.
Untitled: photo by jc y, 14 April 2018
Untitled: photo by jc y, 14 April 2018
He wants what he wants. Stop pretending he's not about to get
It. He's got it. Next question. Why is he doing it to kids? Easy.
He's been a Bully all his life. Why else did they want him. Stop
Pretending they're not about to get what they want.
Pretending they're not about to get what they want.
Havana, Cuba 2018: photo by Gustavo Minas, 12 January 2018
Havana, Cuba 2018: photo by Gustavo Minas, 12 January 2018
Havana, Cuba 2018: photo by Gustavo Minas, 12 January 2018
Relatives of a Palestinian, who was killed at the Israel-Gaza border, react at a hospital in Gaza City: Photo Mohammed Salem: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 18 June 2018
These images were just released by border patrol @CBP showing the McAllen, Texas detention facility that we were allowed to tour today. For now, we can only rely on what they give us. They will not allow us inside to film on our own. Why? “Privacy”; they don’t want faces shown.: image via David Begnaud @DavidBegnaud, 17 June 2018
These
images were just released by border patrol @CBP showing the McAllen,
Texas detention facility that we were allowed to tour today. For now,
we can only rely on what they give us. They will not allow us inside to
film on our own. Why? “Privacy”; they don’t want faces shown.: image via David Begnaud @DavidBegnaud, 17 June 2018
These
images were just released by border patrol @CBP showing the McAllen,
Texas detention facility that we were allowed to tour today. For now,
we can only rely on what they give us. They will not allow us inside to
film on our own. Why? “Privacy”; they don’t want faces shown.: image via David Begnaud @DavidBegnaud, 17 June 2018
#CBP released Southwest Border Migration stats for May - #BorderPatrol agents apprehended 40,344 individuals and #CBP officers deemed 11,568 individuals inadmissible.: image via CBP @CBP, 6 June 2018
No, these aren't cages, @SteveDoocy says. The authorities simply "built walls out of chain-link fences." Yes, that's a real quote from Fox just now.: image via Brian Stelter @brianstelter, 18 June 2018
It is the Democrats fault for being weak and ineffective with Boarder Security and Crime. - Drumpfie The Emp
These
images were just released by border patrol @CBP showing the McAllen,
Texas detention facility that we were allowed to tour today. For now,
we can only rely on what they give us. They will not allow us inside to
film on our own. Why? “Privacy”; they don’t want faces shown.: image via David Begnaud @DavidBegnaud, 17 June 2018
US agents arrive to detain #Immigrant asylum seekers near the US-Mexico border. A Honduran mother with daughter (R), said they’d been traveling a month to reach the US. Trump’s “zero tolerance” #Immigration policy splits families. #gettyimages #undocumented #gettyimagesnews: image via John Moore @jbmoorephoto, 17 June 2018
On a moonless night, US Border Patrol agents check asylum seekers before taking them into custody near the US-Mexico Border. They were sent to a US Customs and Border Protection processing center for possible family separation.. #gettyimages #undocumented #gettyimagesnews: image via John Moore @jbmoorephoto, 17 June 2018
US agents arrive to detain #Immigrant asylum seekers near the US-Mexico border. A Honduran mother with daughter (R), said they’d been traveling a month to reach the US. Trump’s “zero tolerance” #Immigration policy splits families. #gettyimages #undocumented #gettyimagesnews: image via John Moore @jbmoorephoto, 17 June 2018
On a moonless night, US Border Patrol agents check asylum seekers before taking them into custody near the US-Mexico Border. They were sent to a US Customs and Border Protection processing center for possible family separation.. #gettyimages #undocumented #gettyimagesnews: image via John Moore @jbmoorephoto, 17 June 2018
#CBP released Southwest Border Migration stats for May - #BorderPatrol agents apprehended 40,344 individuals and #CBP officers deemed 11,568 individuals inadmissible.: image via CBP @CBP, 6 June 2018
No, these aren't cages, @SteveDoocy says. The authorities simply "built walls out of chain-link fences." Yes, that's a real quote from Fox just now.: image via Brian Stelter @brianstelter, 18 June 2018
eine kleine redstate-fuguestate 5000-ton plastik-Jesus Boarder-haiku
It is the Democrats fault for being weak and ineffective with Boarder Security and Crime. - Drumpfie The Emp
Roddin' with the CBP
Roundin' up th'Inadmissibles
'N cagin' em for Jesus
'N cagin' em for Jesus
#Nicaragua Anti-government demonstrators take part in a protest in Managua, #AFPphoto by @marvinrecinos: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 18 June 2018
