Don't you understand that for two decades this has been the law, repeatedly litigated to enforce it, by agencies dedicated to the protection of alien children?
How, at this stage of this issue, can you not know this? These are LIBERAL organizations who have brought this litigation. They settled with the government( after litigating for 9 years) in 1997. See the Flores case. It says that after 72 hours of detention, detained children must be sent to child-appropriate facilities [for their protection]. In 2016 the Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that Flores applies to alien minors both accompanied by parents and unaccompanied.
The liberal organizations who brought, and continue until this day to bring and seek enforcement of the Flores Settlement, are:
The Center for Human Rights and constitutional Law, and the National Center for Youth Law.
Google them.
Then google Flores Settlement of 1997 (Flores v Meese) and Flores v Lynch,, Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit , 2016, Judge Gee.
Instead of being " shocked" by readers, you might find yourself actually able to understand what is going on.
You will learn that Obama did they same thing as Trump, and that the courts struck his administration down as well when it detained families together longer than 20 days. Judge Gee forced Obama to release the children from their parents and into child-appropriate licensed facilities. And he complied too.
33
This picture just melts my heart....excellent photo journalism. I can barely look at the screen without crying or fighting the urge to smash my computer!
35
"forcibly removing children from migrant parents who had entered the country illegally" sounds dreadful, yes, but Obama did it too. They both did it because the law requires it, and if this article's writers do not know this, they should bone up, and if they do, you must judge for yourselves what sort of version of the truth you are being served here.
This is the language in the 1997 Flores Settlement, a litigation brought against the Government to protect children by insisting that they be removed from adult detention facilities:
“Following arrest, the INS shall hold minors in facilities that are safe and sanitary and that are consistent with the INS’s concern for the particular vulnerability of minors.” Id.
Within five days of arrest, the INS must transfer the minor to a non-secure, licensed facility;..."
And in 2015, Judge Gee told the very same thing to the Obama administration, which had also been sued for detaining families together longer than 20 days, the children must be released into child appropriate facilities.
So for your writers to refer to this legal requirement, at least twice insisted up by our courts, "forcibly removing children fro migrant parents" as if our two most recent presidents are ogres for following the law, is journalistic mal-practice in my book.
Next we read: 'Under that 'zero-tolerance' ..., thousands of children were sent to holding facilities, ..." as if this, too is cruel--yet this was made law for the protection of children.
22
I wish the children, American children, already in the countless foster homes, were as cared for. The reason for no touching is to try to prevent sexual assualt. Children are far more likely to be sexually abused in a foster home than in the general public. No touching also curbs physical abuse. Children are also far more likely to be physically abused in the foster system than in the general public. These kids spend years in the system while the courts and family services fight tooth and nail to keep them there instead of trying to get them back to their parents. At least these migrant children are being as protected as they possibly can be, and the ultimate goal is reuniting them with their parents. A majority of children are taken for neglect. This can be as simple as one parent admitting to smoking pot once in their life. This can also be justified by having your laundry a little spread out in the middle of the folding process. I have seen children taken away for the most ridiculous things, and as soon as they are taken from the home, family services immediately begins the process of fostering them out. Where is the outrage for these kids?
27
It is shocking to see so many New York Times readers finding ways to justify this calculated cruelty to children. I always thought American culture and generosity would never endorse such a monstrous policy which tramples human decency and compassion. If the child victim is not blamed, then the child's parents are faulted for daring to run daunting risks in order to escape violence and withering poverty, and seek a better life. How dare they be so presumptuous?
Too many comments can be reduced to the argument that these prison-like US detention centers are better than the conditions these families are fleeing. Undoubtedly true, apart from the psychological scarring of family separation. But at the same time, that observation oddly doesn't prevent faulting the family for trying to escape.
Then some argue that US detention facilities are not nearly so bad as were German concentration camps. And that too is true, of course. But that hardly justifies such an orgy of self-congratulation that some seem desperately to need to counter the callousness of their argument.
This entire immigration episode certainly makes the collapse of German moral decency in the 'thirties much more understandable. All the Leader has to do is whip up anxiety and resentment are fear, along with some scapegoating and racist xenophobia. Add a generous dose of lies and distortions. And you have the new Republican "populism." Thank you, Mr. Trump.
95
“Do unto others as you as have them do unto you.” - Jesus Christ. I am not a religious person but repeatedly told this to my son from early childhood on. It’s a very simple concept really and a good rule to live by. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of sadistic players in these confinement facilities. I cannot understand how others would treat others, and especially children this way. It is cruel, scarring and despicable. It is immoral and cruel. And what motivates others to be cruel? The horrifying thing is that cruelty is on the rise in the United States. Beat up a Mexican man in his nineties. No problem. Shout and berate a Muslim woman on a bus in Staten Island. No problem. Sadly it was not suprising to read this happened in Staten Island rather than the other four boroughs. The Jews said “never forget” but sadly this is being forgotten. The “others” in the United States are being demonized and that is how it starts. Dear cruel citizens, have you no shame? Didn’t your parents bring you up to be better than that. Apparently not. And Israel where is your admonishment of this behavior occurring in the US? It’s related to what happened to the Jews in Germany but I suppose moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem cancelled out the bigger picture here. And I was proponent of Israel but not so much anymore. To me they have sold their soul to get that Embassy.
54
we are a disgrace to humanity, just like all of the others.
41
Dear Southern Boy,
Let's send authorities to your area and pick up all local "American-born" families who are using illegal drugs. (Hey, they are breaking the law daily!) Let's separate the kids and fly them to different states and keep them from parents for months. This would dismantle the current process but it would "send a message" to those pill heads!
Would that upset you? Hard for me to tell when a good Ol' boy starts to actually feel empathy. You let me know, ya hear?
A former Southern Girl
56
"At the intake area of the facility, which seemed to accommodate about 300 girls — some of them pregnant — she was given some clothes and a piece of paper with a number on it."
Ah, yes. The continuing lunacy of Birthright Citizenship getting ready to work its magic, creating US citizens of kids whose mother is in detention for illegally entering this country.
26
More “heartrending” stories about how “sweet, innocent, law-abiding, peaceful” illegal aliens are being treated badly by those mean-spirited Republicans enforcing legally enacted laws and court orders.
Please keep publishing these stories about how American taxpayers should pay even more taxes to assure as many illegal aliens as possible invade America to drive down wages.
Please keep publishing these stories about how American taxpayers must pay even more taxes to educate and care for any child from any poor country that shows up at our border demanding free education, medical care and housing.
Please keep demanding taxpayers subsidize everyone else in the world instead of caring for our own kids, our own citizens, and our own country.
Then wonder why Republicans gain Congressional seats in the upcoming election.
26
Here we go again.. the sad, lonely eyes photograph - America is a demon because of Trump .. Bla Bla Bla Bla .. Obama did the same thing and nobody said a word.. Liberal Hypocrites! Every last one of you!
25
Get Real. This is Trump's baby. "Zero Tolerance".
Own it. It is right up there with the 178% tariff on the sorghum in my mom's tiny farm.
52
I'm heartbroken and disgusted by what has happened and has still not ended. This is inhumane. This was put in place as a deterrent. How unbelievably cruel. To all the commentators who are blaming the parents of the migrant children for trying to bring them to safety and are overwhelmed by the generosity of the accommodations provided the children we have ripped from their parents - shame on you. Who told you you are deserving of a good life and no one else is. You were lucky to be born here - you did nothing to deserve or earn it.
51
Our ancestors took great risks in coming to America, a new country with an uncertain future and very few assurances in life. The greatest risks produce the greatest reward...or ruin, depending on the outcome. Those who immigrated here took those risks and their children deserve to reap the rewards. While we do allow refugees and asylum seekers, we're not obligated to take in everyone. This would threaten stability and lead to resentment among the locals. Given the limited resources we have to help new immigrants assimilate, we may even be doing them a disservice if we take in too many. Why am I referring to mass immigration? Because soft policies that don't deter illegal immigrants provide incentive for many more to come. Combined with our broken immigration system and the existence of sanctuary cities, those who come illegally are likely to stay and bring their extended family through chain migration. We need to secure our border, expand e-Verify, reform temporary working visas, and institute a merit-based immigration system.
21
No hugging of one's brothers and sisters? Puritans are insane. I cannot begin to tell you how much this infuriates me. My German mother lost and Uncle to the Camps in WW2 because he married a Jew. She lost all of her cousins on that side of the family. Once the Rule of Law is re-established in this country racist Trump Cult will be made to pay for their Crimes Against Humanity. "I was only following orders" is no excuse. They think they are immune because Trump pardons Oregon arsonist ranchers. They think they will have a coup once Trump is impeached. The babble on their chat boards about how easy it will be because 'Libtards' are unarmed 'sheeple' who will be easy to herd into concentration camps. Think again Bubba.
9
I guess it’s all a matter of opinion but I was raised from a small child with these same rules , washing the toilets and many other tasks which included a lot of manual labor. Today I own a successful business that employs over fifty people. My opinion is that they came from a much harsher situation than they are in now ! Discipline made me who I am today ! I do wish though that were not separated from there parents!!!
24
They're little children alone in a foreign country, separated from theirs mothers and fathers. I don't the toilet cleaning lesson will be enough to encourage them to start a business.
38
Every time I read a story like this, or watch Trump bloviate in-front of a mass of white faces with red caps I feel physically ill. November can't come soon enough.
38
Seeking asylum is certainly legal, as it should be.
Except that identity-peddlers and venue shopping immigration lawyers have made a mockery out of the UN Convention in the US. Economic migrants from Guatemala and elsewhere are taught to claim asylum for "domestic abuse" or because of high general crime in their home countries.
Such claims have been tried in other countries and are routinely rejected in Canada, while Britain officially deems them incompatible with the UN Convention. In Australia, anyone who enters the country illegally is deported and barred from the system forever, even if they have a legitimate asylum claim.
This is an insult to real asylum seekers and to legal immigrants.
19
When you're life depends upon it, you tend to ignore the niceties of legal immigration.
Incidentally, I would like to point out that while all the "white" countries in Europe and North America complain about "illegal immigration" there are 2,500,000 Syrian Refugees in Turkey and well over a Million in Jordan.
