It’s time to give ICE & the Border Patrol real jobs. They must go to every upper middle class & upper class home with children. All parents (may be many as they are more apt to have had many marriages & divorces), relatives, teenage/adult children, employees, & hangers on criminally checked. If even one has any type of record, including misdemeanors, take all children under 21 & put them in the same detention centers the immigrant children are, dress them in the same clothing, feed them the same, drug them the same & tell the families they will not see, hear, or know anything about the children until all the immigrant children are back with parents. It’s only FAIR. Teens with records will be put with adult immigrants & not allowed out until every child is back with his/her parents.
It’s the government that is trafficking the immigrant children which is why some will remain missing forever. Oh, all government workers, volunteers, involved will have to give up their kids. What they are doing is criminal. Including agency directors & other managers.
10
This is so unacceptable I could spit. Which is not particularly "civil" but the Government's actions go far beyond "not civil" here. They reunited just half of the under 5 kids, and then at the last minute came up with this garbage excuse that all the other parents weren’t "fit" for reunification, including a number of cases where they won’t even say why?? WE'VE BEEN WATCHING, and it was obvious they weren’t going to meet the deadline. So this is how they deal with their incompetence, racism, and utter lack of caring for anything resembling the child's best interests? On top of requiring the parents to pay all transportation costs for reunification, and costs for DNA tests (which were supposedly donated?)...
8
This reads like a chapter of Margaret Atwood's book The Handmaid's Tale she wrote years ago about an authoritarian theocratic group of thugs purporting to govern .
I think the Trump "administration" had absolutely no plans to reunite these families and was caught off guard by the court order. I suppose the court has no power to levy a penalty against the government, but it would be some small recompense if the court were to levy a penalty of $1 million per day per separated child against trump's personal funds . The money could be used for reunification and as payment to the families for pain and suffering caused by this government .
Even people separated from their parents during the Nazi war years have spoken to the incredible pain, suffering and loss that they endured.
Trump is a monster . and for that matter, all those who enable him are monsters as well .
22
What’s the difference between a “migrant,” an “immigrant,” and an “illegal immigrant”?
6
The number of children who could not be reunited went from 19 to 46 over a few days. That’s suspicious. The administration was at risk of being in contempt of court, and this administration is not above lying about the criminal records of these parents.
On top of that, there are plenty of American kids who have been returned to their parents with prior criminal records.
Please get the records!
14
This is a government that is flailing around; its primary organizing principle (Trump and enablers) is rage and hurling around excessive hostility and weight everywhere. Godhelp all of us. These children are suffering long term, and for some, irreversible damage.
10
Eligible? Define 'eligible'.
5
A question for Times reporters: why don't those wanting asylum don't go to an American embassy? Isn't that the same as being on US soil?
6
The Children of the ICE Age are the proof of the cold cruelty of Trump and Trumpism. Some people like to see cruelty and will continue to vote for more of it. That cruelty will eventually be brought to bear against them. ICE is the harbinger of Trump's future brown shirts. Fascism has truly arrived, just the ICE Age kids.
11
The last line should read "...just ask the ICE Age kids."
1
NY Times, now that the Thai boys have been rescued from the cave, please return to giving top headlines and coverage to this story about the children our government kidnapped from their parents. Since when does being accused of a crime or having a communicable disease mean our government takes your children away? Public investigation and outcry must continue full volume until every one of these children is returned to his or her parents or the family member or caregiver the parent has chosen. Our government must be held accountable.
20
The Republican administration did not comply with the court order. What they've done with the children of asylum seekers is straight up kidnapping and abuse.
NYTimes has reported multiple parents saying border agents made threats like this:"The agents took William by force, Mr. Garrido said through tears, and told him the boy would be put up for adoption."www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/nyregion/immigrant-children-reunited.html
Now the Republican administration is merely making good on their threat to traumatize immigrant children.
For shame Miller, Nielsen, Kelly, Ryan, McConnell and others who approve this policy. Not only is it immoral, it's NOT keeping us safer, and in fact is more apt to create than solve security issues as taxpayer money is diverted from real security.
12
The word ‘humanitarian’ has absolutely no meaning to this administration.
2
I believe the administration's only goal here is to reaffirm the bias of their base that all would-be asylum seekers and illegal immigrants are criminals. The entire debacle is for some foreign made memes criticizing the parents and comparing Trump's wall with the Pearly Gates of Heaven of all pretenses. Keep the pressure on.
3
Mr Trump today mentioned his ancestry.
I detect a touch of an issue of unresolved issues concerning nativism and immigration.
My ancestry is stated in my nom de plume.
I am not across the details of the refugee crisis confronting the US however I offer these points for review.
Thanks to the free press which I pay for from the Antipodes NYT reports:
"Chicago Man Who Harassed Woman Over Puerto Rican Flag Shirt Is Charged With Hate Crimes"
What a good story which says the best about America.
Ms Merkel and Ms May are not ignorant of the supremacy of human value.
To be political NATO I assume has a view of history mindful of Naziism and Communism.
NATO troops are working with US troops internationally from Africa to the Middle East.
Australian and New Zealand troops not NATO members are in the scrum.
Perhaps we should inform Mr Trump that he should use his capacity as " a stable genius" to contain the chaos of criminal despots south of the Colorado River.
NATO members do not mention the fail of US policy that supports through inept inactivity the President to intervene in the human crises suffered south of Mexico where these dear people flee from.
To purport to solve the issues of Europe while ignoring your closest neighbors is very,very sad thing.
Yes very sad.
The report of the indignity reported globally headed "Chicago Man Who Harassed Woman Over Puerto Rican Flag Shirt Is Charged With Hate Crimes"".
I offer these points:
This is the reaction of a "well cared for" child: "The girl refuses to speak to her parents, or to her 2-year-old brother, who cries for her. The social worker assures Mr. Jacinto-Carrillo that Filomena is being well taken care for." A social worker saidvthis! Complicit in child abuse. I am angry about this and ashamed to call myself an American. Give the children back, at tax payers expense. The Government stole them now return them and pay for it.
10
@D Flinchum – None of what you say justifies kidnapping the children of would-be immigrants (whether illegal or not). None of what you say excuses withholding the kidnapped children from the adults who brought them to the U.S. border. All the kidnapped children should be returned.
2
This is intolerable. What's this malarkey about ineligibility? One more made up Trump administration excuse. There are many heads to fall!
2
Is this an accomplishment that we should be proud of? Really??
I sent a letter to my Representative asking him to end this injustice, requested a reply, none received, in over a month. If you had the same result with yours, publish their name.
Doug LaMalfa, shame on you!
7
You cannot believe a word that Trump or his administration says. This is too convenient for them. Trump accused ALL Mexican immigrants of being rapists and murderers at the beginning of his campaign.
The abusers are the Trump officials who kidnapped the children, put them in cages, left people in detention "ice boxes" (torture conditions), denied medical care to pregnant immigrant women who had miscarriages, and returned at least one baby to his mother 80 some days later having never bathed the child who also had lice.
Never, never believe Trump. Any accusations need proof. All parents and children need lawyers. Half of 3,000 children do not have parents who are abusers, kidnappers and murderers. That would be outside the bounds of any probabilities, and simply reflects the bigotry of Trump and his supporters.
6
I am so disappointed with the state's of TX, AZ, NY and many others, all of whom have state child protection agencies, all who KNOW they have terrorized kidnapped children residing in their states, and not one has done nothing to stop this abuse.
7
Both NYC & NYS have been quite vocal about their opposition to the federal agencies dealing with these matters operating in the city. Both Cuomo & DeBlasio have held multiple press conference condemning the practice, and both have visited the border as well.
What is a city or state leases supposed to do against the Federal government & its agencies? Throw the children out?
5
Trump's administration has committed crimes against humanity. Charges should be filed and people need to be jailed.
What a horrible and terrifying precedence this government has set.