#Nicaragua An anti-government demonstrator fires a homemade mortar in Managua, demanding justice for the death of six members of a family who died when their house was burnt at dawn on Saturday after a group of men armed wearing hoods threw a Molotov cocktail. Photo @marvinrecinos #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 18 June 2018
#Nicaragua An anti-government demonstrator waves a flag during a protest in Managua, #AFPphoto by @marvinrecinos: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 18 June 2018
#Nicaragua Violent deaths overshadow Nicaragua crisis talks Photo @intiocon #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 18 June 2018
#goodnight Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray outside the Dome of the Rock in the Al-Aqsa mosques compound in Jerusalem's Old City. Photo @gharabli_ahmad: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLLY, 18 June 2018
GAZA - Israeli planes strike Hamas targets in Gaza Photo @MahmudHams #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 18 June 2018
GAZA - Palestinian killed by Israeli fire Photo @MahmudHams #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 18 June 2018
GAZA - Palestinian killed by Israeli fire Photo @MahmudHams #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 18 June 2018
GAZA - Palestinian killed by Israeli fire Photo @MahmudHams #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 18 June 2018
Relatives of a Palestinian, who was killed at the Israel-Gaza border, react at a hospital in Gaza City: Photo Mohammed Salem: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 18 June 2018
#Myanmar
Residents walk in the flooded township of Mawlamyine district in Mon as
the monsoon season picks up strength. Photo @ye_aung_thu #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 18 June 2018
Children of detained migrants play soccer at a newly constructed tent encampment, seen through a border fence near the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) port of entry in Tornillo, Texas. Photo Jose Luis Gonzalez: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 18 June 2018
dare you to say she don't
Ole Smoky Eye gives it away in th'anxious frown lines
an' pouty deepbrow sideline glance
toward the fleeing shade o' th'absent Emp
an' pouty deepbrow sideline glance
toward the fleeing shade o' th'absent Emp
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen leaves the podium after answering questions about the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy during Monday's White House press briefing: Photo @alexwongcw: image via Getty Images News @GettyImagesNews, 18 June 2018
Immigrant kids seen held in fenced cages at border facility: Nooman Merchant, AP, 18 June 2018
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Inside an old warehouse in South Texas,
hundreds of immigrant children wait in a series of cages created by
metal fencing. One cage had 20 children inside. Scattered about are
bottles of water, bags of chips and large foil sheets intended to serve
as blankets.
One teenager told an advocate who visited that she was helping care
for a young child she didn’t know because the child’s aunt was somewhere
else in the facility. She said she had to show others in her cell how
to change the girl’s diaper.
The U.S. Border Patrol on Sunday allowed reporters to briefly visit
the facility where it holds families arrested at the southern U.S.
border, responding to new criticism and protests over the Trump
administration’s “zero tolerance” policy and resulting separation of
families.
More than 1,100 people were inside the large, dark facility that’s
divided into separate wings for unaccompanied children, adults on their
own, and mothers and fathers with children. The cages in each wing open
out into common areas to use portable restrooms. The overhead lighting
in the warehouse stays on around the clock.
The Border Patrol said close to 200 people inside the facility were
minors unaccompanied by a parent. Another 500 were “family units,”
parents and children. Many adults who crossed the border without legal
permission could be charged with illegal entry and placed in jail, away
from their children.
Reporters were not allowed by agents to interview any of the detainees or take photos.
Nearly 2,000 children have been taken from their parents since
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy, which directs
Homeland Security officials to refer all cases of illegal entry into the
United States for prosecution. Church groups and human rights advocates
have sharply criticized the policy, calling it inhumane.
Stories have spread of children being torn from their parents’ arms,
and parents not being able to find where their kids have gone. A group
of congressional lawmakers visited the same facility Sunday and were set
to visit a longer-term shelter holding around 1,500 children — many of
whom were separated from their parents.
