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Trump's immigration policy: Up the cruelty, dodge the blame

By Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on

You can tell that President Donald Trump has turned against his own immigration policies when he tries to blame them on Democrats.

"Put pressure on the Democrats," he tweeted Saturday, "to end the horrible law that separates children from (their) parents once they cross the Border into the U.S."

Nice try, sir. But as experts quickly pointed out, there is no law that specifically requires the government to separate children from their parents unless the parents are violating a law.

Immigrants who show up at the border without documentation to seek asylum from political violence and other threats are not breaking a law. Yet for that simple act, which has been routine in the past, migrants without documentation will be referred for prosecution and separation of parents from their children under a new "zero tolerance" policy declared by Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, even if they're desperately seeking refugee status.

"If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you, probably, as required by law," Sessions declared in speeches in Scottsdale, Ariz., and San Diego on May 7. "If you don't want your child separated then don't bring them across the border illegally. It's not our fault that somebody does that."

Of course, it's not the child's fault either. Yet children inevitably are punished by the traumatizing experience of suddenly being ripped out of their parents' hands and transported far from wherever their parents are being held.

 

"Separating parents and children is your administration's choice," the American Civil Liberties Union responded to Trump in a tweet of its own. "Hundreds of kids as young as 18 months are in danger of suffering lifelong trauma. We won't let you shift the blame or use families as bargaining chips for your wall. #EndFamilySeparation"

As those cruel realities emerge in dreary headlines, it is no wonder that the president, who has demonized immigrants since the first day of his campaign, suddenly doesn't want to brag about his own administration's immigration policy.

To paraphrase his stunning observation about another issue, health care, as Republican attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare failed, who knew immigration reform could be so complicated?

Adding to his headaches are other headlines about immigration calamities, some of which actually are holdovers from previous administrations.

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(c) 2018 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

 

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