12
Reforming our immigration laws is fine and dandy, but these laws and subsequent ones never contemplated nor would they ever contemplate kidnapping underage immigrants and/or asylum seekers. What kind of a country are we that this was allowed to happen? Are we so hamstrung that no one could say, wait, no, this is immoral, illegal? Who among us would ever allow our children to be handled so cruelly? I certainly wouldn't, nor would parents I know. I can just hear the 2020 presidential debates now. God willing it will be Mike Pence and some charismatic Democrat we can all get behind, and this nightmare will go down in the history of civilization as an aberrant time when madmen ruled.
2
Effectively, the Trump administration kidnapped these kids and will not release them to their parents.
1
People, I hope you’ll all remember this in November. And vote these horrible people and their enablers out of office!
12
Find the parents, reunite the families, no excuses
3
This is a ''government'' (loose term with this bunch) that is being run from the top down and by dictate and fiat.
It is putting the onus on all (babies, children, women, refugees, immigrants, minorities, Democrats, or anyone that opposes the oppressive and destructive radical policies) to use resources, time and money to take them to court over everything.
It could be economic, immigration, ecological or new radical right policies that go against people's unequivocal human rights, but the government is going to obfuscate at every turn, or even change the discussion. (even in court)
This is your gangster government.
7
incompetence plus simple hatred: the germans did their mass attacks far more efficiently
5
Return **all** the children. End the kidnapping.
kidnap – verb (used with object)
to steal, carry off, or abduct by force or fraud, especially for use as a hostage or to extract ransom.
5
First of all, children need a strong bond with their parents to have a good life. Let’s face it, even if you have a horrible parent that doesn’t help you survive or doesn’t provide for you without even trying, they are still your parents and you still have some love for them. Children under the age of five should not have to live in a foster home because their parent came to the United States to have a better life for them. That’s why the parents brought them over here, so I don’t understand why the government won’t allow them to return to their parents. All the parents of these young children want is to help their children have a good life; however, how can they do this if they are in a different country thousands of miles away from their children?This is why I believe that children should be reunited with their parents no matter the circumstance. Finally when we thought the government was going to fix all of this, they miss the deadline. They left hopefull parents in the dust when they did this. I strongly believe that even if a child’s parent is in a different country, has a criminal record, or whatever the circumstance is, they should still be reunited with their parents and quickly. ([email protected])
2
Very convenient for Trump and Co: they couldn't reunite the children they snatched from their parents in time to comply with the court-imposed deadline, so they just declare them ineligible. Their base is loving it. They all couldn't care less, after all the abused children are brown and poor.
10
I am so ashamed of the actions of the person in the Oval Office and his enablers in the administration. His actions are appalling
Yes, he and his administration will go down in history much worse than the time the Japanese Americans were moved to and detained in camps during the 40’s. Then, at least, families were kept together.
How could the Republicans in Congress have allowed this? Shame in McConnell, Ryan and their supporters!
9
Separating hundreds of children from their parents under circumstances where it may be impossible to reunite them in a timely manner or perhaps not even forever, this can only be described as an atrocity committed by the Trump administration.
5
The 2 Central Americans separated from their children in this article were young men, each traveling with a single child. There were 3 more young men traveling with single children in an article 2 days ago about family reunifications.
And maybe they really are "families fleeing gang violence."
But it's more likely they're economic colonists cynically exploiting helpless children to gain entry to a richer country.
Seriously, where are the mothers and the other children? What kind of monster would drag a five year old across 1,500 miles of hostile roads and deserts just to get himself a higher wage?
12
The Department of Homeland Security issues a briefing email every day. I strongly encourage everyone to subscribe to it and read it. One day this week, they broke down the status of children that had not been “reunited” with their “parents.” It is unacceptable to give custody to adults that have been convicted of murder, child cruelty, there are safety concerns, or the person is not their parent. People who actually care about the children would fully support this.
6
The incompetence angers and frustrates me but I will not allow it to distract me from the deeper problem, which is the cruel and inhumane policies that created this mess. Every minute that these children are still separated from their families is further traumatizing them and is morally wrong.
5
Nobody wants to see children returned to abusive parents, but can we really believe anything the Trump Administration says about this? They have lied so many times, that this seems like another smokescreen for having been cruel to begin with, and then stubborn and incompetent when they were caught out.
4
It seems to me that what is owed all these children and their parents is not just reuniting them, but making these people whole again. There is psychological damage so they are owed counselling at the very least. Their possessions were stolen from them at the border and thrown in the garbage. Threats were made about never seeing their children again, they were told lies in order to force compliance - in general everyone involved with this looks pretty despicable. A little compassion and respect, some transparency and honesty.
What, exactly, do they intend to do with the remaining children? It makes me profoundly uneasy that they are taking children away from their caretakers with - as far as we know - absolutely no idea what to do with them.
So on one side we treat them horrifically and send them back into danger, and on the other side we can't reunite children with their parents because we care about their welfare?
Please.
11
I don’t believe half are back with their Parents. I believe many more than 105 children are lost and that their many more than 3000 People in jail.
5
143 comments
none that's I've seen that say "they deserved it"
or "we stuck it to those illegal immigrants"
(even though crossing and requesting asylum is legal)
at least not today
maybe the "they deserved it" crowd has had a change of heart?
that would be nice
but it seems more likely
that they've just gone underground
2
What does the US government want with 3000 kids from south of the border? This is insane. Nobody thought about what happens next? Auction off the ones with good teeth who look strong and healthy? Has our government completely lost its collective mind?
10
The Trump administration has not just separated children from their parents, they have also separated Americans from their values.
10
Americans have done that for themselves. After all, we elected them.
1
It’s been reported we are paying $1billion a year to detain illegal immigrants. Think what that money could do for Americans.
8
I think the POTUS was right on the mark when he said, "we do not want folks coming to America illegally."
He added that they are all welcome provided they follow our laws like so many others including myself.
I wish folks commenting below and reporters would understand one simple fact: these folks are breaking our laws. And even if they are allowed to stay here - they will continue to live in shadows.
Their stay cannot be made legal because Congress has passed so many laws against hiring illegals and making them legal.
So, while one can feel sympathetic, we do disservice to these illegals by encouraging this law breaking behavior.
It gets them no where except to the purgatory of being illegals for rest of their lives.
The Washington Post just reported a story of an illegal couple - here for 20 years - whose son, born in USA - is serving in military. These parents were apprehended by military and turned over to ICE - there is nothing anybody can do as ICE is enforcing the laws.
So, folks - take a deep breath and realize that you are putting these folks in a Hobson's choice - where nothing good awaits them.
3
The government's justification for continued separation of children are both convenient and likely specious. A criminal record? For what crime? Jaywalking? Illegally entering the country? A traffic citation? Even murderers in this country who have served their sentences do not have their children removed from them.
And a communicable disease? Which one? Malaria and chlamydia are both communicable diseases but unlikely to be transmitted to a child. A common cold is a communicable disease but is itself trivial.
I do not trust this government. Judge Sabraw should designate a special master to oversee the reunification and make the process transparent. Trump and his minions apparently take great pleasure in the suffering of children not their own.
9
Eligible? That's irrelevant.
It's as if someone had said the Lindbergh baby wasn't eligivle for ransom.
The judge who made this decision must enforce it.
And fine and put in jail all the relevant personnel, government agencies and "caretakers."
6
Administration officials can do as they pleased and go against the court order and get away with it. Can we, as private citizens, do the same thing and get away with it also? Do they really think we believe their bogus excuse for not giving these little children back to their parents? I wonder what would they have done to President Obama, if he had taken children under 5 years of age from their parents and refused to reunite them with their parents, and called them ( ineligible) ?
4
You break it, you fix it. Trump, ICE, and the Department of Health and Human Services are responsible for reuniting every single separated child with his or her family. Period. 50% is not sufficient.
7
The government’s argument that they are protecting the children is rubbish. We should locate the parents, grandparents, or legal guardians, and reunite them with these children, even if that means flying them back to this country to be reunited. If our government really wanted to protect the children, they should never have split them apart.
