point, he slammed his hand on the desk, sending a pen flying. This type of emotional display is unheard of in federal court. I can’t understand this, the judge said. If someone at the jail takes your wallet, they give you a receipt. They take your kids, and you get nothing? Not even a slip of paper?”

A federal public defender wrote: “my clients now ask: Where is my little girl? Who’s taking care of her? When do I get to see her again? Will they deport me without her? How will she be protected and by whom? How can I talk with her? Who will give her medicine if she’s sick?” He went on: “I have to explain to these parents that I might never be able to answer their questions. I can’t promise that they’ll be able to speak to their children, or know their whereabouts or who is taking care of them, or whether they’ll be sent back home without their kids. “

Think of this. You are walking with your child or grandchild who is four years old. A federal law officer stops you and takes the child away. You seek to find the child and no one will tell you where he or she is. This is your America today. This is the way you as an American treat the least among us.

 

30 Comments

  1. Keep Henry’s post, supra, about Mexico’s gangs butchering innocents in mind, and the MS-13 gang in America, its killings of innocents and pushing of lethal drugs on youngsters, and the 65,000 drug overdose deaths in America last year, before writing grossly misleading articles about “America’s War on Children” . . . .that headline should be over an article about the FEDS failure to stop narco-trafficking and opiod-diversion . . . .teenagers are dying, parents are losing their children and children are losing their parents through drug addiction and drug overdoses and the American Government in not sealing its borders and not preventing diversion and not preventing doctors overprescribing is complicit . . .

    • I have always believed that the drugs that come over our borders from every direction are a lot more destructive than the people that come here. Columbia waged a war on The US years ago and won. Its soldiers were small vials of cocaine and plastic bags full of heroin. They killed and crippled more people and ruined more families than can be counted.

  2. Raphael Caro Quintero, he was a wild guy when he was young. His brother was cool, too. Raphael had a forty acre estate in Guadalajara. When the gringos were being entertained, he’d put on the Ritz at a joint called “El Langostero.” The Caro Quintero brothers were in the thick of things right from the git-go. Henry, what a wonderful topic to explore. Thanks.

  3. Finally, it’s wrong to describe those who disagree with your comments as “pro-Trump” . . . . many are, as I, of independent minds . . . aligned with neither party, but much more aligned with philosophic conservatives, pro-life, pro-small government, anti-war, but pro-strong military (the best deterrent to war is America maintaining its military superiority but voting out of power the neo-cons) against the concentration of wealth in the few and the concentration of power in DC and it’s lobbyists/contractors who have a stranglehold on governmental power, pro-family, pro-church, pro-liberty, pro-the pursuit of happiness, pro-constitutional law and deferential to authority, like the Supreme Court, even when i disagree with its decisions.
    No one ever elected me to anything, Thank God . . .
    I appreciated my freedoms of speech, association, writing (the press) and religion. I appreciate Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms. Visit his museum and its grounds: they’re breathtaking.

  4. Be kind: Fight bullies
    Be kind: Fight character assassins, rumor mongers and trash talkers
    Do good by stealth . . .
    Fight the good fight.

  5. Matt: With your (and my) background you may find this of interest:

    “Let’s talk about organized crime and how it differs in the US and Mexico.”

    https://twitter.com/ThomasWictor/status/1011280088124436481

    • Nothing new about those reports. That was going on in Central and South America before the Europeans got there. Pyramid Of The Sun was a fun place to be taken to.

      • Right on Abe . . .they paint pre-historic times as some sort of Nirvana, like they paint Hillary and Matt’s No Borders dream as something good rather than a pie-in-the-sky delusion. Let’s sing John Lennon’s Imagine, all together now.

        We live in a real world with real problems to solve. I agree with John that the picture of the dead child, drowned, on Mediterranean Beach was hysteria masquerading as communication . . .it was a picture distorting deviously the issue . . .