Neither of these economies have the the kind of resources that Canada or the United States have.
Its time we pulled our weight in compassion.
It would be ironic if at some time in the future where there was a civil war in Canada or the United States and refugee's came poring over the border of looking for sanctuary and we refused our cousins on the basis of "illegal immigration".
This is a shameful time for the Caucasian race.
7
Isn't that what they're supposed to do.or, are they letting Americans into Mexico to clean the bathrooms down there .there's not many.
6
Trump's War on Children
His administration is also strong-arming nations to promote baby formula, instead of healthier breast milk.
It's heartless.
It's gross incompetence.
It's greed run amok.
It's Trumps War on Children
40
Where was the selective leftist outrage when Obama put the illegal kids in cages and covered them with tin foil or deported 2 million illegals? This is political selective outrage.
22
CC: Check your facts. People pay taxes on food, retail items, etc. That is not nothing in towns.
In Colorado they could not get ANYONE to pick potatoes in one farming town- why, because picking vegetables, fruit, etc is HARD WORK and the locals quit after a few hours. Fruit orchards in the NW had fruit just rot. Why? Because no one picked it. The GOP has yet to make a boarding house for working men or bus locals to available slaughter house jobs for anyone, much less hungry Americans. Where is Trump's American factory for American workers??
My point is to replace Congress with people who actually problem solve.
25
I guess if we can't have slaves, we must make do with illegal "immigrants". Is that your case for not enforcing our laws?
2
As a teacher of 30 years, if this is making America great again, I am not sure I want to be a part of it for much longer. I only hope we can right these wrongs, and quickly.
41
If my 11-year old son were to be put through this by any country in the world, I would hate that country. I can just imagine what we are cultivating in the populations to the south of us and what would happen if any of these kids becomes a politician, guerrilla commander, etc.
46
Correct head line
Cleaning Toilets, Following Rules: An illegal Migrant's Child Days in Detention
What's left out makes all the difference.
Legal immigrants are tired of people jumping to the head of the line - in which they patiently waited sometimes for years
26
For the person that said that the centers are "free day care for foreign kids," I don't even know what to say in response -- it could be possibly the most absurd and heartless comparison ever made. Do you know that kids in day cares get picked up by their parents/loved ones every day? These kids have been SEPARATED from their families, snatched away and have absolutely no idea when or if they'll reunite. They are not allowed to receive hugs, love, compassion, or consolation through this terrifying and disorienting experience. How do you not see this as cruelty?
45
If an American citizen paid human smugglers to traffic their children a thousand miles through the desert with god knows who else in the group, they would be charged with endangerment and DCF would remove them from parents custody.
Why are illegal migrants held to different legal standards than citizens who would easily be prosecuted for the same actions?
28
CNNNNC, some people use pity and sad faces as a very productive foil to the rule of law.
Not buying it.
8
This act perpetrated by our President is beyond evil. May The Lord give him the inner light to do right by all men, women and children here and everywhere rather than tear the helpless from those who love them.
There must be some reason for his having been elected, but I cannot see it, Lord. May I see your light and understand and put my mind at ease.
19
Here’s a handy way to excuse your country from moral blame in this mess and place the blame on others:
“It’s the parents’ fault for sneaking their children over the border into our country, knowing full well that the United States does the following to undocumented immigrant children - _______________.”
Now let’s fill in the blank. “Tears their toenails off.” “Boils them to death in hot water.” “Flays them alive.” Hey folks, isn’t this fun, getting America off the hook for its moral misdeeds by blaming immigrant parents?
22
Horrible injustice the parents of these children have wrought upon their innocent children. Message to Mexicans....stay in your country or apply for legal immigration. If you come here illegally, all bets are off.
21
The world has at least two billion "children".
How many are entitled to come to the USA?
Come on now, all you sympathizers.
Cough up a number. A hard number. An overall total hard number. And then live with the controls that are required to limit the overall total number of "migrant" children to that number. Or, if you can't manage to put your mind on a number, then fess up and tell us that you want us to agree that we must accept however many want to come here, or however many are dragged along by their parents who also want to come here and who also number in the billions and who shamelessly put their children in peril and then trot them out as their anchor ticket to stay here.
23
It's not a matter of numerical limits. It's a matter of how many are in danger as a result of U.S. meddling in their countries' affairs.
You could start with El Salvador, Guatemala an Honduras.
I wonder what would happen if the children of Iraq could make their way here.
23
What monsters Nielsen, Azar, Sessions are.
They need to be fired immediately and prosecuted for crimes again these children. And, then they need to be put in cages.
Just monsters.
31
President Trump’s government would NEVER have done the horrible things documented in this report to WHITE children.
And, this USA government-sanctioned abuse of children has been going on for over 4 months?
If you aren’t feeling any shame for this mistreatment of children, then (to quote one of President Trump’s economic appointees) “there’s a special place in hell for you.”
That goes double for those of you who sat out the election and couldn’t vote for the lesser of two evils in 2016. Sickening.
30
@Kooper - It's very depressing. These are the same people that during the time of the Vietnam War and Kent State, would have joined in the despicable discussion at that time that tried to make those innocent students somehow guilty and, therefore, make their killing somehow justifiable. It really is a horrible side of human nature.
13
If we just shrug our shoulders and say it’s the Trump Administration what are we supposed to do? How is that different from the average German citizen in 1941? It’s Hitler’s administration what are we supposed to do? Yes, I know it is a shaky analogy but at its very base there is no difference. We can watch, moan and groan and shake our heads in disgust but unless we vote the current administration out of office, first in Congress then the Executive Branch, we will become the true deplorables.
25
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke. I would add that denial may be worse than doing nothing.
Maybe 77 year’s worth? Just imagine what Hitler could have done with computerized automation. We’ve taken it way past gas chambers all the way to the totally inhuman GPS monitoring ankle bracelet. Should we be likening those to the stars of David pinned to their chests? It’s as if we all crave to find a way to go back to the past, even if that means one we shouldn’t want to. Sorry, Neil, but I don’t see how this kind of talk helps get kids back into the arms of their mothers. And with it the wall Democrats are building between themselves and Republicans on this issue will make anything built along the border look insignificant and possibly only insure a worse fate for asylum seekers trapped on the other side of it.
2
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke. I would add that denial may be worse than doing nothing.
William: That Bush and Obama did it doesn't make it right. Kind of like: "Look Mom, He did it first!" Did your parents buy that lame excuse for bad behavior.
How can any human being think this is okay? These kids will carry this with them their entire lives.
21
Oh, the horror of doing chores and having to follow rules with your safety in mind (e.g. not touching other children). The reality is that these children have councilors to help them with trauma. They have pizza and movie nights. They have their own beds, usually in large rooms that are decorated with things that kids enjoy. They even have councils of kids that can petition to receive things (usually more movies). This is not a bad environment for them no matter how much the media wants you to think it is. Separations are for their own benefit, and help prevent human trafficking (several thousand kids were trafficked in the US under Obama due to proper vetting, and this is well documented). If anything, the Trump administration is doing too much, and at the taxpayers expense.
19
My Texas dad gave us a penny a pound to dig crabgrass out of the yard- that doesnt mean you can generalize "chores" to workable US immigration policy.
You are going to pay plenty more because Trump's idea of governing is throwing stuff at the wall, separating kids with no plan, flying them everywhere, and losing track of their parents. He has had 2 years to come up with some "genius" plan that apparently consists of Nothing + Chaos+ Taxpayers $$$. Melania summed up their Master Plan as I Really Don't Care, Do U?
29
Keith, you mean those despots from the American banana republics?
2
Among Trump supporters, is there anyone who supports this treatment of children? This is a perfect way to create hatred for the U. S., not just for holding center personnel but for everyone in this rapidly disintegrating country. What a horror!
Here's the hatred of mankind-- towards those who, from an accident of birth, in this country or elsewhere - need help. No one can help his/her place of birth. And children? What choices can they make? Punish the innocent and destruction must come for the punishers.
18
Just take gander at the two comments previous to yours. They love it. ‘Poor children have to do their chores.’ I wish Trump supporters could have their children placed in this wonderful detention with ‘pizza and movie nights’. Just depressing that these are our fellow citizens.
26
Migrant children are not the problem. A lack of love and compassion is the problem. We have become a country that prioritizes money, wealth and power over human beings. We have been divided by a lack of love and respect for each other and locking up children is the result. We do not have to continue this policy or any other that harms people. All it takes is for people to stand up for each other and take some action to make things better. And vote. I hope everyone who cares about these children will vote in November.
20
Bear in mind, C, that both sides vote. The more each side enrages and insults each other, maybe it is possible to get actually everyone to vote. My fear is that it will reveal something of us that we might rather not know.
2
"No hugging,"even between siblings, sums up American values right now. If my son and daughter were in the same situation, and adults did not let them hug, Jesus Christ!
25
Sarah, I know these are emotional times but try and be realistic. If you walked into your child’s classroom at school and there was some strange adult hugging your child you’d freak out and probably file charges. Guardian adults by law are not allowed to touch children in this kind of manner. The same laws that are designed to keep your kids safe remain in effect regardless. This is just the reality of the world we live in.
6
Absolutely not acceptable. I couldn't bear to see my 3 year old granddaughter taken away from me by strangers to a strange hall.
21
A 3 year old separated from her mother for 3 months, no writing, no mail, do not touch brothers or sisters. There is only one word to describe this "barbaric".
32
Poor little children. Have to do chores, follow rules and be accountable after breaking into our country. They are living better in our Shelter Camps than the did in their home country or being preyed upon living on the streets.
19
What strikes me most about so many of the comments I read here today is the complete detachment from reality. No public bureaucracy I’ve ever worked for has been able to replicate mother’s home cooking by a long shot, yet that’s what so many commenters are appalled by the fact that they can’t and their implication is it’s because they don’t want to. If that were true and I worked at one of these facilities I’d go home each day feeling like a child abuser. Hopefully all of those who do have the good sense not to read The NY Times and its comments. Stay focused on the kids and not what the public thinks of you. I’ve learned that from years as a public school teacher in East Los Angeles who works with poor, non-English speaking immigrant school kids every day. They just want you to care for them and don’t care about every politically correct tangent the removed public goes off on.
