US president’s new “zero tolerance “ policy towards Central American asylum seekers

There are 6 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 2,651 times. The latest Post () was by Rice.

1st Official Post

    In April, the president of the US and his attorney general enacted a “zero tolerance” policy of attempting to deter Central American asylum seekers by separating children from their parents and placing them in cages in detainment facilities.


    This barbarian tactic has caused an outcry principally from humanitarians, religious leaders, civil rights activists, and people who remember with horror and shame, the WWII forced internment of their fellow American citizens of Japanese origin.


    Among the leaders of the president’s own political party, the new policy was at first met largely by silent complicity, with notable exceptions such as former First Lady Laura Bush, Senator John McCain, Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Ben Sasse, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Susan Collins, and the president’s own wife. By today, more members of Congress are finding their voices. Still, new polls show that 57 percent of republicans approve of the president’s policy of taking the children from their parents and placing them in detainment facilities.


    This is the sound of the children:

    https://www.propublica.org/art…-trump-immigration-policy

    Were it not for freedom of the press, under constant attack by the president, the people in the country would not know what was happening. Now that reporters have gotten inside a children's detention facility and photos have been published, along with that heartbreaking sound clip, reaction is growing. There is a protest in DC right now, and congress, led by its constituents instead of the other way around, seems to be awakening to the importance of at least appearing to have humanitarian impulses.


    Is anyone else on this forum repulsed or horrified by this turn of events in the Land of the Free?

    Quote from Splinter

    More like "This is the sound of silence."

    Appalling.

    You said it. I'm really surprised that forum members didn't find this internment of children to be worthy of comment.


    In any case, fortunately there was national and international outrage, and the president had to cave in on his monstrous policy of infant-to-teen hostage taking from today onwards. The ongoing tragedy will still be the fact that 2,342 children have already been placed in custody in undisclosed locations all around the US, while many of their parents have already been deported. These children have effectively been made orphans, and of course will never fully recover from the trauma even if eventually reunited with their parents. How will the Land Of The Free restore their lives, and those of their parents?


    By the way, in all of this, where are the pro-life religious right evangelical christians who are so concerned about the unborn but apparently not so much about the born?

    As regards this problem, seen from the outside, as I am not American, I see that there is a trend to defend the traditional American style of life and also a contrary trend to accept without discrimination the wave of poor refugees that comes from Central America through Mexico.

    I can understand both sides.

    The past policy of "outsourcing" in fashion from the 1990's has destroyed many jobs in the USA, and I can imagine the middle class man who is fired and his position is filled with an alien that has nothing in common with him in cultural fields. This man is certainly fearing that more inmigrants will destroy more his possibilities to regain a job.

    On the other hand, I can understand the conscience of many Americans, that are always clement with the disgraced people, which is stirred by these "Konzentratzion Lager" for the children, that are far from their parents.

    But anyway there is a primary cause: those who enter in the USA knowing the laws and neglecting to fulfill these laws. They get what they provoked.

    Perhaps the only solution is to create conditions of labour that would allow those southern countries to develop at least a bite, to prevent illegal inmigration. This is now tried in Europe, and could be a good, but difficult solution.

    The problem of inmigrants are not only because they are lacking work capacities and education, but also that they carry a sharp cultural difference that is also a stumbling block.

    You have a good grasp of many of the conflicting concerns, Carlos . Add to this, the fears stirred up among “low information voters,” i.e., those who do not read much about the issues before forming opinions, who are easily persuaded that the people coming for refuge are “rapists and murderers.”


    The people in question right now are those seeking safety and asylum from gang warfare in Central America. When the border checkpoints are backed up by hundreds of people, they enter at any possible place, seeking out border agents to whom they can surrender.


    They also are no threat to the middle aged white men of whom you speak, as the jobs they take are generally backbreaking, unconscionably low-paying ones that Americans will not take. (e.g.: The mayor of McAllen,TX, a border town that relies on shrimping, says that they were greatly hindered this year because there weren’t enough people to work on the shrimp boats.)


    More to the point of the original post:

    Why would an American president enact the heartless policy of taking the children from these asylum seekers, and putting them in CAGES as well as sending them across the country to holding facilities in Florida, New York, Virginia? His attorney general, quoting the Bible as justification, said that this practice would serve as a deterrent to others contemplating fleeing to the USA with their families!


    After pretending that he was not the one who made the decision, and knowing that he could reverse it with one phone call but saying it was out of his power, the president indeed reversed himself yesterday and ended this cruel policy of separating children from their parents.


    But this stain, this scandal does not end with his reversal; it begins with it. It will be mitigated only if every single one of the 2,342 children already seized, is returned to his/her parents, many of whom have already been deported, with no knowledge of where their children are. Will they ever be reunited?