        Matt is rightfully criticized for resorting to hysterical rhetoric, portraying Trump as Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Whitey Bulger . . .and writing that Alaska may be at risk of being lost in a Trump-Putin meeting

        I agree with much of what Tadzio has to say, but as person of Black-Irish background (Irish with Spanish blood) I wouldn’t mind seeing all of America intermarry until we are all mocha-colored . . .a long time ago an evolutionary biologist predicted we’d all be khaki-colored some day . . .at least most of us

        Over 50% of Latino genes (genetic material) is of European descent: Spanish,, Portuguese, Italian, German, French etc
        About 26% of African-American genes are of European origin
        About 3-5% of White American genes are of African descent

        mix in Asian, MIddle East, India, subcontinent, and you have a multi-complexioned America and world . . .I say good

        I am now related by blood and marriage to just about every race, religion and ethnic group in America . . .good

        It started with Uncle Billy in the 1950s marrying an Italian girl then Uncle Bobby marrying a Protestant girl

        I’m for full integration of all peoples, but recognize the invaluable contributions of Western Civilization and Europeans to Americans’ and the Worlds’ well being.

        I also recognize Trump has a crude manner at times and tweets deplorably but has accomplished a lot of good, as NC articulates.

        Lawyers have trouble seeing grey for they are trained as prosecutors v. defenders, or plaintiffs v. defendants, and many go through life thinking their role is to undermine and blacken as much as possible the opposing sides views and witnesses. Thus Trump becomes Hitler, or Hillary becomes the Wicked Witch of the North.

        Cease the trash-talk and demeaning rhetoric and absurd analogies and try to engage in fact-based arguments, not hysteria, not maudlin malarkey.

        People across America are sick of the hyperbole from the Left and Right . . . .

        2. We’ve had several just wars: Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, World War II and Korea. We’ve had several unjust wars, Mexican-American and Spanish-American were arguably wars of American conquest . . . World War I and Vietnam were unnecessary . . .too bad JFK didn’t end the latter . . . .Iraq, Libya unnecessary, no Weapons of Mass Destruction and 50,000 killed in Libya,, many children, for what.

        3. The feigned concerned for “children” pales in comparison to issues I’ve cited above and also to Madeline Albright’s response to the American embargo of Iraq which resulted in the deaths of 650,000 Iraqi children. She was asked, “Considering all those deaths of children, was the embargo worth it?” She said, “Yes” then went on to try to explain

        4. Any idea of the number of children dead from wars, lack of food, lack of medicines, disinfo on vaccines, etc, etc, etc, in the World?

        5. I have a solution: We’ve got troops in 100-plus countries . . .send doctors, nurses, medics, public health folks instead of troops, with troops only to protect the medical providers.

    • Wa-llahi! Let’s. Ever work “la frontera,” Henry? Nogales, was my town. It’s on both sides of the border. I, almost, bought the school house in a place called Lochiel, ten miles east of town, high up in the mountains. The back fence of the play-ground was the border with Mexico. The double cordon of BP and DEA people in the Lochiel area dissuaded me. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

      • My first step into Mexico was into Nogales. I’ll bet its a lot different now. Bought my first bottle of real mezcal there and ate that nasty little worm. Yikes. Were those cacti really waving at me? It was late July and back in Tucson the daily afternoon electrical storm was better than any man made light show I’d ever seen.

  6. John King McDonald

    Straight up, the picture you have posted of a dead child is political propaganda. It is an exploitation of the child as surely as an adult placing him in that situation to begin with. This is a big problem. It is what Kissinger would call a real mess. Hysterical political Grandstanding in the interests, not, quite belatedly, of the children, but of partisan political gain, is a cheap and tawdry endorsement of opportunism and political greed masquerading as authentic and long lasting concern.

  7. Hollywood used to churn out one hankie, two hankie, and three hankie movies for the mostly distaff side audience. What pikers! The fake news industry today is staging for the edification of all pussymarchers a two thousand hankie spectacular. See the whining chill’uns. See the distraught mammies.

    Ho-hum. Put away the heartstrings. Frankly, I don’t give a damn.

