The Separating of Immigrant Families

Tearing children away from their parents for the "crime" of wanting political asylum in the US is about a barbaric an action as I've seen performed by the US government in decades.

Worse is that the motive for this appears to be political leverage to get appropriations to build that idiotic border wall.

This is really unforgivable and worse is the litany of crap coming from administration officials. First we get told it isn't happening; then we get told it's happening but it's OK because it's legal; then we get told it's OK because it's justified in the Bible and finally Trump tells us it's all the Democrats fault.

Right wing pundits are tying themselves into knots. The wave followed the "no, it's all a lie by the media" party line then it morphed into something like "well, these people shouldn't be coming to the border so it's really their fault."

Then, the worst one, comes from a Fox & Friends host who says "And these are not -- like it or not, these aren't our kids. Show them compassion, but it's not like he is doing this to the people of Idaho or Texas."

WTF is wrong with these people?

Then of course there's the inevitable tu quoque whine of "well Obama did it too."

No, Obama didn't do it too and neither did Bush.

The Obama administration, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of illegal immigrants coming to the border from Central America, was putting whole families into detention centers until their case could be adjudicated by the courts but families were not broken up.

The problem was that the volume involved was so large that the wait stretched into months and the courts said that was unacceptable because there's this little thing about habeas corpus in the US Constitution.

So the policy was changed and people were released under the authority of the civil courts because entering the US illegally the first time is only a misdemeanor and the priority for deportation was given to people with felony convictions. Of course the problem with this "catch and release" approach was people often didn't show up for their civil hearing.

Trump's "zero tolerance" policy changed things and people trying to enter were arrested on criminal charges rather than civil charges. Essentially misdemeanors were promoted to the level of a felony.

Since you can't put children in adult jails, they were taken from their parents and put in detention centers.

Rightfully so there has been a firestorm over this.

The American Psychological Association sent a protest letter to the administration about the harm being done to children due to being separated forcibly from their parents.

All five surviving first ladies, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Rosalind Carter and even Trump's own wife have condemned the policy.

American and United Airlines have refused to fly immigrant children for the government after pressure from the airline attendants.

The King of Holland has condemned Trump.

The pope has condemned Trump.

 Any human being with an ounce of decency has condemned Trump.

 Anyone defending this policy should be ashamed of themselves.

Anyone remaining quiet about it should really look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves why this doesn't upset them?