Each of these cases should be handled in a court by a judge; if we need more judges, so be it. To take child’s parent, put he or she on a plane to be deported, and then send a small child hundreds of miles away to a foster home or detention is wrong, just plain wrong.
6
Presumably, it's "time-consuming" to fix the problem because some major donors to the Trump campaign are charging the U.S. government hundreds of dollars a night to cage and ignore each traumatized child.
Campaigns don't pay for themselves, you know.
9
So the same Trump administration that kidnapped the children to begin with declares more than half of them ineligible to be returned?
This is tyranny. Decisions about children should be made by the parents and family members, not by government officials who committed the atrocity. If a parent is sick, let that parent designate who the guardian should be. Accusations do not translate into crimes. Attorneys should be representing those parents. Efforts should be made to reach those already deported, and to prevent similar situations from developing.
Most families have grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings, godparents, and trusted friends that they would prefer to care for their children rather than some distant institution.
It is tyranny to say that the Trump administration gets to kidnap children, designate who is deemed to care for them, keep immigrants in unsafe detention centers where pregnant women have suffered miscarriages, and all the other violations of human rights that are ongoing.
Atrocities in America. They are growing. Trump sees his power as control and dominion over every living thing, whether it is children who are not his, women, the sick and disabled, the environment -- all is his to be harmed and destroyed according to his will. Atrocities in America do not make America great again. They destroy America.
13
Were we to take a cross-section of Americans, remove them from their children, and then determine if their parenting fits our definition of "sufficiently eligible...." well, that's just not going to happen. The results would be chaotic.
2
"The other 46 were deemed “ineligible” for return, they said."......Meaning there are 46 children who they were unable to return because they are so totally screwed up they have no idea how to locate their parents. Separating children from their parents; what a carefully planned well thought out approach to managing the border.
32
It seems like they are now asking for info on potentially undocumented household members, in a sick exchange for releasing children who never should have been separated and traumatized in the first place.
Can we please reform our immigration system, now? People here to work should be able to get work visas, pay taxes, and not have to hide in the shadows. Families fleeing violence should not need to risk incarceration and torture (family separation IS torture) just to get their cases heard. Who are we?
27
"Who are we?"
We are citizens, taxpayers and we do not want open borders.
People here to work should be our own citizens, not someone who sneaked across the border and started a family to gain citizenship.
Build the wall high and hire more ICE agents.
5
This focus on the southern border obscures the fact that most people here illegally have simply overstayed their visas.
3
America needs to make amends to these families. The entire family should become citizens, the children should receive free education, free college, and free counseling for the rest of their lives, because they're going to need it.
25
Forget Webster's Dictionary--New Revised Trump's Dictionary--
ineligible-immigrant who hasn't been traumatized enough or still has family waiting in US
eligible-immigrant who suffered irreparable damage from being held capital or has family that was forced to leave country
6
Definitions from Trump Dictionary --
Eligible--Tortured beyond repair--scars for life
Ineligible- Not Tortured Enough
8
These are the same mealy-mouthed arguments behind the government 's travel ban, this sudden need to "vet" everybody, when they've already had plenty of time to do so already. I say they're dragging their feet again, trying to pressure the parents to self-deport. That's been their stated goal all along, regardless of the lies they've told the court. They don't care a fig about these children; they just want them out of the country.
20
These are the same mealy-mouthed arguments behind the government 's travel ban, this sudden need to "vet" everybody, when they've already had plenty of time to do so. I say they're dragging their feet again, trying to pressure the parents to self-deport.
2
I think the title of this article should be “Slightly over half of the five years old were not reunited with their parents” if you really want to highlight this disgraceful incompetence of this administration.
22
I have to think of all those angry grandmothers in Argentine not so long ago...
12
This deplorable policy, added to the administration's strong-arm tactics to increase profits for the baby formula industry despite health risks (Trump Stance on Breast-Feeding and Formula Criticized by Medical Experts - July 9), yields one conclusion:
We are witnessing the Trump War on Children.
9
How many of those criminal convictions were for re-entering the US?
11
This is state-sponsored child kidnapping.
It happened in Argentina during the military regime in the 70's, hundreds of toddlers and babies taken from their parents because they were "subversive". Given away to "good families" that will raise them "right".
Fast forward 40 years, welcome to USA. I can't believe I have to relieve the horror.
All kids have rights under international law (never ratified by the USA...) Among them the right to a name and a nationality. Snatching kids and forcing them into the foster/adoption system is a violation of their rights: once they are adopted their true identity will be lost.
Migrant children are separated from their parents not because of neglect. They aren't orphans either.
But, as a society we are really comfortable giving them away to "good American parents", better than their poor, brown, migrant families, right? How many well-to-do couples and adoption agencies are benefiting from a sudden influx of "adoptable children"?
This is barbaric and will go down in history as a shameful time (along the Trail of Tears, slave trade, segregation, Japanese internment camps, and all other dark moments US history) Looks like the US is trying hard to see and raise Canada's forced adoptions and Australia's Stolen Generations.
Horror never goes away, keeps coming back in a different form to haunt some other group of brown people...
16
So does this mean that these 57 children 5 and under now qualify for DACA? If they are not going to be returned to their parents, this must be what they are planning. Now social security funds will have to be used to raise them, just like was done for poor Mr. Ryan
5
What we know about- what-will-go-down as one of the sorriest sagas on U.S. soil; is minuscule. The dribs &drabs of information from various sources provides a growing consensus that our nation's undertaking in thwarting illegal immigration has placed children front and center in a horrendous game of threats, coercion, profiteering and human kidnapping; Boko Haram lite.
As bad as it is now under the current administration; it did not start here. The Trump administration horror-show, added to the policies that the Obama administration added to; the policies that the Bush II administration crafted...
Creating a class of persona non grata of one ethnicity or religion has sadly- become the American norm [again].
5
The only reason given for separation was deterrence. Now there is a presumption of guilt until proven innocent before nearly half of the children can be reunited. There is something very wrong here. Every effort should be made to reunite families. They were never separated for cause. It is a malevolent policy carried out with gross incompetence. There was never any plan for reunification.
16
Nowhere is there any indication of a plan for these children. What will happen to them? Are they going to grow up in some private detention centers? Put into the foster care system until they’re 18, then deported? Where are all those people who say “every life needs to be protected” when the lives of these children are being damaged with no future in sight?
16
The reality is simple and disgusting. The ICE did *not* track parent/children relationship. Following the court order, their only option was to do DNA tests to fix a part of the mess. And then they find an excuse for all negative or inconclusive tests. So many officials lied in this story. This is a shame! Judge should order the US government to locate and reunite children of deported parent at US expense and reject the non re-unification decided unilaterally on dubious reasons. There are no words. Some people in this government or agencies should go to jail.
7
Eligible Children?
What makes a child eligible to be re-united with parents?
If there was ever an administration that should not utter the word eligible in any context, this one is it.
24
"In the worst-case scenario, children who are not reunited with their parents could become wardens of the state and put up for adoption."
This is an astonishing, outrageous, and fundamentally sinful testament to the ineptitude and heartlessness of this administration. Has America now sunk so low that we would permanently rip innocent children away from their families, and leave them in the hands of strangers? Not reuniting these children with their parents, however imperfect those parents may be, should never be an option.
14
That is simply not the reality of what happened. To adhere to this false history is willfully ignorant.
I question the decision to keep children separated from adults that they arrived with that are non-bio-parents.
How many kids are orphans, and show up with an Aunt, or Uncle?
How many kids show up with their Grandmother or Grandfather?
How many kids show up with an older Cousin?
How many kids show up without a bio-parent because one of their bio-parents isn't able to travel, so both bio-parents stay behind, and send their child to the US with another adult?
If a child comes from a large family, then there's every reason to consider that the family decided to send the child to the US with the adult that had the best chance of getting both of them here safely.