“Those kids inside who have been separated from their parents are
already being traumatized,” said Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon,
who was denied entry earlier this month to children’s shelter. “It
doesn’t matter whether the floor is swept and the bedsheets tucked in
tight.”
In Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for people trying
to enter the U.S., Border Patrol officials argue that they have to crack
down on migrants and separate adults from children as a deterrent to
others.
“When you exempt a group of people from the law ... that creates a
draw,” said Manuel Padilla, the Border Patrol’s chief agent here. “That
creates the trends right here.”
Agents running the holding facility — generally known as “Ursula” for
the name of the street it’s on — said everyone detained is given
adequate food, access to showers and laundered clothes, and medical
care. People are supposed to move through the facility quickly. Under
U.S. law, children are required to be turned over within three days to
shelters funded by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Padilla said agents in the Rio Grande Valley have allowed families
with children under the age of 5 to stay together in most cases.
An advocate who spent several hours in the facility Friday said she was deeply troubled by what she found.
Michelle Brane, director of migrant rights at the Women’s Refugee
Commission, met with a 16-year-old girl who had been taking care of a
young girl for three days. The teen and others in their cage thought the
girl was 2 years old.
“She had to teach other kids in the cell to change her diaper,” Brane said.
Brane said that after an attorney started to ask questions, agents
found the girl’s aunt and reunited the two. It turned out that the girl
was actually 4 years old. Part of the problem was that she didn’t speak
Spanish, but K’iche, a language indigenous to Guatemala.
“She was so traumatized that she wasn’t talking,” Brane said. “She was just curled up in a little ball.”
Brane said she also saw officials at the facility scold a group of
5-year-olds for playing around in their cage, telling them to settle
down. There are no toys or books.
But one boy nearby wasn’t playing with the rest. According to Brane,
he was quiet, clutching a piece of paper that was a photocopy of his
mother’s ID card.
“The government is literally taking kids away from their parents and
leaving them in inappropriate conditions,” Brane said. “If a parent left
a child in a cage with no supervision with other 5-year-olds, they’d be
held accountable.”
Dr. Colleen Kraft, the head of the American Academy of Pediatrics,
said that she visited a small shelter in Texas recently, which she
declined to identity. A toddler inside the 60-bed facility caught her
eye — she was crying uncontrollably and pounding her little fists on
mat.
Staff members tried to console the child, who looked to be about 2 years old, Kraft said. She had been taken from her mother the night before and brought to the shelter.
The staff gave her books and toys — but they weren’t allowed to pick
her up, to hold her or hug her to try to calm her. As a rule, staff
aren’t allowed to touch the children there, she said.
“The stress is overwhelming,” she said. “The focus needs to be on the welfare of these children, absent of politics.”
Unapologetic Trump digs in on immigration despite outrage: Zeke Miller and Kevin MGill, AP, 18 June 2018
In this photo provided by U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, people who’ve been taken into custody related to
cases of illegal entry into the United States, sit in one of the cages
at a facility in McAllen, Texas, Sunday, June 17, 2018.: photo by U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Rio Grande Valley Sector via AP, 17 June 2018
WASHINGTON (AP) — An unapologetic President Donald Trump defended his administration’s border-protection policies Monday in the face of rising national outrage over the forced separation of migrant children from their parents. Calling for tough action against illegal immigration, Trump declared the U.S. “will not be a migrant camp” on his watch.
Images of children held in fenced cages fueled a growing chorus of condemnation from both political parties, four former first ladies and national evangelical leaders. The children are being held separately from parents who are being prosecuted under the administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy for illegal border crossings.
“I say it’s very strongly the Democrats’ fault,” Trump said Monday as his administration rejected criticism that the policy has resulted in inhuman and immoral conditions.
Trump pointed to more lenient policies under past administrations that had not charged all migrants who had crossed illegally.
“We will not apologize for the job we do or for the job law enforcement does, for doing the job that the American people expect us to do,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in an appearance before the National Sheriffs’ Association in New Orleans.
“Illegal actions have and must have consequences. No more free passes, no more get out of jail free cards.”
Nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the new “zero-tolerance” policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution. Prior procedure had limited prosecution for many family entrants, in part because regulations prohibit detaining children with their parents since the children are not charged with a crime and the parents are.