14
Yet, 40 million American citizens live in poverty.
Close the doors, care for poverty ridden citizens ignored by the politicians and the media, except to cast blame on them for being poor and because those citizens speak English.
27
Are you imagining that the GOP cares about poor people- of any country?? Please. Stop the unicorns.
At least you get tax cash from tax-paying immigrants.
It will make sense when you are in a nursing home paying 10K a month for "memory care" and there is no staff.
27
40 million American live in poverty because of the institutionalized inequality in which the wealthy get enormous tax breaks and the minimum wage is criminally low. The country is set up to maintain the poor in poverty. It has NOTHING to do with immigration. Immigrants are demonized by trump and his gang in order to make them scapegoats for a horrible economic system on which they had no influence.
25
@Kay Johnson, A majority of illegals get paid in cash, under the table and untaxed. And if your family is hungry it is hard to understand that an illegal family means more.
3
Now I'm confused. We've been up in arms about this because we thought that these kids were "unacompanied" only because they were separated from their parents by border authorities.
But this article says that some of the boys crossed with their parents, but most came by themselves.
23
It says nothing of the kind. All these kids have parents they were separated from.
8
Spring, and very careful editing will insure that you remain confused, rest assured. Time to just surrender and spare yourself the futile struggle.
12
Fire Safety?
I have not read anywhere about basic fire safety inspections. Imagine the chaos if one of these larger converted warehouses had even a small fire in the middle of the night.
A slightly balky emergency lighting system, combined with an inadequate &/or under trained staff would be a disaster. 500 deaths because they couldn't carry & or lead out the younger kids kindergarten style.
15
My God, what a heartbreaking story.
At least cattle can huddle together for
reassurance, solace and comfort.
I am dumbstruck with sadness.
31
Thank you for this beautiful analogy.
7
Are you even a teacher? I am, and we don't have rules that say children can't hug or stand next to each other or hold hands. Not letting the children hug each other only harms them.
10
Yes, I am a teacher/speech language pathologist.
1
You mean that the kids have rules and have to do chores, like my kids? Golly the horror. We made our two kids do chores too including cleaning the bathroom, scrubbing sinks & toilets and, shockingly, we enforced a bedtime until they were in their teens. They also took out trash, ran vacuum cleaners, dusted, and my son in particular helped in the yard with mowing & weeding. Both are now successful adults with bright futures ahead of them.
Certainly I'd rather not see these children in detention centers under US laws that have been established for decades. I'd rather their homelands were not tinpot dictatorships that do a better job of creating poverty & refugees than they do prosperity & wealth. The solution starts in their homelands - fix your problems so they don't become America's problems. And if you want to come here, do it legally.
But please don't bemoan the kids having to do chores. If more American kids were forced to do them, we'd probably have more graduates & successful adults.
29
Keith in Pittsburgh:
It's not the "chores".
They've been TAKEN from their parents.
Do you copy that?
2
A swing and a solid miss.
The Trump immigration policy of chaos and family separation is the issue, not "tough parenting practices in Pittsburgh" making it about the imposed fiction of suburban kids taking out the trash as some sort of model for a 3 year olds who don't know where their mom is and who is currently living in a kennel.
We are talking about so-called adult politicians we taxpayers PAY and this is the pitiful whiff they improvised with string and spit as policy. After years and years. Maybe the 3 year olds can come up with a sane US immigration policy.
6
Keith, I am so glad to read your post. You are certainly a voice of reason and sanity.
1
The illegal immigration stories only help Trump. By keeping the focus on illegal immigration, we are NOT talking about the Russia probe and the threat to our national security by the Administration. We are not talking about the dismantling of the healthcare protections for the middle class, or the self-dealing by the President, or the tax shift in favor of the super rich and real estate moguls.
The media frenzy pandering to the fringe illegal immigration advocates is the Left's equivalent of the Right's outrage about the cattle rancher Cliven Bundy. In both cases we are dealing with people who clearly break the law of the land, and somehow they and their supporters feel entitled to do so. I am curious, what exactly is the Democrats' solution to the problem of millions of illegal economic migrants crossing the border, or to the issue of almost 6% of the US population residing in the country illegally? It's not enough to criticize or be "anti-Trump," the Democratic Party needs to offer solutions which appeal to the majority of voters, not just immigration lawyers or identity-based special interests.
The problem for the Democrats is that most of the country strongly opposes illegal immigration and Trump has tapped into that sentiment. The fringe Left's echo chamber is oblivious to this fact and if illegal immigration stays on the top burner in November, there may well be another round of cries of surprise and misguided outrage from the Left.
27
It's ALL about illegals, immigrants, DACA and refugees, all day, every day. Nothing else matters.
11
The Health and Human Services centers for migrant children operated the same way under the Bush and Obama administration as they now operate under the Trump administration. They were created to comply with the 1997 Flores Settlement, which determined migrants children could not be held in custody. Until 2015, only unaccompanied children who crossed the border alone were sent to the centers, but in 2015 a federal judge ruled the Flores Settlement applied to accompanied children as well as unaccompanied children. So beginning in 2015 migrant children whose parents were held in custody were also sent to the center in compliance with the court order. The centers give the children a safe place to stay until they can be placed with a parents, relatives or guardians. Most stay for about two months.
18
True, William Case, and processing and caring for border crossers AT THE BORDER, cost Americans 1 billion dollars a year before they are let loose in the country and the real cost escalate.
Too bad Trump is blowing his 2020 election and the Democrats are off the rail and obsessed with illegal immigration; citizens are toast because we will have no one to speak for us.
4
Every day we see less and less on this story. Thanks, NYTimes.
In my mind this policy and its execution meet the legal definition of kidnapping. Can't someone bring charges against Nielson, Azar, Sessions, Trump, Kelly?
Where are the whistleblowers -- the contract employees in these facilities who have quit rather than be complicit in this kidnapping and cruelty?
It can happen here.
It has happened here.
13
Thank you for publishing this piece. This necessary truth is horrifying and heartbreaking.
19
No touching or hugs amongst toddlers - or children of any age - creates dissociation and alienation that fuels future terroristic and criminal behavior. I am shocked at this cruelty and, frankly, legislated insanity.
45
I guess it's true that no good deed goes unpunished. Here we have a half dozen failed states at our border. ALL these people would come to the US if they could. We are under no obligation whatsoever to accept legal immigrants, let alone the illegal ones sneaking in.
Instead of simply turning them back, we listen to their claims and give them their opportunity to see a judge. While the parents are detained the kids are cared for in group homes, where they have to (horrors!) clean the bathroom. You don't care for the reception you get when you illegally cross the border? Don't come.
25
I'm outraged over having to pay for the detention, reunification, and future care of children and their parents who should not be in the country. The fraud being perpetuated by these people on the American people is where the outrage should center.
33
Or pay the lifetime healthcare and current salaries of decades of GOP Congress people who have sat on their cans and NOT solved a solvable problem, while stirring the garbage on the bottom to fundraise.
Sticking a kid in a kennel is called Epic Fail as policy.
38
Perhaps all these conniving children could be declared indentured servants until they repay all the costs of their care,etc.
I too am outraged that President Trump has managed in eighteen months to totally destroy the orderly processes of the Administrative Branch of our government
13
Bush and Obama followed the (1997 Flores) court ruling also. If you don’t like our laws, tell your Congress Reps to change them. We are a nation of laws.
3
These crimes should be prosecuted in the International Court of Justice. This is systematic child abuse of children selected by ethnic origin. Forced child labor, barring human physical touch...have we not learned from the damage inflicted on children in the Balkans and other unenlightened primitive states? Yes. That is who we are. It is what we have become. And it should be stopped and the perpetrators brought to justice. Or is the rest of the world going to show as much spine as the Republican Party? We have helped the world innumerable times in our history. It is time for the world to help us.
20
These abusive actions to Children and Families may deter people from crossing , but it will create Thousands of families and Children to Grow and hate the USA. This Administrations lives by saying "The ends justify the means."
14
Regardless of your political affiliation, imagine how you would want your child or grandchild treated if they had to be separated from you for some reason for any period of time. imagine how you or they would feel not knowing where you are and you not knowing where they are. Now when you read the story replace the names of the children with the names of children you love.
22
The children would not have been separated from their parents had their parents not attempted to cross into the USA without the proper authorization. Thank you.
27
Dear Southern Boy,
Persons seeking refuge from the murderous situations in their home countries need no "authorization" to cross a border. The U.S. is a signatory to international law which allows asylum.
23
These children are being punished for having done nothing wrong. Their lives are being structured almost as if they were violent delinquents.
What part of "parens" (in "parens patriae") does the Trump/Pence regime not understand? I sure am glad that my parents weren't Republicans!
So, BRAVO to the children mooing and giggling in the night -- what an excellent act of connecting to one another and showing defiance to their oppressors.
19
Really tired of the unending discussions of this topic from only one perspective. These are folks who broke the law and entered a country illegally. How about blaming the criminal parents for involving their children in a criminal act? Nowhere in the world does a criminal get to bring his/her child into prison with them.
The obvious answer is to follow the established procedure for entering the US legally. I am sorry if your country is a bad place, there are lots of bad places around the world and we can't take in everyone who is unhappy with their situation.
As for dumping ICE and immigration policies, you will be very sad and angry if we have open borders. A country is sovereign and must control the comings and goings of non-citizens. Just look at what has happened in Europe with open borders.
21
Asking for asylum is not illegal.
Undocumented entry into the USA is a misdemeanor.
The USA has never just taken everyone in, whether undocumented or asylum seekers.
Over the decades, American interventionist policies have helped to create those "bad" places... so, are you saying that we shouldn't be held accountable for our part???
I don't know of any legitimate reports that state people are asking for wide open borders, just humane immigration policies, practices, and procedures.
PBS has had a few documentaries on the Betrayal of America's Immigrants since the mid-1990s. I'm not sure if the 1990s doc is still available, but it looked at the repercussions after Welfare Reform and was an eye-opener.