That would be a reasonable and loving choice for a bio-parent that could not travel, to make, especially in those situations where there's a threat to the child if they stay behind.
The assumption that any child arriving without a bio-parent is being kidnapped or trafficked doesn't hold up.
There is no excuse for inflicting more time in isolation on the child, separated from adult(s) they know and love and trust, just because that adult, that they arrived with, isn't a bio-parent.
The Judge needs to take over!
Chidren's services is punishing the adult, for not being a bio-parent, and punishing the child, for no reason.
Their attitude: THEY are children's services, and THEY work without any oversight, and THEY do whatever THEY want to do!
The Judge is the only person that can help these kids now.
23
The tragic, cruel and unlawful seizing of these children, and of older children, by our governmental officials has irreparably harmed them and their mothers and fathers. Even those who are reunited will continue to live in fear and trauma; one can only imagine the terrors of those who remain separated. Please let's keep this story prominent, so that the humane, decent, lawful thing can be done, if not by our government, then by individual lawyers and advocates who care about humanity. Regardless of one's religion, or absence of it, there is deep wisdom and truth in the words "There but for the grace of God..." We could be that parent; we could be that child. Who amongst us can even fathom the pain?
5
The order to reunite children does not distinguish between "eligible" and ineligible" children; the order applies to ALL children. Steve Miller, the architect of this odious policy should be held in contempt and jailed until the order is carried out to the letter.
24
Who would believe anything HHS said at this point!
21
I would think it would be very difficult for any government attorney with a conscience to show up in court and make this absurdly callous claim.
2
When they don’t lie this administration makes up creepy words to describe they cruel activities. Ineligible indeed. Fake for truth they don’t like and many, many, many more. Only by voting out Republicans this fall we have a chance to restore something great. And even then the crazy will keep their grasp for awhile. Stay buckled up and keep rising no matter where you are there’s a way to help stand up for truth, justice and against the cruel and power-mad Republicans in charge.
9
So heart wrenching for these children, for their families. Those who are lost , either parents or small children, are marked forever with this heinous separation. Countries between them, how can they ever find each other. Who, I intend to push on this point, who in the name of God is qualified to care for these motherless and fatherless infants and toddlers now? How were they chosen, qualified? Not at all would be my guess to care for frightening children, grieving and shocked from the loss of the parents they had known, their rightful parents. Remember the song, “sometimes I feel like a motherless child?” Now these extreme sadness works both ways ... motherless children and childless mothers. Inexcusable negligence by the U.S. government, cruel, sadistic.
15
Thank goodness for the work of the A.C.L.U. on behalf of those families and children
7
This entire despicable operation seems to be an exercise in “catch-22” solutions, allowing our government to spin it either way, depending on which voters want answers! Whatever our various buck-passing government agencies want to call this debacle, I call it kidnapping, child abuse, extortion, forcible internment without due process, and crimes against humanity. And the damage to these children and parents is permanent.
I don't believe open borders are the solution, but neither is swamp-monster brutality. An overhaul of immigration laws that address clear pathways for asylum, secure legal residence, and citizenship for family units that have already established their lives here would be a good start. Going forward, legal entry for newcomers is a separate issue, and likewise needs clear, consistent, and fair implementation that is not designed to sabotage success.
5
In what world is a child deemed "ineligible" of being reunited with its parent?
13
I don't believe for a second the claims that some of these parents aren't really their parents. Just because DNA "evidence" says that 20% of the claimed parents aren't really the parents, so what? DNA "evidence" was also used to try to frame OJ Simpson. It doesn't mean it was true. And just like the OJ set-up, we once more have a racist organization trying to use DNA "evidence" to get its depraved way.
And the same thing applies to the charges of sexual abuse, physical abuse, etc. These are clearly just attempts to smear these migrants, who have every right to live here. Does anyone really believe that a person could travel all the way from the jungles of Central America with children in tow, and intend to do anyone harm? It's absurd on its face, just like the idea that OJ Simpson could have killed the mother of his own children. But I guess such absurdities are possible in the hate-filled and racist minds of people like Trump and his minions!
I guess the one up-side to all of this is that they'll no longer finger print these parents, or send social workers to their homes to check on the safety of the children. Thank you, ACLU!
It is things like this, the finger-printing and the social visits, that can be used to falsely accuse someone like an OJ Simpson or an innocent migrant, and then charge them with something like murder, human trafficking, or physical and sexual abuse. It has to STOP!
4
I find myself having a hard time believing anything the government says about this. I'm also frustrated that a 'court order' means relatively little, maybe nothing. What happens when the government DOESN'T reunited these children? What happens when some of them end up being adopted for heavens sake? What happens when the government deports the parent and then uses that as an excuse NOT to give the children back? NOTHING. And the Trump administration gets exactly what it wanted, to terrorize already desperate people into thinking that coming to the US would be even worse than what they're already experiencing. It's a nauseating, despicable, cynical program and they are carrying it on with it with almost no resistance. For shame. If we can't secure our border without terrorizing LITTLE KIDS, who are we?
9
What crime was the parent accused to committing? Was it trying to cross the border "illegally"? These people are desperate and to compound their desperation with kidnapping their children is an unspeakable crime in itself.
16
Since they are desperate, it is ok to break the law. I am desperate for a cruise; is it ok to break the law to get it.
5
This mess is costing millions.
To all the Trumpsters that like that he is abusing asylum seekers, let me inform you that those millions could have been spent in your state to improve education or healthcare or infrastructure - but it is not. It is going to a few republican loyalists who pay slave wages to care for these kids and incarcerate their parents. Deplorable.
19
Don’t believe a word of what this administration says.
27
NYT, are you going to report on the denaturalization task force recently convened by Trump/Stephen Miller to examine citizens who were "fraudulently" naturalized?
6
Advocates for illegal aliens are OK with releasing children age five or younger into a household with criminals, as long as there is at least one adult in the household who does not have a criminal record.
Somehow, that doesn't sound like they have the intersts of the children uppermost in their priorities.
6
Let’s be crystal clear here. Our government never had any concern in the best interest of these children. It was all about Racism, power and control and deterrence. Such cruelty and inhumane practices are unimaginable and un-American.
3
No excuses. ICE frantically ran to obey Trump’s orders without any planning or consideration. Their preferred method was ASAP deportations - knowing there were kids involved.
They created the problem. They knew what they were doing. They own the solution. I frankly don’t care what it takes. Fix it!
7
Health and Human Services has no credibility left.
Parents have been deported without their children and now can't get them back? that's called K ID N A P P I N G.
11
The New York Times should correct the article, which says “About 3,000 children were separated from their parents by the Trump administration under a “zero-tolerance” border-enforcement program that resulted in the criminal prosecutions of their parents for illegal entry.” The children were actually separated from their parents to comply with a 2015 court order issued by Judge Folly Dolly Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. She ruled that migrant children apprehended crossing the border legally with their parents must be treated the same as unaccompanied children. She ruled they could not be held in custody but must be released to licensed child care centers operated by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. Judge Gee’s order was the reason—the only reason—migrant children were separated from parents. The article should refer to “children separated from their parents by a 2015 federal court order.”
4
Terrific comment.
Intelligent rational analysis based upon fact and law.
Of course this isn’t the false and emotional narrative the liberals want to promulgate - and so there’s no way it’ll ever be printed.
Illegal aliens, abortion, and demonizing white males and law enforcement are the Democrats’ war cry. When they fail to win Congress, and the Presidency in 2020, (both goals easily attained), they’ll wring their hands and wonder why.
1
"Or because their parents have been deported." Inexcusable.
17
Many children were sent to facilities thousands of miles away from their parents, and some are too young or scared to provide accurate information about their parents or their journeys. Incompetence with Capital "I". Why would you separate them before insuring you could put them back together. Morons! Even Disneyland could've done better with with their facial recognition process. They should've sent all immigrants to Disneyland--I swear no one would not have been lost and families kept intact. Obviously there is a seamless way to ID immigrants without abuse, severed family ties, or trauma--Evil Times Indeed
7
Either they know where the children are......