    Everyone of these parents deliberately set upon a path of illegality that has led to the separation. If they do not care, why should the citizens of the nation they are invading copiously weep tears? If the supporters of open borders had any concern for the welfare of these kids and had the brain power and intellectual integrity to connect cause with effect they would acknowledge that the root of the problem is their ‘political activism’. The goal is to transform America from a White Christian country to an easily managed Mocha Land. Their agenda is Racist. Their means is Lawfare.

    Lawyers are gumming up the courts with bogus claims for asylum. Perjury is suborned. Attorneys are using prepared scripts and distributing the “right answers” should be disbarred for life. They and those financing them should be prosecuted to a draconian maximum. They are attacking the Republic and the Rule Of Law.

    These tactics are creating massive migration that has nothing to do with legitimate asylum seeking. The backlog can eliminated by removing these cases from the Federal Courts. Congress defines jurisdiction in these matters. Decisions can be made quickly by at the border officials. Temporary appointments could be made to plough through the mass of dishonest, fraudulent cases. Retired JAGs would fit the bill. They have the expertise and are already pensioned.

    Once the scam has been rendered unworkable the flow of new petitions should dry up. At that point there should be an effort to screw the instigators of the problem. There should be a price paid by the entire community of Lawfare wagers. Their pussymarcher Peanut Gallery of fans can be given a free pass in the name of Free Speech and the fact that stupidity is not a crime.

    The point of agitation is not the separation of children from parents, but the refusal of some to accept the primacy of our laws, the will of the people and the result of elections. Hilliary lost. Get over it. There will be another election in a few months.

    This manufactured crisis is is this year’s Democrat playbook. It is the old It’s-For-the-Children maneuver. Violins, please! Kiddies cry! Mommies weep! Boo Hoo! Boo Hoo! All, now Boo-Hoo together! Louder, please! Face the CNN Cameras!

    Fake news does not work the way it used to. There is this newfangled thingey called the Internet. It offers instant rebuttal and two sides to the story. WOW! What an innovation!

    See you in November.

  8. Get ready:

    The Daily Caller reported Friday:

    “Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) declared mass immigration to the United States a “human right” for all North Americans during a speech Tuesday.

    “And soon, very soon — after the victory of our movement — we will defend all the migrants in the American continent and all the migrants in the world,” Obrador said, adding that immigrants “must leave their towns and find a life in the United States.”

    He then declared migration “a human right we will defend,” eluniversal.com reports.

    While the election is not until July 1, Obrador is by far the frontrunner.”

    • Henry:

      Obrador is not good for Mexico or the United States but his popularity is due to Trump’s various attacks on the Mexicans making it impossible for the Mexicans to have a nice feeling about their northern neighbor. I don’t suppose the US has anything to fear from Mexico – I don’t think Obrador suggests Mexico is going to invade the US to defend this human right. He is the equivalent of Trump – Mexico for Mexicans, etc.

      • Matt: The current illegal immigrants at the border are not Mexicans; they are Central Americans mainly, with the odd Middle Easterners mixed in. Unless born there, you can’t be a citizen of Mexico (nor even own property.) Even Trotsky couldn’t get citizenship there.

        Immigration without assimilation is invasion.

      • No, he’s the modern Calles. More the better. Following Obregon’s assassination, Calles presided over the proto-socialist Mexico that emerged from the Revolution of 1910. He reigned supreme over a period of Mexican history known as the “Maximato.” Father Coughlin, and, John Ford, were bitter enemies of the Calles regime. Ford devoted a feature film to Christero anti-Calles propaganda. Henry Fonda had the title role. It failed a the box office. Way too Catholic for the majority of the cinema audience at that time.

        • The setting of Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory, about “the last Catholic priest” in atheistic/communistic Mexico?

  9. Hope your solution is better than the one you gave for Syria. Two American divisions in Jordan marching into that conflict. America needs less war in the Middle East not more. Temporarily separating foreign children from their parent is a tempest in a teapot. Focus on real harm. In Yemen and Garza our allies have killed thousands of children using American weapons. That is the real scandal. 2. Never Trumpers don’t want to discuss his military buildup, his tax cuts, economic growth, energy independence, Scalia type judges, better trade policy and Black unemployment. America is booming thanks to Trump and the Liberals can’t admit they were wrong. Same as when Reagan was the boss.

