Pirate's Cove

The Washington Post Editorial Board is in High Moonbat Dudgeon, with the requisite failure to make a delineation between illegal aliens and lawful migrants

The Trump administration is traumatizing children to scare migrants away

INFANTS, TODDLERS, tweens, teens — Trump administration officials are less interested in the age of an unauthorized child migrant than they are in removing the child from his or her parents as a means of deterring illegal border-crossers. That plan, first floated by White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly last year when he was homeland security secretary, was widely regarded as so callous and such a radical departure from historical practice that it was unthinkable for any U.S. government.

If only.

In fact, not only has the idea of systematically separating undocumented children and parents gained currency among top officials determined to turn the tide on illegal entry, it’s already happening with increasing frequency. The Department of Homeland Security insists it has not adopted the practice as a matter of official policy — despite White House pressure to do so — but administration officials acknowledge that hundreds of children, including scores younger than 4, have been taken from their parents in the past few months.

By now it’s clear that there are few red lines President Trump is unwilling to cross in his crusade to rid the United States of undocumented immigrants. For Mr. Trump, having washed his hands of the “dreamers” — young migrants, most in their 20s, raised and educated in the United States after being brought here as children — it’s hardly a moral leap to inflict lasting psychological damage on younger children by taking them from their parents if it will further his goal of combating illegal immigration.

Well, finally, a mention of illegal immigration. At the end of the day, this is about Law, not feelings. As the old saying goes, are we a nation of Law or a nation of Men? We have laws. We must enforce them, without prejudice, to all. The only people who are in the wrong here are the parents who chose to enter the nation illegally or overstayed their visas. They put their children in this position. If you get caught speeding, it’s not the cops fault for catching you. It’s not the jurisdictions fault for having telling their officers to not let you speed. It’s your fault. You get a ticket. A civic violation. The penalty for being unlawfully present in the U.S. is deportation.

And children are temporarily removed from their parents all the time, often with no warrant, just the say so of government workers. And parents are separated from their kids all the time when the parent(s) go to jail for violating the law. There’s a simple solution: don’t break the established laws. Don’t be in the U.S. illegally. They all know it’s illegal.

And let me note one thing I haven’t noted in a while: this is all the fault of the illegals. I had a convo the other day on this, and why Conservatives were so heartless on the subject. Besides it being about the rule of law, illegals pooped in their own bed. There are so many who are demanding we legalize them. Demand, not ask nicely. They get out in the streets to demonstrate, hold sit ins, invade offices. All while denigrating the very people they should be enticing to help them out. They hold signs being rude to Americans, call us names. They run around flying the flags of their nation of origin. They talk badly about America. They’re belligerent. They’re the ones here in contradiction of law. One would think they’d be walking up, hat in hand, asking “please”. If people are jerks to you and demand some sort of action, are you going to do it? If your child throws a fit and demands a cookie, do you give them one?

Illegals might have gotten some sympathy backing in the early 2000’s when this became a big issue again, but, they had to be jerks. Not all. But, more than enough.

The United States has a legitimate interest in deterring illegal border-crossing. It is within its rights to detain and deport individuals and families who fail to make a persuasive case for asylum. But to splinter families and traumatize children in the name of frightening away migrants, many of whom may have a legitimate asylum claim, is not just heartless. It is beyond the pale for a civilized country.

It’s hard to take that seriously, because if Trump was not doing this, keeping the families together, the WPEB would be calling this heartless. In their world, the only thing not heartless is simply giving citizenship, with full voting rights, to all illegals, and all who simply show up at the border.