14
How a government treats its very young and very old will determine what kind of government we have. Right now, we have a fish that stinks from the head.
20
Our entire society is going to pay for this.
'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'
It's interesting that the 'BIBLE" followers of Trump think this is what these people deserve.
As I said, we will pay for this.
21
If this is acceptable to you, than anything is. If you can justify this, than you can justify anything. And I mean anything. The victimization of innocent children, as a so called "deterrent", is indicative of what this country stands for when people like Trump, his supporters, and the modern GOP are allowed to have their way. Who knows what kind of moral depravity they will engage in next, all in the name of "necessity"?
Stay tuned...
21
summer camp immediately is knowingly creepy, however giftedly obtained. Steer towards the complete lack of compassion. If there ever was a dark dark state it is the lack of lack of backbone or any other body part of Congress, that balance.. in our democracy
5
Heart breaking. And who thought up these rules? Prison wardens? People who have neither children nor conscience?
12
I will forever remember Trump, GOP, and his supporters who have let this atrocity happen.
12
So now some people are attempting to compare this to slavery? Some of you need to brush up on American history. Slaves were put in chains and dragged here or they were put in chains and forced to be slaves in their own native country. They didn't have any choices about where they wanted to go or a group of lawyers monitoring their treatment. The fact that you don't know the difference is exactly why the democratic party has lost so many Black voters and lost Native American votes a long time ago.
15
No- were comparing it to prison.
10
*we’re
Imagine, all this could be avoided if the patents entered the US legally. It is like a game now. Touch US soil and a lifetime of welfare and benefits await you. Imagine never having to work for the rest of your miserable life and get better health care than that of a citizen. STOP THE BENEFITS and they will stop coming.
19
This is bizarrely untrue. fyi: there are a LOT of US military on food stamps.
If you are going to post, then look up actual stats- immigrants start their own businesses at a higher rate and have a lower crime rate than citizens.
There isnt an excuse for just making up "your own facts" anymore with a computer at your fingertips.
24
For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to be an American. This administration has robbed me and many other Americans of one of our greatest joys. The concept of using mental abuse of innocent children as a strategic deterrent to those seeking asylum could only come from a monstrous ego with no capacity for empathy.
17
Kindergarten Guantanamo.
Using people's love of their children as a deterrent for migration (often from a bad place to a hope of a better future) : shameful.
Calling this kind of detention an "act of generosity" : sarcasm on a Dickensian scale.
28
Right on the money, Michael! Barbara Jordan saw it coming and introduced a framework, from number recommended for entry to dealing with the necessary deportations, only to be soundly ignored. The American taxpayers continue to pay (literally and figuratively) for the ignorance and indifference of our leaders that continue to promote importing Central American poverty as a responsible immigration policy. Enough.
14
Why are these children being treated like this? Why can't siblings touch each other, or a friend hug a friend? Why are the children cleaning toilets, etc? This prison-like environment is harmful to the children. It is not like going to camp! I understand it is not easy for the employees but making a child wait when he has to go to the bathroom, because he is not allowed to go alone, is ridiculous! As an American,I am ashamed of the way immigrants are being treated. Is this us,Mrs. Trump, "Being Best"? No, we are being beasts. Shame on everyone who haas played a part in this crime against these children and their families. They should have to stay in these "shelters" for a week, but of course that will never happen. If Trump and his minions gets their way, many of us will soon be in concentration camps because we despise him. If you think that's an exaggeration, I suggest everyone read Sinclair Lewis' book, It Can't Happen Here. Because it can! I am praying for a Doremus Jessup to save us!
10
Should we just open up our border, let anyone in, no questions asked? What is the purpose of a border?
My parents emigrated from war-torn eastern Europe legally through formal procedures, became naturalized citizens, and then both became productive scientists until retirement. Should that procedure be overturned? I incidentally vote Democrat always, same as my parents.
If you would say no, we cannot have an open border, then what is your solution? I do not hear anything but empty raging at the Republicans. Be constructive.
Why do not Latino refugees attempt to relocate to relatively sane prosperous countries with the same language, such as Mexico and Costa Rica? I do not hear the outcry from these countries. Why do not the refugees resettle there? Why is it the United States’ sole responsibility to absorb the tired poor? Again, crickets.
16
Today, there are no "formal procedures" for poor refugees from Latin America to enter the US and become "naturalized citizens". Do you think such desperate people pleading for asylum at our borders were too lazy to submit the proper paperwork? We recognized earlier crises in "war-torn" Eastern Europe, starvation in Ireland, persecution in Russia or Cuba and authorized special procedures to receive those refugees. It could be done again in a country as wealthy as ours.
8
Those kids sure are cute aren't they? Mooing and cracking themselves up. Here's what Canada wants to reside in their country.... 1. A profession that they need, such as Doctor, Chemical engineer, Teacher. 2. Start a new business with 400k and hire 5 employees. 3. Speak English and French. No? Then go back where you came from. Seeking asylum? You have a 1 in 6 chance of being allowed to stay. It's sad to see these kids upset. It's sad they can't hug each other. Our preschool doesn't allow touching either. "Hands to yourself" they always say. We just passed a huge property tax to give free preschool to everyone that makes less than 40k. You don't even have to be a legal citizen. Great!
13
In response to Golf pork: what you are describing is Canada's economic immigration system, which has nothing to do with Canada's asylum system. People seeking asylum in Canada do not need to speak English or French, or have a certain income, etc. They do need to demonstrate that they are genuine refugees. Interestingly, Canada had had a surge of asylum claimants coming from the US in the past 2 years.
7
The US laws they learn need to be the ones that led to their incarceration.
5
On Friday, July 13 this is what happened when RAICES volunteers arrived at a detention center in TX to aid asylum seekers:
"This morning our staff and volunteer pro bono attorneys arrived at the Karnes detention center to meet with clients and were told they couldn’t meet with anyone as Karnes was empty. Around 3:45pm two of our pro bono attorneys watched as a bus was loaded at Karnes with mothers and children.
Having been lied to all day, they decided to follow the bus from Karnes to see where they were being transferred to. An hour in to the drive they call our Comms Director to let her know they had been pulled over by 3 state troopers in SUV’s for “illegally” following the bus and demanded to see their client lists. They were held for 15 minutes by police, and now continue to follow the bus which looks to be headed to Dilley detention center."
11
I scrub toilets. Democrats want someone else to do this. I follow rules. Democrats ignore them. I learn every day. Democrats wish to remain in darkness.
If these children are being mistreated, I am mistreating myself.
These children are pawns others, including their parents, use to play our failed immigration system. Once again Democrats are using high handed language to avoid hard realities of the need to fix US immigration laws.
18
I wish that the NY Times editors would do a better job of vetting their "illegal immigrant" label. Unless you know their history, you can't know if they are legally seeking asylum, or are merely trying to relocate. That said, with our reputation of immigrant abuse, odds are that almost all of the current immigrants are here to escape a deadly environment in their native countries.
12
US history repeats itself. This description sounds like Indian boarding schools, Japanese- American and Aleut internment camps. the horror of kidnapping and selling African and enslaved children.
Another current version of family separation. is mass incarceration primarily of Black and brown peoples.
Each of us must say enough! Not in my name. Contact your representatives at all levels of government. Stand in protest and bear witness.speak about this as often as possible. Educate yourself and your children about the full history of the US. Whatever way we can. What will you do? What will I do?
14
Gotta hand it to the GOP. Charge the taxpayers $775 a night per abused child and make it sound like we all just won a contest.
12
These children will be shaped and harmed their entire lives by this incarceration. I know: for 5 years I was in an orphanage, with some of the same rules, lining up for meals, classes, mass; cleaning jobs, including bathrooms and toilets; and so forth. Luckily, I was watched over and taught by Ursuline nuns, and came away with a solid foundation of morals. These kids will go through life believing they are different, and less. That our government policy is doing this is shameful and disgraceful.
15
What is this horror?! It’s crimes against humanity that’s what.
Trump and his lieutenants must be held accountable.
12
Why do we even have to compare this with Nazi Germany? Isn't it bad enough just to say this is not what our country is about? of course it's not as bad as... whatever a worse thing is, but it's still inhumane and unacceptable. I don't care who these children are or how they got here, they should be treated with dignity and respect. (and hugging as much as they want!)
8
The centers operate just as they did under previously administrations. About 90 percent of the children are unaccompanied children who crossed the border alone. The centers are not detention centers. The children are not in custody. They can leave if they want, but virtually all stay until they can be placed with parents, relatives, family friends or other guardian. Do you think they should be abandoned to the streets to cope for themselves?
9
That is not the problem. It is the 10 percent that is the problem. Our president is so evil. He has no respect for families. His remarks in Europe outright prove he is racist. Claiming that immigration is corrupting the US & EU. I would love to know how many work visas he gets for his hotels & golf resorts are held by people of color? He has lied even about his immigrant heritage claiming to be Swedish. He goes to Russia , doesn't care they have been criminally charged with espionage against us. Lock him up!
6
Trump's senior (sadistic) advisors, Stephen Miller and John Lewis as well as members of the Faux News reporters (so-called) had a heavy hand in designing this destructive inhumane tragedy that will be an even larger stain on the U.S. history than the detention of Japanese American citizens and their families. At least those children had their parents and siblings to cling to so as to weather them thru that horrific experience.
Shame on Trump and his minions and most of all on the Congressional majority who sit by and allow this evil to persist.
13
This photo is haunting. The trauma is palpable. And worst of all, Adan Galicia Lopez's separation from his family was entirely unnecessary.
13
From Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”:
Scrooge: “Are there no prisons”
1st Collector: “Plenty of prisons.”
Scrooge: “And the union workhouses - are they still in operation?
1st Collector: “They are. I wish I could say they were not.”
Written in 1843. Thank goodness those days are behind us.
6
Of all the 7.6 billion human earth inhabitants, we will assume that all caring and responsible parents will not put their kids in danger. Crossing illegally to another country is considered a crime and if a family with kids decide to do this, they are placing their kids in danger.
The issue today is that our southern border must be protected. What needs to be done when an illegal immigrant family with kids is captured at the border, then the entire family (parents and kids) must be returned to their country (TOGETHER).