...... or they don't.
There is no "in-between".
So, if it is Option 1 and they DO know where the children are but for some reason they don't WANT to tell us where they are, then the United Nations needs to become involved. They have had decades of trying to find "disappeared children" from all over the world.
The Trump Government needs to be held responsible for hiding these children.
And, let's face it: They can't be far. Are they being sold to ISIS as sex slaves? Being "adopted" by Christian Households? Having medical experiments performed on them by a Mengeles?
Sorry - but I don't buy it that these children have simply disappeared off the face of the Earth.
They are somewhere and someone knows where.
Which brings us to Option 2: Or, they truly DON'T KNOW where the children are.
They have literally lost them.
Someone, someone in on the "process", has stolen them from the United States Government.
Swiped them from right under the noses of our Officials.
Who?
It has to be someone working there.
I recall reading that Southwest Key is slack on doing criminal checks on its people.
Has someone been using these places as a supply-line?
United Nations - we need you.
Please send the Blue Hats to investigate!
Jimmy Carter- I call on you, sir!
You are one of the few people that I would trust to solve this!
I beg you - help us!
14
I see no reason not to turn the entire matter over to the Thai who have an excellent recent record in REUNITING FAMILIES!
I doubt the Thai would require the parents to PAY for DNA testing or AIRFARES to get their children home.
We are in the hands of Nazis.
13
And yet again, we see trump and his disgusting sycophants (some in uniform) moving the goal post, changing the rules and blatantly disregarding the rule of law.
Trump Supporters: vile, shame filled human beings.
9
Why? Who benefits?
Private prison companies: Zero tolerance on immigration means big $$$$$$, as excuses are found to lock up every brown person in sight. But children--that complicates things. People get upset when you starve and abuse children. They'd have to upgrade conditions, which they're not going to do.
Evangelical adoption agencies: Just when the spigot of foreign adoptions seemed to be clogged, we have a big new source--children seized at the border. The less you know about their parents, the easier they are to farm out to those so-called "Christian" families who want more kids to convert.
And Trump, of course, in that his creepy base is overjoyed that these evil brown people are being punished.
If there is a God, we are in big trouble for this.
15
This above anything else will shift the balance in November. Voting for a Republican now means you love child abuse and you love hurting kids.
10
Since the US became a fascist country.
7
Given the illegal method used to arrest many (most) of those seeking asylum by physically blocking asylum-seekers from access to a "legal port of entry", so they had to report to a non-certified port of entry, most of the families and children "not qualified" are "not qualified" by deliberate Government fraud and lawbreaking.
Given the damage done to the children and parents and the utter callousness of the treatment of both.
The proper remedy in a lawful, Christian society should be:
1. Acknowledge that the policy was a deliberate act of terror against the most defenseless of people, to terrorize them into not using their legal right of asylum.
2. Drop the charges and "convictions" of all those blocked from use of a "legal port of entry".
3. Drop charges and "convictions" against those (some as young as 3) who had a few seconds to defend themselves without legal help.
4. Pay damages for the harm actively done.
5. Pay all costs of reunification.
6. Indite and prosecute those who committed acts of terror against children, who stole things like birth certificates from asylum seekers (and mothers of their children).
7. Offer comprehensive data tracking of all those arriving at the border. (The simple refusal to track parents and children because "more than one agency was involved" is itself an act of evil, possibly terror).
8. Purge the immigration and homeland security of those without decency who act lawlessly. Teach the remainder to obey laws, not edicts.
6
Why does the US have the right to determine AT ALL whether these are appropriate parents or guardians? Do we apply these standards to American parents? That they have no criminal record or other objectionable conduct? Hundreds of thousands of our own children would be summarily removed if that was the case! And where is the due process, those parent’s rights to a lawyer & a hearing? Or even the presence of those purported parents - who should be returned here promptly & at American expense? Why does any of this matter if there’s a parent-child bond, even if there’s no blood relationship?
8
What must the deportation authorities do or say when told by someone claiming to be a parent that they have been separated from their child? Do they simply say "tough luck"? Do they say "We'll send the child back soon, just leave us a forwarding address"? Do they demand the parent pay for the return trip of the child?
There must be regulations covering this situation--what are they and were they followed?
4
what will happen to these children? who is feeding and clothing them and looking to their education and emotional and physical well being? does the government mean to keep them as virtual prisoners until they are old enough to be transported back across the border? and which border? many of them are NOT from Mexico. I am so ashamed to be a US citizen right now. we have never been perfect, but I always felt at least on the whole we wanted to do right. now, I feel we are just doing wrong to do wrong.
14
Perhaps it is time to stop saying “we” have done this to these innocent families. Trump and Republicans have committed these crimes against humanity.
1
Doing the job correctly is much more important that doing it fast, and having a firm time frame that won't allow doing things correctly is bad. It will take as long as it does, not any time shorter.
6
Some children cannot be reunited with their parents because they were deported? Simple solution: Bring the parents back for their kids on the next flight. The planes are going to Central America full and returning empty now.
I believe the US owes these parents "bigly" for the damage done to their families. How about financial compensation? Or give them asylum....
15
How convenient that almost half the under 5 aged children officials couldn't meet the deadline for reunification- are suddenly deemed ineligible for reunification.
While I understand the Court's focus was getting children back with their parents; there were not "incentives" to compliance. Why were the no punitive measures applied; why no one held in Contempt?
Now. What?
12
Candlewick, I observed that several of the young children walking to the transport vehicle were wearing masks; it is probably the case that those little kids were being treated for tuberculosis, a very common disease in chaotic nations. Just maybe one should consider the many health issues those children brought with them, and yes our government invested our taxpayers money to treat them.
Gratitude, maybe.
16
“Eligible?” That would be all of them, right? Are they all reunited?
Liars.
6
All eligible? It's those the Trump Administration has not lost, and that is another issue that must and will be resolved. You don't rip children from the arms of their mothers and fathers and say we lost them. THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
14
Given the Trump administration's low bar for being “deportation worthy” (a single misdemeanor twenty years ago for Green card holders) I would take the criminal record with a grain of salt. Where is the evidence we are talking about abusers, murderers or worse. And accused not convicted.
As for relationships – non-genetic relationships that are valid include adoption, step parentage, legal guardianship, children who are products of extra-marital relationships by wives or ex-wives.
I would suggest that a lineup of mothers/fathers and another line of children – to see who smiles and runs to whom could be a reasonable way as establishing the relationship for many children 2-3 or older.
For the administration to claim that their main concern is child safety is beyond ironic since they invented and implemented this satanic plan without any concern about its damage to the children.
17
It's past time for sanctions to be applied for this administration's intentional and criminal mishandling of these children. Someone once said "Laws must be enforced".
7
What renders a child "ineligible" to be reunited with his or her parents? This episode is a stain on our nation. The whole world is watching.
10
Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions should be charged with kidnapping, illegally transporting underage children across state lines and child abuse. You would be so charged, why shouldn't they be charged?
21
So the U.S. kidnaps someone, deports the parents, and then says the parents can't have their child back? And the U.S. thinks this is OK?
25
So, let's suppose that a father brings the daughter he and his wife have raised to age 2, after his wife dies. Upon reaching the border, he is separated from his 2-year-old. DNA testing shows he's not the father. Little did he know, his wife was fooling around, and his daughter never was genetically his. Does he never get his daughter back?
And what does our government plan to do with these "ineligible" children? Keep them indefinitely as undocumented "children without a country"? When they reach adulthood, do they remain in custody?
What a wretched situation this administration has created.
23
This is great news.
I just wish, we liberals would care so much about our own impoverished children in the south, the Appalachians, metro cities and the deep midwest. There are kids sleeping hungry, being abused and facing a bleak future.
where's the press coverage for those?
33
American's children don't matter anymore. Nor do Americans in general.
