One Hollow 'Threat'
SAN DIEGO -- Question: What kind of society thinks it is appropriate to incarcerate children if their mother is also in custody?
Answer: Ours.
For 29-year-old Bryan Johnson, what really makes his blood boil are the "baby jails." Maybe it's because he is the father of a 2-year-old girl.
The New York-based immigration attorney is calling America's bluff. He insists that if we condemn the abuse of women and children by professional athletes, we shouldn't be any less outraged when the alleged abuser is the Obama administration.
Since Johnson represents undocumented immigrants whom the federal government is trying to deport, he spends a lot of time visiting immigrant detention facilities around the country. Some of what he sees sends a chill up his spine.
"There are state laws against acts that harm children," Johnson told me. "What the administration is doing here is putting kids in situations where they are harmed and neglected to the point of putting lives at risk. The priority is removal before well-being of children. The government is harming these kids psychologically."
Before the White House apologists revert to their familiar pattern and attack the messenger, bear in mind that Johnson is no right-winger. In fact, he says that he has never cast a ballot for a Republican. He voted for Barack Obama in 2008.
Yet Johnson has become a relentless critic of how the administration treats undocumented women and children.
Many are locked up indefinitely in primitive detention facilities -- some of which are run by the federal government, others by private companies. They have no access to counsel and experience nothing resembling due process.
Here you'll find thousands of women and children from Central America.
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Copyright 2014 Washington Post Writers Group