We should ask why this problem exists. God gave all men in this world intelligence. 03/12/2013 - Asian countries outperform the rest of the world in the OECD’s latest PISA survey, which evaluates the knowledge and skills of the world’s 15-year-olds. The OECD’s PISA 2012 tested more than 510,000 students in 65 countries and economies on math, reading and science. The main focus was on math.
U.S. did not come in first. To have a decent living environment do kids from all countries of the world need to come to the Canadian border, or Mexican border and sneak into the U.S. in order to succeed? No, shame on all countries who are forcing their people to become illegal immigrants in the U.S. These countries governments need to make plenty of jobs for their people, education, good health care, housing, and clean air and water. Why do most governments not care for the needs of their own people?
12
Let's ask some more questions.
God also gave us Reagan who gave South America right wing dictators and then armed them against their own populations.
Now why did He do a thing like that?
11
You may want to remember that many of these people were in danger where they were. They made a treacherous journey to a country that is supposed to represent hope to protect their children.
You may also want to remember that almost all Americans came from somewhere else, many of them greeted by a statue that says, "give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore." Unless you are a native American, I assume your family did.
Certainly mine did when they escaped Fascist Italy in 1939.
The Statue of Liberty doesn't mention math scores. By your logic, perhaps we should add that. Or take it down.
12
Who are these shameful countries? Well one of them is clearly the U.S. given thousands of asylum seekers are crossing the U.S. into Canada daily.
Disgraceful. Appalling. Heartbreaking. Embarrassing. Cruel. Inhumane. What has this country become, and who are the citizens who condone this? Endorse this? Demand this?Approve of this? The lack of compassion, the lack of empathy, the utter lack of any humanity, is beyond comprehension. I grieve for these children. For their families. For this nation. If this is our future, it is vey bleak, indeed. Downright dystopian.
14
The Trump administration should be charged with kidnapping plain and simple. One charge for each child taken from its parents.
11
As far as I can tell; There were no plans to reunite families! Parents were deported without their children! This administration has proven itself to be a monster. It's too horrible for words.
14
A school for future terrorists who won't forget the way they were treated as children by Estados Unidos de America, the country that taught them to hate it so that they'll never want to return. But a few of them will.
5
The seeding ground for future M13 members. GOP whatever you set out to do, counterproductive results occur.
7
Empathy, putting yourself in these children's shoes, feeling their sorrow, pain, and consternation in being whisked off to USA-sponsored child concentration camps, not knowing when or if you will ever see family and home again. How can this be? What happened to America, the last refuge found by our ancestors, the reason most of the rest of us are here? Empathy does not exit in the Trump era of bigotry, greed, and mefirstism.
12
As I was reading this article only one word came into my mind - barbaric.
10
As if it wasn't already inhumane enough to separate these children from their parents and to jail them in detention centers, the Trump administration devises rules of conduct forbidding them from touching one another. What kind of people are running this country? Their appalling, sickening, monstrous behavior will forever stain our country's soul. Trump and his ilk must be expelled.
12
The abomination of Trump and the GOP. Please everyone, vote them out in 2018!
12
Please inform us of what happened to infants, babies, who were in arms with migrants. What happened to them? New borns up to at least 6 months. They need parent. What did the officials do with these babies? Thank youfor your coverage so far.
11
A year ago when I and others were talking about 1930s Germany as a warning model for what was happening in our country, one of the arguments we made was that this was a country that had already shown it could get at least halfway there with the internment of the Japanese in WW II - but (I thought) even that couldn't really happen in these modern times.
Yet here we are, and as with every other previously unimaginable atrocity committed by this monster who receives the approval of 80% of Republicans, it is children we're doing to this to. In cages. Stolen from their parents.
Of course, we won't take this as far as they did in Germany. Right?
Hint: it happens incrementally, sneaks up on you, fueled by lies and the repetition of depiction of others as vermin.
16
All these innocent children would qualify as human trafficking victims. And our malevolent government should be viewed as their chief trafficker. Trump the Terrible and every member of his contemptible administration must be held accountable for their criminal victimization of these vulnerable children and their parents. No justice, no peace.
7
May told him not to put children in cages, but he wouldn't listen.
6
These are “essentially summer camps,” says Fox Prop's Laura Ingraham, who for some reason hasn't quit in shame or been fired in disgrace.
Summer camps where you don't know if you'll see your parents again. Summer camps where you can't even touch your siblings. Summer camps where you work as a cleaner. Summer camps where you are forcibly dragged around if you get upset.
And _still_ people post comments saying this is fine, because their parents might have committed some legal misdemeanor.
12
If ever there were to be a press conference at which the senior director of the shelter were questioned, it might be a medical/psychological marker to know how many of the children are bed-wetters.
3
The children mentioned here can at least talk. What about the babies still being breast fed by their mothers, having been separated from them.
In addition, the most brutal separation of children happened when their parents were told that the children were going to get a shower and never returned.
If that doesn't wring a bell, what does?
30
Exactly. At least these older children can try to be “brave” and have some understanding and hope, even though it is horrific. The youngest children have no idea what has happened. The babies, toddlers and preschoolers must be absolutely terrified.
4
Children hug. What cruelty it is to forbid touch. The standard for humane treatment is well known and not on this slippery slope. The only worthy comparisons are in the craven chapters of history.
19
To compare this scenario to Nazi camps is offensive and insulting to the people who suffered and died in Nazi camps. These kids are being fed, they receive schooling, necessary medical attention and they have a clean bed to sleep in.
Definitely beats starving or dying on the streets, doesn't it?!
9
How would YOU feel if your children were forcibly taken from you and put in one of these "camps?"
2
My son and his wife are elementary school teachers are not allowed to touch their students. unfortunately, there is areason.
7
Thank you for this realistic view. We cannot allow ourselves to think this is the norm now and that it is acceptable because "their basic needs are being taken care of." To turn a blind eye to what happened and how these families were separated will allow it to happen again.
No matter your stand on illegal immigration, this is not America.
19
Following rules? Cleaning toilets? You mean the kind of stuff school students in Japan and other countries do on a daily basis? Well, one consolation that comes to mind, if infinitesimally small: These kids won't be affected by the negative consequences of having hyper-involved and constantly present helicopter parents. This one would fall under the psychological microscope of banished or exiled parents!
14
The childen in Japan and some other countries do have to do some or all of these tasks, but when they go home, the are in the care of their parents or others who love them. These children have no home or parent to go to.
6
I'm willing to bet that Drumpf didn't think this particular evil up on his own. Which tells me that the malevolence and sadism of this administration goes deeper than the Oval Office. It won't be enough to impeach him; Pence is a strange, warped creature himself and would continue this madness. We need to get tough with all of them: vote the Republicans out of office at all levels, reform and monitor the election process (including getting rid of the electoral college and go to a strictly popular vote system) so they can't cheat their way into office again.
24
So many of us are appalled and saddened by this lack of basic humanity by our government. Yet we do nothing more than pour our emotions into well crafted comments to news paper articles. Where is the call to action? Why are there no marches? why are we not in front of these facilities demanding the release of the children? Can we get 3 outraged citizens for every child, help find the parents and demand the release?
Inhumanity persists in the face of inactivity.
13
Just not being touched is a hugely damaging experience for a child. It will take a long time for these abused children to recover...if they can. There will always be scars. There should be a class action lawsuit against the masters doing this. I know there will be no appropriate criminal action taken.
19
From your safe place, all touching is appropriate. However, if you've ever been involved with kids as a teacher, (it's starts early these day, even in pre K, but especially middle school students), regulation of touching is essential due to keeping kids under control and offenders/victims apart; which includes bugging, threats, assaults and of course, just plain, flat out sexual grabbing.
6
Such a heartbreaking story, and a lasting stain for the United States. How far we have fallen from the values of the Greatest Generation. Did they save the world from tyranny only to watch us turn back to the same kind of brutal inhumanity within 75 years?
7
Where's was your outrage in 2014 . "On Fox News Sunday, former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said that under the Barack Obama administration, they did detain some children alone and some families together, two policies for which Donald Trump has been widely blamed.
Johnson told host Chris Wallace that they "thought it was necessary at the time," and that it is still is.
"Without a doubt the images, and the reality, from 2014, just like 2018, are not pretty," Johnson said. "We expanded it, I freely admit it was controversial, we believed it was necessary at the time, I still believe it is necessary to remain a certain capability for families." Real Clear Politics.
13
Why can't the Trump administration be analyzed in the context of its own policies, without the constant comparison to the Obama administration? Detaining children was wrong when Obama did it, and it's wrong now under Trump. Wrong is wrong--what difference which president did it first? And, why did no one in the Trump administration speak up and say, "No, we won't continue such a reprehensible system for separating families. We're better than that."? Why did they, instead, think that since Obama did it, Trump could be absolved from blame?
5
This whole thing is a trial balloon for the near future Trumpworld where such camps will be part of our national landscape. If you are an "undesirable" (you know who you are), it is a good time to seek asylum in a country that was founded on and still practices the much-touted freedom that is being chipped away at in our country.
Those "fine people" are in charge now.
12
As bad as this is, I never seem to hear or read articles about the terrible responsibilities the countries of origin have. In the Mediterranean Sea, as well, when a boat full of immigrants sinks, the European collectivity is made guilty, but what about the African countries they are coming from? And what about individual responsibility when starting such a journey? Uhmm...
13
I cried when I read this. I am far into my sixth decade in a state that can not survive without immigration. As a child, we had no border problem. People crossed the border freely. Mexicans came over during the day to work or shop and then went home- we did the same. This worked better than our current system. I want diversity in our culture and in our genes. Diversity has led humans to the apex animals we have become. Divide into tribes and we will be creatures who only want to conquer and be controlled to conquer. I have been lucky to have lived in countries around the world; to see how other governments and cultures treat their citizens. It was an eye opener to learn our country is not the safest, best, less complex, least evasive, most benevolent or most democratic. We don’t have the best health care, or best roads, or schools and we spend money capturing a couple hundred thousand desperate people and their children because some people up north who can’t fit into the ‘new’ economy are racist. This is not the ‘greatest generation’, is it?