31
You mean the children living in poverty all across the country, the ones in homeless shelters, sleeping on relatives' couches and floors; the kids going to bed hungry; the ones whose parents cannot afford medical or dental care for them when they need it; the ones whose schools are underfunded? Those children? Ask the Republicans in power federally and at the state level who have consistently cut funds for foodstamps, food pantries, public education, healthcare prigrams, homeless shelters, aid to dependent children, and public housing programs not to mention child welfare programs in general about those children.
17
"Two dozen children could not be returned because the parent had been deported.".....What is the definition of kidnapping? Isn't kidnapping an international crime?
"The government said that 22 of the children could not be placed back with their parents due to safety concerns.".....Should that be translated as the Government is still holding 22 children because they can't figure out who/where their parents are?
25
"Officials said 11 adults had serious criminal histories, including child cruelty, murder or human smuggling.
Seven were not determined to be a parent, one had a false birth certificate and one had allegedly abused the child.
Another planned to house the child with an adult charged with sexually abusing a child."...
Pasted from another website.
27
Thanks to Jeff Sessions for doing his job. I have been fingerprinted for every job I applied for and gave urine too.
Checking everyone who crosses the borders is the least our government can do to keep us safe.
15
Doesn't the government have an obligation to return children taken from parents who have been deported? Both the separation and the deportation are due to government actions.
16
If the parents have been deported, and the children are not Americans....on what moral grounds does the US government think it is okay not to spend the effort and money to track down their parents and send their children back? While it is unfortunate for the US tax payers to foot this bill, our government separated them in the first place.
23
"on what moral grounds does the US government think it is okay not to spend the effort and money to track down their parents and send their children back?"....I hope that is not a serious question. After separating them from their parents do you seriously think the government has no obligation to return them?
4
"It was later found that some of these UCAMs had been turned over into the hands of traffickers, gangs, criminals including child molesters, etc."....Making this kind of claim without supporting documentation is not credible.
8
Still Waiting, It would be best if the government sends every unaccompanied minor back to their home country; my daughter adopted three older American kids who would not have had a lot of good options had we not invested in them.
Send them back.
5
The sad fact is, there will be some children that are NEVER reunited with family for some reason or another. These children will be fostered and/or adopted by American families.
Stealing children... is America great again yet?
32
Trump and his Republican enablers are indulging in kidnapping and human trafficking. They kidnap the child, deport the child's parent, declare the child "unaccompanied" and make the child a "ward of the state." So the children have effectively been stolen from their parents, may never again see their parents, and are scarred for life. What is the Trump administration and the Republicans going to do with these children? Turn them into slaves of some sort? Raise them in concentration camps? This is the single most horrible moment in our history! Today, thanks to Trump and the Republicans who allow him to continue with his illegal activities, his lying, and his steady destruction of our nation, it is beyond embarrassing to be an American.
19
Seems pretty clear that 'ineligible' means lost. Talk about putting the cart before the horse, they had no plan to begin with. Yet another atrocity committed by the Trump Administration.
I've never been more embarrassed to be an American.
27
The efforts to degrade the morality of the civil service of Trump and his lackeys know no bounds. This Kafka-esque system is run by sadistic liers, who belong in jail for child abuse, not in high public office. The explanations of the Secretaries of DHS and HHS fall into the 'dog ate my homework' category, and are clearly inspired by the Orwellian Ministry of Truth that is the real Trumpian 'deep state.'
7
When the unaccompanied Central American minors first started arriving under the Obama admin, a number of children were sent to 'relatives' in the US (80% later were estimated to be here illegally) without adequate checks.
It was later found that some of these UCAMs had been turned over into the hands of traffickers, gangs, criminals including child molesters, etc. The rules were then wisely changed for tighter scrutiny. Who can argue with that?
It would be interesting to see how many of the current group of children turn out not to be traveling with parents. Because the drug cartels, who traffic both people and drugs, are the main suppliers of couriers for these 'families' through Mexico, it would be easy enough for them to play match-maker to supply a single adult with an unaccompanied child that they had 'acquired', perhaps to deliver illegally.
In a recent article in the NYT, the NYT quotes Guillermo T, an unemployed Guatemalan construction worker who recently arrived in Arizona with his 16-year-old daughter. “She was my passport,” he said. It is difficult to misconstrue this statement: Bringing a child is a free pass, as catch and release kicks in.
It would also be interesting to see how the children of catch and release fared after the family was released, but the likelihood of their showing up later for their court date is slender. They know the odds of getting asylum are slight and they disappear into the community.
38
Blacksburg,Virginia, truth to power!
A polished diamond, well spoken.
5
Thanks, JRS.
I didn't have room to elaborate above but 2 points that should be made:
1- If the cartels or their colleagues in the gangs really wanted to move a member into the US, pairing him with a child or mother and children would be the safest way to go with catch & release. Once released, he can go wherever he wants to. What would happen to the child he had been paired with is anybody's guess.
2- The cartels move people and drugs. If the Sinaloa Cartel has a significant load of drugs to move illegally into the US, what better way to make sure that the Border Patrol is kept busy in one place than to move a bunch of 'families' across in one place while moving the drugs over at another. The 'families' would tie up the BP for hours. Two sources of income for the cartels moved into the US at once. Just what we need...
The more you know about the big picture, the less you like catch & release and the whole border fiasco.
2
Absolutely, D Flinchum; how many people are used as mules to transport drugs, also.
It has happened that people swallow drugs for transport.
1
But what about all the other children, those over five years old? This country has a history of considering non-white children to not be children (ex: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/opinion/black-kids-discrimination.html), is that part of the reason why they aren't being returned as quickly? Because at age six, ten, or thirteen we don't view brown and black children as innocent and needing their parents? Hundreds of women (including myself) didn't get arrested in D.C. protesting this horrifying situation so only kids under five would be returned.
25
I would like this administration's definitions of "criminal record" and the parameters of "other criminal offenses" determining alleged ineligibility for family reunification.
I am highly suspicious of the validity of that claim.
And suppose the child came with a family member, not the parent?
Equally egregious--asking these refugees to pay even one penny for the process of uniting families and children.
Appalling doesn't even begin to cover it.
32
As someone else said elsewhere, and I concur
.....So domestic abuse is no longer a valid reason for asylum, but alleged domestic abuse is a valid reason to take a foreign born child from his parents and keep him in the US under different parentage? Makes sense.. NOT.
67
Oh, that's how the Trump administration will keep children in custody: quickly deport the parent back to their country of origin. Kind of a concentration camp solution.
“Sorry, kid, you can't see your mom. We deported her quickly and kept you locked up. You are only one year old, or two years? Too bad. Mr Trump is a tough guy and he's keeping you away from your mom to show his base he is so strong, kinda like that German guy.”
“First they came for the socialists....”
First they came for the migrant children...
77
No ,this is not "Kind of a concentration camp solution,"and I don't appreciate a reference to Adolph Hitler as "that German guy."
I have family members who were slaughtered by Hitler.
Not only is the comparison disturbing , but does not make sense .Small children were sent to the gas chamber immediately.
This is horrific. It is not the same as sending children or parents to the crematoria.
2
Oh I love the excuse that we can't reunite them because we already deported the parents! Stalin might have thought of this one! Sick!
99
I'm guessing that by "eligible" The Trumpkins mean "the ones we didn't lose track of."
56
Honestly, at this point who on earth could believe ANY report put out by this lying Trump administration?
They cannot provide numbers, locations or names because they never ever planned to return these children to their parents. They're just making this up as they go and the complicit cowardly GOP Congress are part of this inhumane travesty. How do they sleep at night?
88
Notice the administration’s use of the weasel word “eligible “. They’re still holding 57 toddlers from their parents, some of them having been deported, while they call others criminals. I call it kidnapping.
This whole episode is as badly managed as any thing could be.
