https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/us-holding-families-in-custody-to-keep-others-from-crossing-the-border/2016/03/05/14fc9fb6-da6d-11e5-891a-4ed04f4213e8_story.html
I was going to post the picture of the little girl — Yeslin — crying from the article to this diary but I wasn’t sure if I’m allowed to do that with newspaper pictures. But I urge you to click the link and see what we’re doing to a 9 year old girl.
We keep detaining children and families to teach others a lesson. No one thinks that little Yeslin, the girl in the picture, is a terrorist or a threat to flee. Instead, the Obama administration has taken the position that we need to make examples of Yeslin and her family.
“We cannot send a message that once families with kids cross the border, they are here to stay,” a senior DHS official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity as a matter of department policy. “If many end up staying here indefinitely, the concern is that it will encourage further illegal immigration.”
Those comments are very similar to comments Secretary Clinton’s remarks on the issue.
"We have to send a clear message, just because your child gets across the border, that doesn't mean the child gets to stay," she said.
So to stop refugees from fleeing Central America, the Obama administration has kept that policy for the last two years and decided to treat immigrant children as prisoners. Which also violates the law.
In 2000, a law to protect smuggling victims required that many unaccompanied, undocumented minors be given shelter and a chance to seek permanent refuge. In 1997, a federal judge ruled in a lawsuit that such children may be detained only briefly and in the least-restrictive conditions.
The ACLU has challenged the family detention program the DHS has been using and the District Judge indicated that changes needed to be made although it is on appeal. So while changes haven’t happened yet, Yeslin gets punished. But, according to ICE, there is a way out.
Immigration officers at Berks have been advising mothers that there is one easy escape route available. Each time one requests medical help, saying she or her children are suffering from stress or sickness, she receives a reply suggesting that she ask her attorney to withdraw the motion to suspend the family’s deportation.In that case, the reply says, “arrangements can be made for your removal from the United States.”
God bless America, right?
So, what can we do? Well, several things. Clinton is likely the next US President so we should constantly push her to the left on immigration issues and hold her accountable for any promises she makes. Senator Reid has submitted a bill to give kids like Yeslin a lawyer (that’s right, she doesn’t have the right to one). And we should all support the ACLU by joining the organization that has constantly defended immigrants.
We should also remember that as bad as republicans are towards immigration, a lot of these problems are also created by democrats. Voting for democrats isn’t enough. We need to push democrats to stop the mass deportations and family detention. We need them to embrace refugees and asylum seekers. It isn’t simple enough to just blame the republicans on this issue — although it’s a lot of fun.