The policy change was meant to deter unlawful crossings — and Sessions issued a warning last month to those entering the U.S. illegally that their children “inevitably for a period of time might be in different conditions.”
The current holding areas have drawn widespread attention after journalists gained access to one site Sunday. At a McAllen, Texas, detention center hundreds of immigrant children wait in a series of cages created by metal fencing. One cage had 20 children inside. Scattered about are bottles of water, bags of chips and large foil sheets intended to serve as blankets.
Administration officials said they do not like the family separations either — calling it the result of legal loopholes — but insist migrants who arrive illegally simply won’t be released or loosely kept track of.
“The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility,” Trump declared. “Not on my watch.”
Sessions, on Monday, echoed the administration’s defense of the zero tolerance policy, and called on Congress to act.
“We do not want to separate parents from their children,” he said. “If we build the wall, if we pass legislation to end the lawlessness, we won’t face these terrible choices.”
Still the White House said it would reject any narrow fix aimed solely at addressing the plight of children separated from their parents under the immigration crackdown. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump’s priorities, like funding a border wall and tightening immigration laws, must also be fulfilled as part of any legislation.
“We want to fix the whole thing,” she said. “We don’t want to tinker with just part of it.”
The national debate over the family separation policy comes as Republican lawmakers are growing ever more concerned about negative effects on their re-election campaigns this fall. Trump is to travel to Capitol Hill Tuesday for a strategy session on upcoming immigration legislation.
Underscoring the sensitivity of the issue, language curbing the taking of immigrant children from parents held in custody will be added to the House’s conservative immigration bill, a House GOP aide said Monday, A similar provision is already in a compromise GOP immigration measure between party conservatives and moderates, with the House expected to vote on both late this week.
The administration is hoping to force Democrats to vote for the bills or bear some of the political cost in November’s midterm elections.
White House officials have privately embraced the border policy as a negotiating tactic to win votes for legislation to fulfil the president’s pledge to build a border wall and to tighten the nation’s immigration laws.
Trump’s commitment to the current policy showed no sign of faltering as voices of outrage and condemnation grew louder and more diverse.
In Massachusetts, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker reversed a decision to send a state National Guard helicopter to the southern border, citing what he called the administration’s “cruel and inhumane” policy of separating children from their parents.
The Rev. Franklin Graham, a longtime Trump ally, called the policy “disgraceful.” Several religious groups, including some conservative ones, have pushed to stop the practice of separating immigrant children from their parents. The Mormon church said it was “deeply troubled” by the separation of families and urged national leaders to find compassionate solutions.
Former first lady Laura Bush called the policy “cruel” and “immoral,” and said it was “eerily reminiscent” of the U.S. internment of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II.
On Capitol Hill, Republicans joined Democrats in calling for an end to the separations. Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton called for an immediate end to this “ugly and inhumane practice,” adding, “It’s never acceptable to use kids as bargaining chips in political process.” And Kansas GOP Sen. Pat Roberts said he is “against using parental separation as a deterrent to illegal immigration.”
On a moonless night, US Border Patrol agents check asylum seekers before taking them into custody near the US-Mexico Border. They were sent to a US Customs and Border Protection processing center for possible family separation.. #gettyimages #undocumented #gettyimagesnews: image via John Moore @jbmoorephoto, 17 June 2018
civil war commemoration
seeing battle lines drawn in the quicksand to riddle
by the dying as the shades of evening come down
INBOX: Kamala Harris calls on Kirstjen Nielsen to resign: image via Ben Jacobs @Bencjacobs, 18 June 2018
It
is the Democrats fault for being weak and ineffective with Boarder
Security and Crime. Tell them to start thinking about the people
devastated by Crime coming from illegal immigration. Change the laws!
tweet via Donald J. TrumpVerified account @real DonaldTrump,
tweet via Donald J. TrumpVerified account @real DonaldTrump,
tweet via Donald J. TrumpVerified account @real DonaldTrump,
“Let’s spell immigration in a way that emphasizes how much we know about
the issue.”: image via Kashana @kashanacauley, 17 June 2018
“White
House officials have privately embraced the border policy as a
negotiating tactic to win votes for legislation to fulfill the
president's pledge to build a border wall and to tighten the nation's
immigration laws”: tweet via Jonathan Lemire @JonLemire, 18 June 2018
A Smug Cunt
Donald Trump holds up an executive order that he signed Monday in Washington DC to establish the space force.: photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images, 18 June 2018
'Space force': Donald Trump orders new branch of US military:
Trump claims plan will keep US ahead in space race, prompting fears
over militarisation of space: David Smith in Washington, The Guardian,
18 June 2018
Sessions blamed past administrations for carving out exceptions for migrant families that crossed the border illegally, paving the way for the current crisis.