For those of you who want to defend this atrocity, picture this. You’re visiting a foreign city with your family. Your toddler is jumping on the hotel room bed, falls off, and breaks her leg. You frantically bundle her into your rental car and rush her to the hospital. On the way you have a minor traffic accident. Rather than wait for the police you continue to the hospital. Once there you are arrested, charged with hit and run and your child is taken away from you because obviously you are a bad parent and now a jailed and accused criminal. Good luck.
29
Can the President and his implementors be charged with "child kidnapping?"
66
I'm sick at heart to be an American. I have not been so sick at heart since the Vietnam War era. I don't recognize this government or administration.
82
The former ICE director says that Trump officials "do not know the state laws dealing with unaccompanied minors, and that if parents of separated families have already been deported, the children become designated as an “unaccompanied minor” who then becomes a ward of the state. Many will never see their parents again."
These are the “ineligible” ones. And they became "ineligible" because Trump US policy changes had them appear in court, plead guilty and then shuffled over the border as quickly as possible. Some were in courts in groups of 6 or more. They were encouraged to plead guilty, or go to jail. The "whatever reason" is that they have been deported already. So who's fault is it that half of these children are now a ward of the state?
His advise: “So my recommendation would be - one is when the families arrive, put them on an ankle bracelet, but move their hearings along in an orderly fashion. I recognize that you need to hire more immigration judges. And, you know, Senator Ted Cruz actually introduced a bill specifically on this point calling for an increase of immigration judges and a focused docket that moves these cases along quickly. I think the president publicly dismissed the idea, but really that's on the right track. That's how you deal with this problem.
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/21/622361883/former-ice-director-says-some-m...
8
Honestly, at this point who on earth could believe ANY report put out by this lying Trump administration?
They cannot provide names, numbers, locations or because they never ever planned to return these children to their parents in the first place. HHS is just making all this up on the fly and the complicit cowardly GOP Congress is letting them get away with these crimes against humanity.
58
What are these "criminal records?" Parking tickets? Illegal border crossings? I have the sense that the government is STILL playing games.
69
The criminal records are most likely the guilty plea the parents were forced to make in court after they were separated from their children and locked up. Then after they plead guilty, they are deported, in which case, that leaves their child as a ward of the state. And the parent with a criminal record. Even if they were seeking asylum.
There should be an expose on the process of batch court cases that occurred with these asylum seekers. Several reports say that they were encouraged by officials to plead guilty or go to jail. If they plead guilty, then they get deported rather than jail.
5
This is baloney! It's an obvious cover up for the government not knowing where the children and/or their parents are.
44
Great. Now stop separating them. Keep the family together and deport them as a unit back to their home country to apply for asylum from there. We need an entirely new way to do this process. It was never meant to deal with wave after wave of people rushing the border, being let loose in the country to never show up for a hearing, while we have to sort out the millions of economic migrants from asylum seekers. The more we let in, the more will come. Central America has an endless supply of people with nothing to do. They will all come here if we don't change the system.
17
Families given due process show up for their hearings about 90% of the time. All of the families discussed in this article were applying for asylum and were fleeing for their lives from drug gangs that exist partly because of the demand for drugs in the US.
11
So they return just about half of the children by the deadline and conveniently claim they can’t/won’t return the rest because those families are not “eligible”? So they can claim they have done as ordered? Why do I not believe this?
44
Alexandra--Because no reasonable, observant citizen believes anything this "administration" tells us. They are liars, and criminals. Yes, kidnapping, and hostage taking, are crimes.
48
The defining moment in the 'deplorable' administration.
And for the citizenery that isn't outraged; that hurts just as much. It seems to be okay to be racist again.
Please, Mr. Mueller. We are counting on you to end this.
36
1) parents with criminal background can't get their kids:
meaning what? drug possession? drunk driving? failure to show at a hearing? possession of marijuana?
I would guess it's those kind of convictions that are keeping children from parents, which is wrong, especially if the person did their jail time, and got out.
If the crimes/convictions were truly serious, the parent would be in that category of "currently in jail for something other than immigration.
The "criminal" test doesn't hold up.
2) they can't reunite children with parents that have been deported - WOW, what a surprise, and what a lame excuse!
There wasn't any plan to reunite these children with their parents, and this situation makes that clear.
What are these parents supposed to do? Travel thousands of miles, and present themselves at the border, to be reunited with their children? Ridiculous!
The US government is responsible for this problem.
At the US government expense, these parents need:
- tickets to fly back to the US,
- visas so they can easily enter the US
- hotel rooms near their children
- and expedited the reunification
If the US has the money to pay ICE to rip children away from their parents, then the US has the money to pay for all the expenses of the parents that were deported without their children, to come back to the US and get the kids.
3) everyone who was caught in this debacle of "Zero-Tolerance" should sue the government!
29
Obviously children of deported parents need to be deported and reunited.
Why are we playing social worker? If a parent or non parent shows up at the border with a child and the adults are deported, why aren't the kids deported? Are we planning to "filter" the world's adults and parents who show up at the border, deporting the unfit adults but keeping the kids????
The only category of separations I can see is when the adult is a wanted criminal we plan to put in jail, requiring separation from the child.
7
Kurfco--So, exactly how many known, "wanted criminals" do you suppose are coming to our country from Central America? I would suggest that the correct number is exactly ZERO. They haven't even committed the misdemeanor of crossing the border illegally, since they were all seeking asylum, and were denied access at the official crossings, imprisoned, had their children kidnapped, and not given due process. THEIR constitutional, and international law, RIGHTS have been violated, by this criminal "administration."
16
My Republican-run government is just protecting the children from becoming victims of human trafficking. Some of those parents have criminal records, so everyone in their home must be investigated before exposing the little ones to bad behavior. Well, I think that's what's going on, but, hey, like Melania proclaimed, "I don't really care." Vote this year, and, if you have kids in college, tell them to not bother coming home at Thanksgiving if they haven't gotten registered and voted in November.
3
I think this is a LIE, pure and simple. These kidnappers are hiding children, and hiding the facts.
33
I agree with the decision. The USG is looking out for the safety of the child.
11
The crimes were committed by the kidnapper Trump administration, not by the idealistic migrant parents of innocent children. Therefore, as the real criminals, the U.S. government "Javerts" are ineligible to have custody of the migrant children and must return them immediately. Thank heaven for a few sane judges and the ACLU.
7
@Nativetex,
The relationship between the child and the parent must be established so that child is not placed on the cudtody of himan traffickers.Thank you.
1
This whole family separation thing was a royally stupid idea, and immigration is the only topic I ever find myself agreeing with Trump on.
For people like me who dont want to Abolish ICE or have open borders, this whole thing has made us look really bad. I was finally feeling good about telling my liberal friends what I really believe about immigration, which is that I believe we should have faster and more streamlined merit based immigration, e-verify, control of the borders, and then we can amnesty all the illegal immigrants after the borders are controlled. You could also see it in the almost uniform rejection of the NYT opinion pages daily sob story meant to make us support open borders.
Then Trump started this whole family separation thing. He really blew a lot of support amongst Independents like me and Democrats who want a sensible immigration policy.
I just hope he doesnt turn ideas like merit based immigration toxic. I would hate us to backlash into some crazy lefty version of immigration where a unhappy life is a valid claim of asylum all because Trump has a magic ability to turn sensible policy into racism and bigotry.
9
The U.S. government deported parents without first giving back their children ?
Isn't kidnapping a crime ?
108
Since when is having a criminal record an excuse to keep a child separated from a parent?
98
"safety concerns — because the parents had criminal records or because the federal government determined that the child was not related to the person they were with at the border"
I'm sorry, are you familiar with the criminal records of these individuals? I'm not. Additionally, if the adult isn't related, I'm confident that it's a pretty good idea to keep them separated. It was OK during other administrations, right Vanessa? Oh, you probably didn't concern yourself with such "trivial" matters under previous administrations.
7
Without specificity of WHAT type of criminal record, holding children back is just another delay tactic. If a criminal record, in general, was the limiting factor, a large number of citizens would have their children taken away.
