The reunification deadline has come and gone, and the government has declared the deadline was met… mission accomplished.
Never mind the “more than” 700 migrant families who the government has been unable to reunite… because they’re “ineligible”.
More than 700 migrant families are unable to be reunited – CNN Politics
How many more than 700 anyway?
The government will own 711 “ineligible” families were not reunited, but The Guardian reported the number of parents at 914.
Incidentally, even if the government number is correct, “711 families” does not mean 711 children. The number of children per family has not been specified.
What would cause 711 families to be ineligible? The Trump administration says the ineligibility is a result of either “red flags” that prevent reunification, or because the parents could not be located in time for the deadline.
It has recently been reported that he government deported 463 parents, without their children. So there we have the explanation for the second scenario. An administrative failure, or perhaps intentional cruelty. Parents were deported, to Central America or Mexico without legal counsel and without so much as a claim ticket for the children taken from them. They’ve been written off as “can not be located” by the people who relocated them.
As for the “red flagged” children, what “red flagged” them, and why were they deemed disqualified? One of two reasons:
“Their parents don’t want them.”
Did they really not want them?
Parents at the border, who couldn’t read English, were forced to sign forms relinquishing their rights to be reunited with their children.
How so?
The top of the form they had to fill out asked for their names in Spanish and English, and the “sign here” line at the bottom was also bilingual, but the multiple choice question in the middle was—
English only:
“1. Leave with your child.
2. Leave without your child.”
The land of the free, home of the brave, did this. They made no records of who belonged to who, or exactly how many children they were taking.
The second disqualifier keeping families separated is a conviction of a serious crime. What constitutes a serious crime? Serious crimes include: murder, sex crimes, trafficking, DUI… okay, but a DUI. A DUI means no child for you? This standard is “more stringent than would normally be applied in approving a sponsor for a child.” ~Mark Greenberg, a fellow at the Immigration Policy Institute.
This administration will eventually be held accountable for these crimes— Kirstjen Nielsen, Jeff Sessions, Stephan Miller, Donald Trump, that’s you.
I can not imagine what these parents, human beings, must be feeling not knowing what their children are being subjected to without their protection.
If the human suffering aspect of this tragedy doesn’t stir your pot, maybe the daily drain on taxpayer dollars will. The cost of housing each child… $775. per person, per night.
‘Tent cities’ for migrant children reportedly cost much more than detaining families together
Somebody is getting rich by holding onto these children.
So that’s it, mission accomplished.
Next story: “I did not collude in the crimes that are not crimes, they’re a witch hunt.”
I don’t really “like this. It makes me sick to my somach, but I really appreciate your blog because I have found that you consistently have a straight story.
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Thank you. I don’t like this either. It’s got to end soon.
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Why is this not front page news all over the world? I don’t understand how this can be allowed to keep going on. It is a massive heartbreaking story. Thank you Lydia for telling it like it is.
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I don’t know how this happens in a country that is supposed to have checks and balances. Those poor people will be scarred forever, and with the exception of the judge who ordered the reunification no one is advocating for the kids. There is no urgency to solve this problem. I’m sure every day apart feels like an eternity to them.
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Unacceptable, completely unacceptable!
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