And at an event in New York, Clinton called Trump’s assertion that family separation is mandated by law an “outright lie”.
'Space force': Donald Trump orders new branch of US military:
Trump claims plan will keep US ahead in space race, prompting fears
over militarisation of space: David Smith in Washington, The Guardian,
18 June 2018
Donald Trump said on Monday he would direct the Pentagon to create a “space force”
as a new branch of the US military to shore up American dominance in
space.
Trump claimed that the plan will ensure that America, which plans a return to the moon and a mission to Mars, stays ahead of China and Russia in any new space race. But it is likely to raise fears over the militarisation of space and prompted a slew of Twitter parodies featuring Star Trek and Star Wars.
“Very importantly, I’m hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces,” the president said at the White House.
“That’s a big statement. We are going to have the air force and we are going to have the space force – separate but equal. It is going to be something so important.”
Trump asked Gen Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, to carry out the assignment. Dunford replied: “We got it.”
The president added: “Let’s go get it, general. But that’s the importance that we give it. We’re going to have the space force.”
But there was a sceptical reaction from Bill Nelson, the Democratic senator for Florida, home of Cape Canaveral. He tweeted: “The president told a US general to create a new Space Force as 6th branch of military today, which generals tell me they don’t want. Thankfully the president can’t do it without Congress because now is NOT the time to rip the Air Force apart. Too many important missions at stake.”
He insisted: “When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space. So important.”
Trump has floated the idea of a space force before but met both
mockery and high-level resistance. Last October, his own defence
secretary Jim Mattis wrote in a memo: “I oppose the creation of a new
military service and additional organizational layers at a time when we
are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint warfighting
functions.”
On Monday Trump also signed a policy directive for reducing satellite clutter in space. It sets up new guidelines for satellite design and operation to avoid collisions and spacecraft breakups.
Trump claimed that the plan will ensure that America, which plans a return to the moon and a mission to Mars, stays ahead of China and Russia in any new space race. But it is likely to raise fears over the militarisation of space and prompted a slew of Twitter parodies featuring Star Trek and Star Wars.
“Very importantly, I’m hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces,” the president said at the White House.
“That’s a big statement. We are going to have the air force and we are going to have the space force – separate but equal. It is going to be something so important.”
Trump asked Gen Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, to carry out the assignment. Dunford replied: “We got it.”
The president added: “Let’s go get it, general. But that’s the importance that we give it. We’re going to have the space force.”
Trump has appointed a new general for the Space Force. #SpaceForce: image via Cameron Grant @coolghost101, 18 June 2018
The president was speaking at the third meeting of the National Space Council, revived after a quarter of a century. He was joined by Mike
Pence, the new Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine and former astronaut
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon.But there was a sceptical reaction from Bill Nelson, the Democratic senator for Florida, home of Cape Canaveral. He tweeted: “The president told a US general to create a new Space Force as 6th branch of military today, which generals tell me they don’t want. Thankfully the president can’t do it without Congress because now is NOT the time to rip the Air Force apart. Too many important missions at stake.”
Meanwhile.... on the Space Force. #SpaceForce: image via Cameron Grant @coolghost101, 18 June 2018
During his remarks, Trump promised that America will always be first
in space and that national pride is at stake. “It’s going to be
important monetarily and militarily,” he added. “But so important for
right up here – the psyche. We don’t want China and Russia and other
countries leading us.”He insisted: “When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space. So important.”
Mark Zuckerberg will be supporting the Space Force. #SpaceForce: image via Cameron Grant @coolghost101, 18 June 2018
On Monday Trump also signed a policy directive for reducing satellite clutter in space. It sets up new guidelines for satellite design and operation to avoid collisions and spacecraft breakups.