14
Yes. If Jarad or Ivanka gets a traffic ticket, should we remove their children? As much as I find them odious, I would not want that either. I have morals.
And the parents who were deported, they were deported by the US Government - why does that make them ineligible to get their children back? In fact, the Government knows where they deported these parents, so they should contact them and arrange to send these infants and toddlers back to them accompanied by a trusted adult. Or is our Government (I would prefer to says "their" Government, but....) going to, in effect, kidnap these children and place them either in indefinite foster care or in permanent adoption? Ineligible?? Trump, Azar and their ilk are disgusting!
If the Government wants to claim that maybe these parents are not the parents, then give them a DNA test, and do the right thing. With all the Government's shameless assertions they are concerned about children being smuggled, they have not identified even one example out of the 3,000, where they discovered that a person claiming to be a parent was actually not a parent. Their propaganda would make Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbles proud.
9
So NOW we're ready to speed up the process? Good heavens, what were we waiting for?! This can't get more awful.
43
It can always get more awful
7
So why did it not do so two weeks ago upon first being ordered? This manifests not only the ruthlessness of Trump et al but also their utter hubris in dismissing the rule of law. And while children are daily becoming more traumatized and psychologically scarred for life, this Congress remains silent and complicit in this nation's profound bigotry and defiance of universal human rights. But wait...what about those thousands who remain loyal to this mad emperor in the Oval Office? Do they not share in this oppression of those Brown-skinned, Spanish-speaking victims of violence the likes of which we have not ourselves experienced? This America is not the one of my birth. And I will no longer be " politically correct" in my interactions with too many racists in my own community..and family. I think - I hope - I am not alone.
146
You are not alone.
4
Have no fear—you are not alone.
1
These children were forcibly separated from their parents by the US government. Now nearly half of these children under 5 years old are ineligible to be returned to their parents because
- the parents have been deported (sounds like kidnapping to me)
- the parent(s) have a criminal record (since when does having a criminal record make it ok to take your children away?)
This is a national disgrace. How can anyone claim that the court order has been complied with?
209
They have a criminal record because they were told to plead guilty after they were locked up and before they were deported.
6
This is totally unacceptable. Period!
4
For the government to complain that it’s “time consuming” is rich. It didn’t take them much time to kidnap and ship children around the country. As has been broadly noted, everyone knows you can track a package in this country better than these children have been tracked.
And please note that this is hardly good news. It means that all the children not “eligible” or who are only six and over are still being held.
196
Sarah--How much taxpayer money has been spent on this huge, unconstitutional debacle?
17
The term "eligible" hides many offenses in this case.
Trump and his minions must account for every one of the children stripped from their parents. The government must contact all of the parents--especially including those who were forced to plead guilty so they could get their children back, but were deported instead.
The US government has committed a crime against their own laws, and against humanity. They need to pay full expenses to children with the parents.
After the profound level of lying, incompetence, cruelty, lawlessness and deceit, it is well past time to pay the full cost of reunification.
1
46 will not be returned to their parents, "because the parents had criminal records or because the federal government determined that the child was not related to the person they were with at the border"
I'm sure that the Trump mis-administration would like us to believe that they are acting to protect these 46 children not being returned to their parents.
According to AG Sessions, all of the parents that entered illegally now have "criminal records." Given that logic, how can they claim that they can return some of the children, but not all whose parents have "criminal records"?
If the US gov't truly had a policy of separating children from parents with "criminal records", then social services would be very busy indeed separating millions of American children from their parents.
Just because a child is not related genetically to their parent does not mean they should be separated. Have they not heard of adoption?
159
"Just because a child is not related genetically to their parent does not mean they should be separated. Have they not heard of adoption?'
US adoption is also a rigged game $, invested in separating children from parents, so not the best example.
What are they going to do with the children of the alleged criminals? Send them into an already overcrowded foster care system, Deport them to their home country or just sell them to the highest bidder?
1
They've already deported these parents. They were separated, locked up, had batch court appearances, were told to plead guilty, and then escorted over the border. Now they have a criminal record. Even the ones seeking asylum.
Problem is, Trump's Team didn't know the legalities of getting "unaccompanied" children back to parents who are not in the US. They didn't know and they didn't care.
Melania's coat said it all folks.
282
So now people with criminal records should not be allowed to be with their children? What if they have served their time? What is the plan for these children?
The US government should bear the full expense of expediting the process of locating deported parents in their home countries, and reuniting their children with them immediately. Each case needs to be thoroughly and independently reviewed to ensure the deported parent was not mislead about signing deportation orders in order to be reunited with their children. Forbidding deportations under duress seems like a good piece of legislation if it does not already exist. These people are human beings!
117
The government has discovered that parents of many of the children taken at the border can't have them back because they're accused abusers, kidnappers and murderers. Further, some illegal alien adults are not the parents of the children in question.
Obviously the process of handling children of illegal aliens has room for improvement. But equally apparent is the fact that the parents of many of the children caught in this dilemma deserve some blame for sending their children unaccompanied, or accompanied by criminals or those pretending to be their parents.
As much as the media love to bash Trump, common sense must be applied. Anyone who suggests that children should, without thorough vetting, be turned over to people claiming to be their parents is delusional.
We Democrats are doomed to lose the mid-term and 2020 elections if we make open borders a plank in the Democratic platform.
77
"As much as the media love to bash Trump, common sense must be applied."......Common sense would dictate that separating children from their parents is a bad idea if not actually a criminal offense.
18
Common sense would tell us that you don't rip nursing infants off their mother's breast and then, lose the babies.
15
How about keeping children with the adults while the adults are being investigated? Under careful watch, no harm is done. Better that than separating them for little to no good reason.
I disagree that Democrats should abandon this issue lest they lose the election. On the contrary; this is just the issue upon which this country was founded. We’ll leave the curbing of moral authority to the Republicans.
7
So roughly half of the children under 5 can't be returned because the parent has been deported, or is in jail, or isn't really the parent? How can we know for sure? Come on, first the government misses the deadline, then suddenly declares that most of the children who remain can't be returned. It's awfully convenient, bundling up the rest, saying "There. Done. We complied."
And I'm sure what we can expect next is "Told you so--they were manipulating our system, and most of the kids were being trafficked or their parents are criminals."
The problem is, we don't dare believe what they say because their track record on the truth is beyond poor, and they have consistently shown they don't have these kids' best interests in mind.
200
"The problem is, we don't dare believe what they say because their track record on the truth is beyond poor"
I agree. But I can't help but remember the track record of this newspaper who introduced me to Judith Miller and her propaganda or how they seemed to have sat on the Harvey Weinstein story for a while.
So, I am left with two groups who have both lied to me now claiming that the other is lying to me.
5
And what will be your letter when and if a child is found to have been placed with a trafficker instead of a parent because you wanted an abbreviated procedure?
I fully agree with you about what the government "should have" done. But there are reasons why policy is not done in the subjunctive, and why having "these kids' best interests in mind" becomes complicated when a truly cruel move can't be easily undone.
Very few of the reporters covering this crisis have made it their business to understand all of the working pieces, and quite a few of them rely on people who are advocates -- read that they have a professional interest in some party, however justified or necessary -- to tell them "the news".
For instance, it is quite likely that Secretary Azar, no matter what you or I think of him, was telling the truth as far as he knew when he testified (he was under oath, the reporters and lawyers are not) that the reuniting would be a snap because of the records his organization had kept. It was quite a while later that it was found that CBP, not an organization he controls or necessarily has intimate knowledge of, had destroyed necessary records on the parents' side of the equation.
Furthermore, at least one statement right in this article here, the one starting with, "To speed up the reunions..." is likely not about the separated children but all of the children in shelter.
Yesterday, a journalist mischaracterized Flores on TV -- made stuff up. I knew. Did you?
2
Why is there not a national fund-raising effort, such as we have seen after natural disasters, to cover the cost of reuniting children with their already-deported parents? Or the cost of returning the wrongly deported parents to be reunited with their children here?
15