15
I can't stand this administration. I guess guards can manhandle distraught children any which way, but heaven forbid they don't have an eight-to-one ratio adult to child, according to whatever random rules they set up. This is a very sad story. I don't see the point of ripping the kids from their parents. These are human beings and they are treated like cattle. Very sad indeed. If a stranger showed up at your own doorstep, hungry or sick and with nowhere to go, would you kick them away? That is what our country has become. Our statue of liberty is weeping.
13
Please avoid phrases like "gossipy chatter" when discussing communication among young girls. It reinforces an unnecessary and damaging stereotype. None of the children, or parents, are receiving reliable information from authorities. They are all, male and female, talking about possibilities and hopes. This is not "gossipy chatter."
14
So horrible, my heart breaks and I am filled with shame for what is being done in my name. Evangelicals should consider devil worship as kinder if this is their idea of fulfilling their moral and religious beliefs. And for those who only care about money, unless of course it were their child being kidnapped by the government, I wonder how much ICE and the INS is wasting on extra-judicial deportations and incarcerations of children? We do not need ICE. We need an actual government instead of a criminal administration. Vote out Republicans in 2018, or it could be your children next. After all, who's to say who's really a citizen with these fact-free robber barons running the country.
9
This is cruel maltreatment of children. How can our country, founded on "give me your tired your poor...", now be jailing children because their parents sought to come to this country?
We are traumatizing children. We are likely to be sowing the seeds of rage against the oppressor - that's this country.
Why?
7
This is utterly barbaric. Utterly shamefully barbaric.
I am not pro illegal immigration. It is wrong. And the Dems will lose the midterms if they try to pretend it is OK. Its not. However to separate little children from their parents is a tragedy.
3
Sounds like stalag camp for children. Shame on America and Shame on Americans that support the current regime. Truly an unbelievable evil has taken over this country and one wonders if redemption is even possible.
7
This is like a nightmare. Just reading what these poor kids are going through, all because of one man: Trump. Trump is the meanest person imaginable. I hope and pray these kids can endure and come out the other side, without the ill effects that I fear. Children are to be loved and cherished, not hurt like this. This is the worst thing my country has ever done, in my life time. Violence to the lives of small children, removal of kids from their parents, not being able to even touch a sibling to comfort them, this is pure evil.
6
No we are right there.
The boy who misbehaved and was injected with something and fell asleep in this article was probably given a psychoactive medication. This is illegal and malpractice on two counts: First it was giving medical treatment to a child without the permission of a parent or guardian in a non-life threatening situation, second it is consider inappropriate chemical restraint. Not allowing young children to be touched causes not only psychological damage but physiological damage. Is not physical contact also an aspect of Hispanic/Latino culture? This is institutionalized child abuse sanctioned by the United States.
18
Yes, Senator Ron Johnson, republican of Wisconsin -- chairman of the committee on Homeland Security -- where's your outrage to the inhumane treatment of these children and their families??
Why haven't you even inspected, in person, these internment camps? That's right, the senator is yet to even go down to our southern border to perform oversight of the DHS! Yet he took the opportunity to go to Russia to glad hand with our adversaries.
Senator Johnson, perform your duties. Do your job as chairman of the most powerful oversight committees in the Senate...investigate, get a first hand view of our border and the children being interned like criminals. Get the facts, and quit using the talking points supplied by the DHS.
By not doing so, you are complicit in the inhumane treatment of refugee children. Wisconsin is watching how you are derelict in your duty to protect our values. We are your constituents, not the Trump administration.
16
Cleaning toilets? Emptying toilet garbage? Kept from communicating with their parents? Not allowed to hug their siblings? Told that their eventual release depends on staying quiet and following the rules? What have the children done to deserve being treated as criminals? Answer: Nothing. For shame, Republicans, every last one of you.
26
Are these children attending Mass on Sundays or religious services?
1
A prison camp for children any way one describes the life inside. The same Administration would be outraged if a certain kind of “real American Child” was held under such conditions in Canada because the parents for stepped across the boarder for any reason! This policy is heartless in a Nation with a pretentious notion on being “one nation under God!”
7
Yes, Senator Ron Johnson, republican of Wisconsin, who is the chairman of the committee for Homeland Security, please do your job! It is your duty to perform oversight and investigate all actions undertaken by Homeland Security.
When are you going to inspect, first-hand, the internment camps at our southern border? Why haven't you traveled, even once, down to Texas to see the refugee children and their families who are being interned in camps like criminals??
Senator Johnson, how can your perform oversight without first investigating with your own eyes and assessing the situation as it is on the ground? Instead you choose to use the talking points supplied by the DHS -- that isn't oversight, that's complicity in an egregious, inhumane activity.
Why would you travel to Russia to glad hand with our adversaries, yet fail to perform your duty of oversight during an immigration crisis generated by the very people you're meant to monitor?...Senator Johnson, we the voters of Wisconsin are your constituency. Represent our values. Do your job.
5
This would discourage me from trying to enter the U.S. illegally with my family.
16
Not if the alternatives were being raped or murdered.
3
ok ok, we ought to discourage people from coming. This is the absolute worst way to do it.
1
Maybe Trump can get some more tips on cruelty about those notorious Russian orphanages from Putin. The ones where kids weren’t touched and they became disconnected adults.
This is sickness. Where are the the embryo-weepers in the GOP Congress who want to enforce child-bearing but who plainly have no shred of decency towards the damage being done by Trump to youngsters in his Dickens dystopia. Telling kids not to hug their siblings is as sick as it gets.
Where is child advocate Melania?
13
That makes him even more of a monster and sociopath.
1
This is child abuse, pure and simple. We MUST vote out as many of the Republicans who are either aiding and abetting this most corrupt administration or are silent, beginning in November. Our democracy is at stake, nothing less.
11
Does anyone in the United States realize how this report is ruining the standing of their country, the so called "Great America", in the opinion of the world? To separate children from their parents on the lofty ground that they are "illegal immigrants" while being fugitives in most cases?
The conditions under which the poor children are held, as given at the start of this report, are military-like terror. You don't do this to children! I can only wonder what the "Trump regime" is producing. Disgusting, just disgusting!
9
It all boils down to the same thing. The white religious right feel threatened. They are trying to take over the government, make their interpretation of the bible the law of the land (forget the constitution...it's god THEN country), and keep anyone who isn't white, out. They liken the refugees to invaders and have turned it into a war, to distract us from what is really going on. The complete take-over of the government by the ultra-conservative religious right. It's ironic, considering that jesus wasn't white.
13
So, it's safe to say that your parents practised tough love. How you've turned out from the rich summer boot camp? Cold hearted, dismissive and blind.
2
« She would quickly write these notes after she had finished her math worksheets, she said, so as not to violate yet another rule: No writing in your dorm room. No mail. «
« A person he described as “the doctor” injected Adonias in the middle of a class, Diego said. “He would fall asleep.” »
Monsters. Every single person in this administration is a monster.
As an educator working with special needs kids, I say it’s time for a special teachers’ march to protest this administration’s kidnapping, torture, and abuse of innocent children.
13
Good idea.
5
I could not finish the article. As a white, straight male, I understand now how ordinary citizens of Nazi Germany felt, knowing the horrors that surrounded them and their world and knowing there is nothing you can do about it.
11
I visited Dachau when I was studying in Germany. The museum had English translations for every document on display but one.
It was a memo from Goebbels (I think, or someone at his level). He wrote that what they were doing was a horrible but necessary solution (the death camps) that had to be kept hidden from the German people because they would never have understood. They knew about the ghettos, work camps, etc. But the Nazis kept the final solution as secret from their own people.
It was a horrendous and terrifying thing to read, and damning even for Nazis. I could understand why it wasn't translated.
But yes, millions of Germans were appalled and felt helpless even at what they did know.
2
I am really horrified by this article. If it is true:and I have my doubts —this is a shame on our nation. Well, the child detentions are a despicable horror and shame on our nation even if this article exaggerates. The kids need to be reunited with their parents NOW. But comparisons to Nazi and Korean concentration camps are over the top.
We progressives should never lie and use extreme hyperbole the way the right does.
3
Mean and heartless child abuse may be okay with you but you can count me out.
8
Certainly, separating children from their parents is vile and immoral. But not, as Bush II, as vile and immoral as invading sovereign countries and killing hundreds of thousands men, women and children.
4
Federally mandated child abuse. Simply criminal.
13
Good the children got clothes, hot showers, sheets to sleep on, vaccinations.. three meals a day.
10
This is america? Then america is beneath contempt. Shame on us.
8
A disgrace. Lady Liberty hangs her head in shame while Trump hires rent-a-cops and Klanners to imprison innocent children.
11
Shameful and a disgrace, but not unexpected in Trump's pluto-kleptocracy of misfit millionaires devoid of feelings. And a huge social distance from the poor and all those in need, living by the day, neglected by a self-serving government gone berzerk.
5
Who would tell a sister not to hug her brother?
Someone who already hates him/herself.
10
Don’t enter our country illegally. Problem solved.
14
Trump’s core if evangelical white men and women want these children to be scarred for life, for the parents to experience the trauma.
They want this as a warning so non-white immigrants stop coming here
They want the public school systems destroyed in the process of creating schools where they can send their children without having to sit next to a person of color
They want gerrymandering and voter suppression so whites can rule as a supermajority.
In short they want an apartheid state that recognizes their “special” status as white Christians.
And they have the president, congress and judiciary to do it.
12
“You had to get in line for everything,”
--
No, not at all. You jumped to the front of the line, crossing the border illegally and pushing ahead of all those who followed the rules and were apparently stupid enough to try to immigrate into the US through established procedures.
These stories are the Left's version of Trump's populist rhetoric. They inflame passions, while obfuscating the obvious facts. What exactly does the fringe want to achieve? Completely open borders? Or open borders only for those of the right ethnicity? Where is the Left's outrage about the camps in the Middle East full of children who are real refugees, driven from their homes partially because of wars started by the US almost two decades ago?
Stories like these are also an insult to real refugees, and to all legal immigrants.