    • NC:

      1. I still believe my solution would have done much to stabilize the Middle East and Syria and allowed for a pro-
      Western democracy to come about in that country with little loss of American lives. We could have easily overrun Syria as we did under Bush I in Iraq. Unfortunately the Obama administration had on policy, or it was a policy like we see with Trump at the present where we have the greatest military in the world that does not, except for its special forces and air power, want to get involved in any conflicts.

      The Gaza episodes are not really on America’s plate other than Trump has encouraged Israel to take a hard stance against the Palestinians. As for Yemen, Trump is trying to keep up his relationship with Saudi Arabia for whatever reasons but probably has something to do with his plan to attack Iran. He is meeting with Putin next month hoping to get Putin’s OK to go ahead; we have to wonder what Putin will want in exchange. It’s good Alaska is a red state or it may be on the chopping block.

      2. Military buildup? How much are we going to be bled as a nation by the military that avoids war. Where are the barbarians at our gates? Do we need 886 generals and admirals? How about this: ” 411 one stars, 299 two stars, 139 three stars, and 37 four-star active generals and admirals, with several more appointed recently. The ratio of officers in the military to the total force size has grown from 15.69% in 2000 to 17.54% in 2015. The Daily Beast reports that there are 12 generals commanding the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq. That’s one flag officer per 400 troops. That’s about the size of two infantry companies, which are typically led captains, not someone four or more pay grades above.” I thought you were against the extravagant government spending. We have 1.3 million on active duty and 650 thousand civilians and we have less than 10,000 involved in combat.
      How’d you make out with his tax cuts. They did nothing for the average guy. It is proving to be a losing issue for Republicans because the average guy knows he took a hosing while the rich got richer. The economic growth which was inherited by Trump continues but as people warn his latest actions are going to change that quite substantially. Black unemployment is down as is Latino unemployment. You have to admit though that Trump didn’t take office in bad economic times like Obama. He was given a good economy which he has yet to undermine although he is doing his best to bring that about.

  10. Now, we can all agree on two things. It’s not good to separate children from parents, and secondly it is sometimes necessary.
    Under Obama (and all prior Presidents; I’m using Obama as an example only) roughly 500,000 children annually were in foster care. Some of these, as recent exhaustive reporting disclosed were illegal immigrants, most native-born Americans. Some of these, as Matt and others reported (Major News Orgs) have been completely lost to the system . . . . lousy record keeping, abduction, they ran off . . .A MAJOR PROBLEM IN AMERICA,, THE CARE OF CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE: @500,000.
    2. Under Obama, about 2.5 million children lost a parent to prison or jail . . .thus the Courts routinely separate offenders from children by incarcerating the parents.
    3. DRUGS: 65,000 overdose deaths, many parents. Moreover, drug addicted parents are de-facto virtually separated mentally, emotionally, socially from their children. There is a major drug epidemic (2x worse than the 1960s) and the FEDS do little about drug importation and drug diversion.
    4. Abortion: Those who cry out about the children . . .Isaiah was a reading this week where the Lord said, “Before you were born, I knew you; I knit you in the womb”, words to that effect . . .and we know the Catholic Church’s and many Church’s teachings on the sanctity of life from conception to natural death, YET America surgically separates roughly 1,000,000 unborn human beings from their mother’s womb, thus depriving them of life and both parents of offspring.

    On these issues, liberals are largely silent, and so are conservatives . . .

    So, to wail about 2,000 illegal immigrant children being temporarily separated from their law-breaking parents, when millions of American children are so separated annually, is nothing but hysteria.

    Yes, we are right to keep families together, when feasible.

    Yes, we would be more right to adopt and teach and perpetuate a philosophy such as Albert Scweitzer’s Reverence for Life and apply it across the board to human life in all its stages, and respect for animal life, and the environment, for forests, rivers, oceans.

    Until we do, we will be beset by the hysterical maudlin mawkish malarkey we’ve seen the last few weeks where the disproportionate hate for President Trump clouds all reason and the country is split with Left and Right throwing spitballs at each other.