Meet the Captain of the Space Force. #SpaceForce: image via Cameron Grant @coolghost101, 18 June 2018
Donald Trump says US will not be a 'migrant camp': President defends controversial practice of separating migrant children from their parents at the border: Lauren Gambino in Washington and Jamiles Lartey in New Orleans: The Guardian, 18 June 2018
Donald Trump said the US would not be a “migrant camp” as his administration defended its controversial practice of separating migrant children from their parents at the border
“The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility,” Trump said during remarks at the White House on Monday.
“You look at what’s happening in Europe,” he continued, “you look at what’s happening in other places – we can’t allow that to happen to the United States. Not on my watch.”
Trump ignored a intensifying chorus of condemnation of a zero-tolerance enforcement policy that has resulted in the separation of nearly 2,000 children from their parents in just six weeks. The separation tactic has drawn bipartisan backlash from prominent members of Congress, human rights advocates and religious leaders who have called the tactic cruel and inhumane.
Trump again tried to shift responsibility for the policy, claiming inaccurately that his administration was simply enforcing the country’s “horrible laws”.
“I say it’s very strongly the Democrats’ fault,” he said. In a series of tweets earlier on Monday, Trump demanded Congress “CHANGE THE LAWS”.
There is no law requiring immigration officials to separate migrant families at the border and past administrations have avoided the practice. The separations are the consequence of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy that subjects all migrants who are caught trying to enter the US illegally to criminal prosecution.
Children cannot be held in federal jails while the adults await trial and as a result they are removed from their parents.
In a pair of speeches at a conference in New Orleans on Monday, Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, stood by the enforcement policy.
We will not apologize for the job we do, or for the job law enforcement does, for doing the job that the American people expect us to do,” Nielsen said, addressing a friendly audience at the National Sheriffs’ Association conference.
“Illegal actions have and must have consequences,” she added. “No more free passes, no more get-out-of-jail-free cards.”
“The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility,” Trump said during remarks at the White House on Monday.
“You look at what’s happening in Europe,” he continued, “you look at what’s happening in other places – we can’t allow that to happen to the United States. Not on my watch.”
Trump ignored a intensifying chorus of condemnation of a zero-tolerance enforcement policy that has resulted in the separation of nearly 2,000 children from their parents in just six weeks. The separation tactic has drawn bipartisan backlash from prominent members of Congress, human rights advocates and religious leaders who have called the tactic cruel and inhumane.
Trump again tried to shift responsibility for the policy, claiming inaccurately that his administration was simply enforcing the country’s “horrible laws”.
“I say it’s very strongly the Democrats’ fault,” he said. In a series of tweets earlier on Monday, Trump demanded Congress “CHANGE THE LAWS”.
There is no law requiring immigration officials to separate migrant families at the border and past administrations have avoided the practice. The separations are the consequence of the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy that subjects all migrants who are caught trying to enter the US illegally to criminal prosecution.
Children cannot be held in federal jails while the adults await trial and as a result they are removed from their parents.
In a pair of speeches at a conference in New Orleans on Monday, Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of homeland security, and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, stood by the enforcement policy.
We will not apologize for the job we do, or for the job law enforcement does, for doing the job that the American people expect us to do,” Nielsen said, addressing a friendly audience at the National Sheriffs’ Association conference.
“Illegal actions have and must have consequences,” she added. “No more free passes, no more get-out-of-jail-free cards.”
Sessions blamed past administrations for carving out exceptions for migrant families that crossed the border illegally, paving the way for the current crisis.
“Word got out about this loophole with predictable results. The
number of aliens illegally crossing with children between our ports of
entry went from 14,000 to 75,000 – that’s a five-fold increase – in just
the last four years,” the attorney general claimed. He added the White
House does not “want” to separate children from their parents and that
the US is “dedicated to caring for those children”.
“If we build the wall, if we pass legislation to end the lawlessness,
we won’t face these terrible choices,” he said, urging Congress to act.
“We will have a system where those who need to apply for asylum can do
so and those who want to come to this country will apply to enter
lawfully.”