If the illegal immigration stories are kept in the spotlight by (sometimes) well-meaning special interests, the Democrats will lose again in November. Because pandering to identity politics peddlers and being anti-Trump is not a platform, and is not enough for those who feel abandoned by the Democrats.
Unless the Democrats refocus on broader and saner issues, like economic justice, healthcare and the national interest ("It's the Russia probe, stupid!"), another November surprise awaits many of the posters here.
20
Seeking asylum is legal, even if you don't cross at a port of entry, under domestic and international law. This administration is breaking the law in its treatment of asylum seekers. There is also no line of legal immigration seekers to jump in front of, not even figuratively, and our system hasn't worked that way for almost a century.
6
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
19
This is so sad you'd think it was coming from a concentration camp. Where's the "pro-life" here? It's one thing to have a president who says and does silly things. It's quite another to have a congressional majority that plays along with it.
You fellows and gals better grow a backbone soon. Those chickens that are coming home to roost are getting bigger and more steely eyed every day. Who's going to defend this when the moral bill comes rolling in. It leaves the floozying accusations in the dust.
3
America needs to close it's boarders to most immigration and focus on helping our own people. Why help the illeagal Mexican when we have American vetterans that are homeless, American kids who don't know when their next meal is. Once America has helped ALL of its own citizens, then we can help the rest of the world
12
Only a Ruskie would misspell “veterans”
3
How is America “helping” illegal immigrants by separating their children from them and treating those kids like adult POWs?
2
I'm just bewildered by his Antichristian evil deeds.
5
Ways to help these children--see below.
http://www.emersoncollective.com/articles/2018/6/7-things-you-can-do-to-...
4
Since our government is disgraceful and disgusting, WE are disgraceful and disgusting. ONLY WE can fix it. Vote for Democrats, Nov. 6, 2018.
12
We can take action to help these children today. Here is a link to some possible actions.
http://www.emersoncollective.com/articles/2018/6/7-things-you-can-do-to-...
4
Every single person involved in this should be charged with child abuse. This is disgusting and inhumane and god help this country for treating children like this. Simply unbelievable!
8
Those of you who have never seen and heard Stephen Miller speak, please go to YouTube and do so. The first time I saw him I was shocked because I had never seen a public person who was so cold and unfeeling. All I could think was that here was, without doubt, a "Nazi wanna be." And I guess I was right, as demonstrated by his involvement in this blatant child abuse. He is a true sociopath.
13
You know he’s Jewish and from Santa Monica.
7
There is a word for detaining children and making them work for government contractors.
Slavery.
8
This is what evil looks like.
12
I wish people were more indignant about mothers handing their children to human traffickers with birth control pills because they know that they will be raped on the long journey. I wish people were more indignant about the corruption in Central America that caused this situation in the first place. No one in American media is taking presidents of these countries to task for their role. Ok Obama didn’t separate families but his administration did not always verify if the parents were the real parents https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/obama-administration-placed-chil...
15
Let's stop the "Whataboutism" and face the issues brought up in this article. This was a terrible policy that will leave a permanent scar on thousands of children. Punishing children is not the answer. Of course, you live in a state where corporal punishment in public schools is still practiced so it probably does not seem that bad to you.
1
Every time I see a child's face from America's latest fascist move, I wish to see US officials face the charges they deserve, the exact same ones as those brought at Nuremberg. I also would like to see the same punishments given, with no special consideration, be the guilty Presidents, past or present, or anyone else on down that sorry line, to the last one cheering such policies.
Or is it a certain People have been dishing it out bigtime since 1945, but cannot take it? Sure looks like it.
7
Where’s Ivanka?
13
This is truly sickening. Shame on Trump and all those who support this.
9
Clearly a Ruse. A Honduran Mother was separated from her children at the border and they would not let them reunite until her fingerprints arrived from the Honduras. WHAT? Why wasn't she fingerprinted before separation? So they rig the mail not to arrive when all along she should have been fingerprinted up front. Contrived. Contemptuous. CON
8
Now we know a little bit about how Donald Trump's Fascist child separation policy is working. It's just as sterile and evil as we might have imagined.
13
Americans.
This is done in your country and in your name.
10
Where is the "supreme being" during these crimes against humanity? Gave up on humanity, maybe? Or is the presence of the "prez" and his troups an "act of a malevalent god"? Oh, my ... What to think?
6
And they'll know you are Christians by your love...
11
The United States of America should be, collectively, ashamed. The treatment these children are receiving is very close to how the Nazis operated. These innocent kids are going to be emotionally scarred for life. Maybe the Republican Congress should be grouped together, thrown into the same detention centers and treated like the children are being treated. I can hear the uproar all the way up here if that happened. This is where Trump should be, in a cell in a detention center.
13
This could easily have passed as a description of Nazi Germany or Stalin's Russia.
Stop thumping the bible and start reading it "Luke 6:31: do to others as you would have done unto you"
15
If there is a hell, Jeff Sessions, Stephen Miller, and Donald John Trump are going straight to it.
16
Would the Creamsicle Clown allow another country to treat American children this way?
He would not.
Then he should not treat these poor children this way either.
A simple calculus such as this is beyond the understanding of the Clown and his minions.
26
Did they come here legally or ILLEGALLY?
6
Irrelevant. What does this have to with the separations and the treatment of these kids?
An order issued in 2015 by the U.S. District Court of for the Central District of California compelled the Department of Homeland Security to separate migrant children from their incarcerated parents and send them along with unaccompanied children to the Health and Human Services child-care centers. Ther centers are not detention centers and the children are not in custody. They can leave if they want. However, the centers afford them a safe place to stay until they can be placed with parents, relatives or vetted guardians. The alternative would be to abandon them to the streets to cope for themselves.
2
It is an awful way to treat children. We would be outraged if people did it in other countries
47
Excellent point.
2
These children are now here. They and their parents deserve kindness. Not hate. While you may never know the anguish that separation brings, if this country continues on this path you may learn the pain that our country, in the name of the citizens, has wrought. Do not be so smug to think this is someone else’s problem. One day it may be yours.
49
In the United States we now separate immigrant refugee children from their parents and even deny these children comfort from their siblings.
What are we now?
A nation of monsters where child abuse is so rampant that it is now government sanctioned?
What offense did these children commit for such cruel and unusual punishment?
45
A lot of the commenters talk about human rights. I agree. On the other hand I think that the current open immigration violates the rights of our own minorities. All the employers I know will hire non native in preference to native Americans for virtually all jobs other than interface jobs with the public. The reason is pay, benefits and the workers don't talk back. This leads to the endless compression of wages in the US and the large number of underemployed. The Pew surveys show the majority of central Americans and Mexicans want to come to the US. Their governments fail their citizens at multiple levels. The leaders should pay a price for failure. They are our demographic future. How about the US annex Mexico and Central America? That way the human rights problem can be addressed. Increasing education might decrease the overpopulation problem. A bonus is that we can diminish our dependence on Mid East oil because the resources of Mexico would become part of the nation's resources and help with the costs of integrating the multiple economies. Like the Germanies, the US should be able to easily absorb Mexico and Central America and survey after survey shows the average Mexican would be very happy with it. Instead of moaning and groaning about the starving children of Honduras or Chiapas or the suffering at the border why don't we do something positive about it?
16
That's a solution but trust me that when I say that there's something gritty about the immigrant drive, the desire to take the risk, which are strong American traits. You actually don't necessarily want the people in the country who sit still and don't take steps to improve themselves and their situation. The people who make this journey have passed a certain kind of test, just like the people who make the journey through the legal route have (with all its hoops - immigration isn't meant to be easy). I don't think the solution is going to be an easy one but I do think we should continue to attract the hardest working, smartest, and brightest people from all over the world. They'll be the ones maintaining and programming the robots that will displace most jobs, if humanity survives its current bottleneck.
6
By "annex" do you mean militarily invade sovereign nations and seize resources? Wow.
7
Public school in the US costs 19000 to 25000 per student depending on the state. Is a Honduran mother who brings four kids to the US seizing financial resources from the US taxpayer at 80,000 per year? Is she paying that amount in taxes working at less than minimum wage? Does the concept of sovereign trump the misery and hunger of those south of the border? Do they care about sovereignty or a better life for their kids and themselves? Does a family of four kids and a single mother living on a dirty mattress in a one room dirt hut care about sovereignty? Should we allow the concept of sovereignty to guide our expulsion of those who violate our sovereignty by immigrating illegally? The comments section and editorial section of this paper suggest that much of the American public cares little about the concept. It is obsolete in today's world. In reality, the majority of people in the world have valid grounds for asylum in a first world country.
1
I am embarrassed to be an American. It pains me to say so.
What kind of country treats innocent children like this.
I don’t know my country any more.
45
It's my understanding that some 2.4 million American children have been separated from their parents who are in custody or jailed. Why not the same volume of over-the-top vehement 24/7 outcry from the left, and reams of daily tear-stained multiple-author copy on their behalf? Huh?
31
Show me one American parent with such a lack of awareness of our laws that they do not know they risk losing their child at least temporarily if they are thrown in jail.
How should you expect parents from other countries to have ANY awareness of our laws, or how they can expect to be treated? What do YOU know of other countries' laws?
And by the way, where is the abandoned Wal- Mart with American children in it?
29
show me one white American who is doing time for possessing marijuana and I will show you 100 black and brown. we all know the consequences of drug laws but only the minority pays for it.
4
America's one million cocaine users create the conditions in central America that the refugees are trying to escape. If you think you are a Christian, think again.
3
I am horrified that this administration thinks it is "the law" to separate children from their parents and place then in "detention centers" where they can't hug each other or comfort each other ... since there are no adults there who have the compassion to do so. The psychological damage that is being done will last a lifetime. It is child abuse in the worst possible form. It makes me shake my head in disbelief that this country is being so cruel and inhumane. President Trump, Jeff Sessions and the entire administration are an embarrassment to me. Congress ... I can't understand why they haven't done their constitutional duty to be the "check" against this president and his cabinet ... the only thing that makes sense is that all they care about is winning another election ( and somehow Trump has them all scared ... because he will retaliate against anyone who crosses him ... just like a dictator would.... I remember hearing a congressman say that the children who were being separated would "go into foster care or whatever" like they were human. ; he didn't care one bit about them. It was disgusting. I'll bet he wouldn't want his children/grandchildren "going into foster care or whatever". I can only hope that the American people wake up and vote them all out of office before this country becomes unrecognizable.