    At the U2 concert, Friday, Bono urged the Left and Right to start talking to each other with open minds and start working together to solve problems.

    Legal cant, legalistic rhetoric doesn’t help.

    There are major problems in America that need be addressed in a spirit of heated debate, sure, but by putting all the cards on the table, all the facts, in perspective, objectively. Incarcerating parents, illegal immigrants or American citizens, always involves separating families . . .it’s not the end of the world. It’s part of a civilized society. Law breakers get incarcerated . . .families get temporarily broken apart . . .

    A final thought, in the 1960s the illegitimacy rate was one in forty births . . .today it is one in three . . . .many children are being born into fatherless households, being deprived of a parent . . .another societal ill that needs redressing

    Divorce . . . a rarity in 50s and 60s . . .a 50-50 proposition today; another separation of children from parents.

    DRUGS . . . OPIATES, CRACK COCAINE

    There’s a science called EPIDEMIOLOGY . . . .There’s STATISTICS . . . .THERE’S A BIG PICTURE of what’s besetting AMERICA . . . .

    Less cant, more Kant, Less cant, more can do . . . fix it

    It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness, but first we have to diagnose the illnesses . . . honestly, not hysterically

  11. Really sad. You’re commentary.

    You don’t like Trump , we get it.

    Zero outcry under Obama. Partisan politics is all.

    I had high hopes for this blog but alas, once again, my faith in impartiality is killed.

    I’ll be unsubscribing now.

    • Two wrongs don’t make a right. Stick around, John. Its a forum.

    • John:

      Don’t go. Keep an open mind. Lots of Trump supporters write their comments here attacking my ideas. It’s true I don’t like Trump and that is because as I see it he is and will be a disaster for America. I have criticized Obama for his weak foreign policy and other things. I blame him for the treatment which is just coming to light of the children who came in unaccompanied by parents.Remember the blog is called “Trekking Toward the Truth” which means we are on a journey and no one has come to an end of it. If you do go then I hope you find what you are looking for in another blog. Sorry to have dashed your high hopes.

  12. Matt: What is your solution to the current and impending ‘immigration’ problem?

    10,000 of these children currently asking for asylum only in the US came on their own without any families. Because once they are admitted that can send for the rest of the family. Yet International treaty law states you get asylum in the first nation you get to, meaning Mexico not the US.

    In Ireland we currently have 5,000+ asylum seekers living in hotels waiting over 3 years or more for an appointment to see an asylum worker. They are fed and housed and given 20 euro a week. Year after year. Ireland got so concerned with immigration problems that now they are not allowing non-EU people to move there who haven’t money ($60,000 from retirement/SS income) and Americans who do not meet the new rules are being deported. You pay $360 a year for a ‘green card’ to stay. And not allowed to work. https://www.independent.ie/life/american-who-retired-to-kenmare-on-facing-deportation-why-doesnt-ireland-welcome-with-open-arms-folks-like-me-34690035.html

    The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service is responsible for implementing policy issued to non-European Economic Area nationals on the basis of financial self-sufficiency. An income threshold is ‘generally’ considered to be €50,000 per person, per annum. The person must also have access to a lump sum of money ($150,000 in the bank) to cover any unforeseen expenses. Factors such as age, health, the reason they want to remain, the risk of being a future burden on the health and housing services are taken into account.

    • “Matt: What is your solution to the current and impending ‘immigration’ problem?”

      To unify the country and take on this problem together. Trump using fear to build support for himself is not going to be even a small part of the solution. It only serves to separate. We have so many great minds when it comes to social problems. We have huge strength potential to solve these problems. Both parties have to come together on this. Infighting weakens both sides. We all know how nasty we can be to each other. Time for some bipartisan cooperation (love).

    • Henry:

      Good question. I’m working through a solution in my mind to what I would do about it and hopefully will come up with a proposal soon. I never gave it much thought until the kids started being impacted but I admit it is something that I should have done.

      But the first thing we have to do is stop demonizing and lying about others because as we see we end up with the atrocious problem of separating children from their parents. I don’t know if Trump and other loud mouths really believe Democrats are for “open borders.” I hope not and that it is just used as a shouting point. No one is for open borders.