At turns during the conference, chants of “arrest Sessions” and “Jeff
Sessions must go” from a group of demonstrators outside were audible
inside the event.
Meanwhile, outside the convention center where Sessions was delivering his remarks, a protester was struck by a pickup truck.
The victim refused medical treatment, according to the New Orleans police department, and was not seriously injured.
Witnesses on the scene said the driver had been cursing at the
protesters moments before the woman was struck. But an NOPD official
said they were treating the incident as an accident, and had made no
arrest or filed any charges against the vehicle operator.
Five demonstrators were also detained by the Orleans parish sheriff’s
office. The protesters blocked traffic for a brief period before
returning to the road’s median outside the convention hall. The five
were issued summonses for “disturbing the peace by protesting”.
On Monday, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama joined Laura Bush in condemning the practice.
A day before, in a rare foray into public policy, Melania Trump weighed in to say that she “hates to see children separated from their families and hopes
both sides of the aisle can finally come together”. While the first
lady expressed displeasure with the practice, she avoided blaming her
husband’s administration, in effect echoing the president’s claim that
the actions are the result of a law passed by Democrats.
In an op-ed, Bush spoke out forcefully against the Trump
administration practice, comparing scenes of migrant children locked in
cages away from their parents to the internment of Japanese Americans
during the second world war.
“I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international
boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And
it breaks my heart,” she wrote in an article in the Washington Post over the weekend.
Obama retweeted the op-ed, adding: “Sometimes truth transcends party.”
And at an event in New York, Clinton called Trump’s assertion that family separation is mandated by law an “outright lie”.
“We are a better country than one that tears families apart, turns a
blind eye to women fleeing domestic violence and treats frightened
children as a negotiating tool,” she said.
The crisis at the US-Mexico border coincides with an effort by a
group of Republicans to pass immigration reform before the November
midterms. Trump is pressuring Democrats to negotiate with Republicans on
an immigration bill that addresses family separations.
The legislation, crafted as a compromise between moderate and
conservative Republicans, would make it easier for children to be
detained and harder for families to claim asylum. The bill also includes
longstanding demands from the White House, including funding for a wall
along the southern border and restrictions on legal immigration in
exchange for legal protections for young undocumented immigrants known
as Dreamers.
Untitled: photo by Bouwe Brouwer, 26 May 2018
Untitled: photo by Bouwe Brouwer, 26 May 2018
Untitled: photo by Salmonpink, 26 May 2018
Полет фантазии: photo by Жанна Федорова, 23 April 2016
Полет фантазии: photo by Жанна Федорова, 23 April 2018
Полет фантазии: photo by Жанна Федорова, 23 April 2018
Untitled [Chennai]: photo by Sasikumar Ramachandran, 15 June 2018
Untitled: photo by Bouwe Brouwer, 26 May 2018
Untitled: photo by Bouwe Brouwer, 26 May 2018
Untitled: photo by Bouwe Brouwer, 26 May 2018
Untitled: photo by Salmonpink, 26 May 2018
"We have an orchestra here."
ReplyDeleteMerry Clayton: Gimme Shelter (1970)
Naked voice from Merry Clayton in Gimme Shelter
ReplyDeleteGang of Four: He'd Send In the Army (live 1980)
ReplyDeleteTom,
ReplyDeleteJeez Louise, just when we thought this is the worst things get worser --- each day new horrors, new tales of woe. As Edgar says (aside), "O gods! Who is't can say 'I am at the worst'?/ I am worse than e'er I was."
Steve
Darn right Steve, glad you said it so I can instantly agree, before dying.
ReplyDeleteYou and Edgar I mean.
That Edgar though! Always talking. The whole road trip. Some friend. Way to make it better (not), as usual, Eddie boy!
As I sd to Edgar, shut up and drive!
th'absent Emp - hollow as the chambers of our pixellated hearts.
ReplyDeleteDisapppointed to report Th'Emp is officially back in town and Making Himself Grate Agin, up Minny-soty way, in th'Iron Range, mongst th'Iron Rangers, much as though enacting a Reversion in Industrial Epochs.
ReplyDeleteBut we'd best not let him suss we're onto his tricks lest he appear in a red, white and blue Cape of No Hope at midnight to pull himself out of a MAGA hat.