      I’m not sure the kids that came unaccompanied can bring in the rest of the family. I’d have to check into that. I’m also wondering about them – they weren’t separated by the US from their parents – but now that they are in the US I’ve read that they have been used as guinea pigs in some of the homes which I want to look into. That, of course, would be on Obama’s plate.

      Ireland has about one sixty-fifth of the U.S. population (even though they pay their taoiseach more than the US president makes) so for the US to have a similar amount of asylum seekers as Ireland would mean we’d have 325,000. Do we have that many? I don’t know
      You set out Ireland’s approach to immigration which are interesting. I agree something must be done

      .

      • Matt, I recall Hillary Clinton extolling “open borders” in the well-paid speech she gave to a Wall Street groupandfought so hard to keep under wraps. A lot of Democrats atthetop in DC would like to umpoert a more favorable electorate.

        The impetus for most claimed asylum status is economic. People supposedly fleeing MS-13 gangs in Central America don’t stop in the safer Spanish-speaking countries nearby.

        The separated children uproar was artificially generated, often with sad photos from the Obama era. A child could be detained with his parent until the Obama administration entered into an Agreement for Judgment limiting such detention to 20 days so the option became separation or “Catch and Release.” Under the latter, those traveling with children, arrested for illegal entry, are released to a future court date. The default rate on those returns is 97%. So in a few years those children will be Dreamers.

        • Brian:
          It is reported Hillary said to investors in a paid speech she gave to Brazilian Banco Itau in 2013: “”My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, sometime in the future with energy that’s as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere.”

          She’s clearly talking about an ideal state of things. As one who commented on her speech said: “One can dream of a crime-free world where there is need for neither police nor prisons while still supporting those things in reality.” Others who analyzed her dreams suggest that the one statement above does not support the idea she was for them now. See: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/oct/12/donald-trump/trump-ive-been-proven-right-about-clinton-wanting-/

          But as a dream it would be nice if the opportunity we have in America were the same throughout the Americas and that we could have open borders as they do in Europe. Why would anyone object to that? If such a situation existed we would not have any problem with immigration.

          As for importing a Democratic electorate, I believe only citizens can vote so allowing more immigrants in would have no effect on that until they became citizens. I’m not sure anyone is planning that far down the road.

          I assume it is true that many flee the gangs waging wars in their countries that involve far more than M-13. The nations with the highest rates of violent gun death rates world wide are: El Salvador, Venezuela, Guatemala, Colombia, and Hondura. I also assume that Mexico could present a refuge for these people but if you flee a country for safety you’d like to go to where you can get both safety and an opportunity to earn a living. I assume some of the reason is economic but it is only part of it.

          I disagree the separated children uproar was artificial. Even Trump by rescinding it did not believe that. Nor do I agree the children will become dreamers since there are specific provisions in place that would prevent them from becoming such.

          Aside from all of that, the idea of taking children from their parents – which I believe is abhorrent – began under the Trump administration. Sessions, Kelly and Neilson instituted and pushed it as a deterrent. It even reached the state where some suggested it was a good idea because Trump could use it to get his wall.

          It’s a cruel policy no matter what you want to offer as reasons for doing it. You have to ask how you would feel if someone took your kids, or grandkids, and you had no way to find out where they went.

          This is not all on Trump. Obama does not have clean hands when it comes to looking out for the children who came unaccompanied. There is a case brought up recently under the Obama time where a woman working illegally in a mid-Western state was arrested and incarcerated. Her child was taken from her. He or she was put up for adoption and adopted. The mother is unable to get her child back and has been ordered by a court not to try to contact the child.

          We must do better as a nation. We cannot for any reason countenance the government taking children from parents. It really amounts to cruel and unusual punishment for the innocent child.

      • Matt: I referred to legal asylum-seekers. Illegal immigrants are another matter. Easily 200,000 I’m told, non-EU, mostly Asians. They go to Britain, cross to Northern Ireland and take the bus. Open borders.