72
You are close to pointing out where the real problem is as it is the American voters. They have the rights and responsibilities for the governments of all of us and until they take a closer look at who might be running and try to make certain they do not support a liar like Trump or another religious bigot we will never be able to properly address the many problems most of us will face.
3
“Forcibly removing children from migrant parents who had entered the country illegally” was never a Trump administration policy as the article asserts.
Flores v Reno determined that migrant children who cross the border illegally cannot be prosecuted. Under terms of the 1997 Flores Settlement, unaccompanied children apprehended at the border had to be released to licensed child-care centers operated by Health and Human Services.
In 2015, Judge Dolly Gee created the “child separation crisis” by ruling the Flores Settlement also applies to accompanied children. She ruled accompanied children must be released within 20 days, along with their parents, unless the parents pose a flight risk or danger to the children. However, in 2016 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found Judge Gee “erred in interpreting the Settlement to provide release rights to adults.” It ruled “We hold that the Settlement applies to accompanied minors but does not require the release of accompanying parents. As a result, accompanying children were taken from parents at Broder Patrol processing centers and sent to the child-care centers.
Now, Judge Dana Sabraw has ruled accompanied children comprise a class apart from unaccompanied children and must be reunited with their parents. The Justice Department has notified Judge Sabraw that it will place the children with their parents in family detention centers until legal proceedings against the parents are completed.
15
A 10 yr old works as a janitor. This is not like asking your kid to help with housework. These kids are in institutional settings. It's like asking your kid to clean up the bathroom at his school. These kids are in dehumanizing settings. No hugging? Not even your sibling? This article shows the depths to which the Trump administration is taking this country.
48
A child doing janitorial work is an OSHA violation. So where’s OSHA?
3
This is a crime against humanity and should be prosecuted as such in the Hague's International Criminal Court. Trump, Sessions, Stephen Miller should all face justice. There is no sanity, no peace without justice.
79
What a cruel and unusual punishment to forbid the natural and human act of touching and hugging. This alone should be considered a “war” crime. No words..
54
Is there anyone naive enough to actually believe this administration is trying to follow the court order or that they had ever planned to return these children?
24
There are people naive enough to believe the administration. Yesterday a physician told me " It is fake news that kids are detained in cages."
Of course, he only watches Fox, and he listens to Limbaugh.
1
I am deeply ashamed. The experience they have here will remain as a scar for a very long time.
49
This article makes me want to see Trump impeached and incarcerated in an abandoned Walmart. Preferably covered in lice and blisters like so many of the toddlers are. And completely alone, with no smartphones anywhere.
65
I would pretty upset at my parents when I got out for doing that to me....
More than a a little.
8
Oh yes, you are so right! I’m sure you would never be the kind of parent who would take a chance on getting asylum and would take the far safer route of waiting to see if the local gang makes good on their threats to rape your daughter and slaughter your son. Why would they be so stupid as to take a chance on a country that so long been the moral leader of the world? I guess they didn’t read the memo that the US isn’t into being a world leader anymore.
4
Maybe because of the part of the world I live in I can't help wondering what's between the lines of this rather mild, but sad article. Sheer statistics would say that there is abuse, sexual or otherwise taking place in some of these facilities. These are extremely vulnerable children. Let's not all be shocked, shocked when it later comes out.
7
One wonders if the ''bargain'' is worth it of fleeing untold violence for a better life, to only make it to the land of '' Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness'' and be met with a new level of psychological violence, incarceration and lawlessness. (to separate babies and children from refugee claimants is against international and domestic law)
The problem is that no human on this planet, regardless of their skin color, what language they speak or their background, should have to make that ''bargain'' in the first place.
Especially babies and children.
9
All Times readers should make sure to read Roberto Suro's column about immigration today, and hope and pray that important Democrats are reading it as well. He makes a great, and specific, case for the kind of humane and rational and sane immigration policy that we need.
4
As a former Democrat, I find the incessant reporting on these illegal immigrants and their progeny exhausting and ultimately uninteresting. The responsible thing would have been to firmly grasp the shoulders of each approaching illegal, rotate them 180 degrees towards the exact direction from whence they came, and provide a firm push to urge them homeward, provided the overarching message wasn't clear. The American taxpayer owed them nothing less, and most certainly nothing more.
I'd prefer to hear reporting on the situation on the plight of US citizens. What on Earth is happening to the children of Puerto Rico? The hurricane-ravaged families that have migrated to Florida, seeking to reestablish themselves? How about any other human interest story that deals with our fellow countrymen?
And finally, any politician that thinks to mention the 'immigrant experience' to African-Americans in hopes that it'd inspire sympathy for the plight of these people is wholly misguided in intent and approach. Trump may be a boor among many other things, but he just happens to be that 'twice-right' broken clock on the idea of a merit-based immigration system.
19
My gut was bursting as the tears were falling, crocodile tears. I live in Washington Heights and on weekends High Bridge Park is packed with families barbecuing, celebrating birthdays, the bingo ladies, the dominoes players, the singers with guitars. But there are children everywhere. When I arrive with my Dachshund Walter, the children flock to him and want to take turns running him around. I have seen many of them grow up here in this incredible community where the grandmothers sing along to Dominican ballads in the The supermarkets and say "Gracias, mi amor" when I hold the door open for them. There is an enchantment to these real bohemians that exists nowhere else in New York today. This is the gift of an open immigration policy. To imprison and separate children from their parents for any reason is a crime against humanity.
40
I developed a lump in my throat when Leticia had to secretly write non-deliverable letters to her mother. Imagine a child whose only means of communication with his/her parent(s) is via correspondence and is denied that right. Denied to write a letter in your dorm room. Think about this, America. We are allowing this to occur.
16
Even prisoners should not be treated like this. It's more than enough to take someone's liberty. We don't need to take away their dignity. But yes, it's unfathomable that Trump and his administration is doing this to children and still show no remorse or shame.
9
Day after bleak day under this wretched administration, I'm starting to feel like we've stepped into a dystopian future.
28
I save all these articles like this one as to never forget what atrocities we are committing. It all began with our mistreatment and crimes against the Native Americans , slavery and the continued mistreatment of our African American citizens , Japanese internment , and the list goes on. It’s important to me to document all these in my private journal . I am ashamed that our country has committed crimes against humanity yet again towards these innocent children and the inhumane ways in which our government has continued to treat people of a different shade of brown.
6
Research into torture and treatment of torture survivors shows torture has four features; all are present here:
isolation and disruption of family and social bonds
incomprehensibility
uncertainty
(intentional) unremitting pain and suffering
No mail, only occasional phone calls (for those children whose parents' whereabouts are known), sleep deprivation, forced labor, use of chemical restraining agents, no touching, no crying. No one explaining what will happen or when. Falsely threatening that breaking the rules will impact "their cases" and presumably their reunion with family. Mass incarceration/detention in clearly makeshift facilities.
Many of the elements of torture and persecution are present here under the guise of safety and security, or "professional care". This is profoundly shameful, and the International Red Cross and U.N. Special Rapporteur need to become involved.
Google "psychological torture" for details. Clearly against U.S. and international law (U.N. Convention Against Torture, 18 USC 2430) Our numbness to torture of prisoners and as an instrument of foreign policy leads us to this; collective punishment and torture of children.
16
I'm ridiculously fortunate my Nicaraguan mother and I crossed the border in 2009 before all this went down. She was escaping an abusive relationship and we had to spend a year in a homeless shelter, but at least we were never seperated.
No touching? No mail, contact with the outside world? Does anyone realize how much like a dystopian movie this sounds?
28
This story makes me cry for the children and for this inhumane policy that causes so much heartache for parents and children.
7
Watch a little Fox news? We need these people for the jobs white Americans won't take- field laborers, slaughterhouse employees, etc. We need these people/workers to support our future Social Security,the US work pool is shrinking. My father was in a nursing home and received very good care by the aides who for the most part were minorities.
25
As a teacher I am appalled at how many legal violations for the care and education of children are being allowed here! Scrubbing toilets is a clear OSHA violation, and the violations of "suitable learning envronments" that govern every childcare and school in this country yet that whomever is supposedly taking care of these children are violating is extensive!! Are the caretakers all currently licensed and properly credentialed? I doubt it! Any teacher or childcare worker in this country would lose ther jobs for these kinds of violations. These educational and childcare rights cover ever child in this country, not just one with full citizenship. Come on state attorney generals! Who are the supposed caretakers of these children? Let's stop this horrible treatment of children.
43
I have been a lawyer representing families of children with disabilities in all varieties of legal issues for 30 years,so have learned to compartmentalize the personal emotional impact of tragedies. I have read through reams of documented sadness, pain, misfortune and despair. Nevertheless, I simply cannot read past the first three lines under this photo without dissolving into sorrow, my own parental instincts triggered as if the pain were my own - like a rookie. I realize that the horror -the difference - is that this cruelty is deliberate. Our minority government is deliberately harming little children, for the edification of its base. In my experience dealing with federal government agencies, I have never encountered a system deliberately designed to inflict harm of minors. Privately, yes - the Catholic Church abuse cases comes to mind, as does the "kids for cash" juvenile detention scheme upstate a few years back. But Federal policy? Wrongheaded and incompetent, yes, but intentionally, gleefully, cruel and hateful is a first.
27
Assigning children to camps, separating them from their parents, forcing them to do labor is being done by people who feel that they are patriots. 62+ million patriots can't be wrong. Loyalty and obedience to Trump and his 62,984,825 followers may be disloyalty to individual conscience but democratic patriotism isn't about the individual conscience. This policy was decided by Americans who were elected by the people and it is being followed by Americans who feel that obedience trumps conscience. So now America attacks children whose parents had been taken from them? I hope the 62+ million are enjoying the candy they are stealing from all those babies. If my son or daughter worked at that job, watching patriotically while children are being mistreated, I'd spit in their face.
16
There are millions of people in this country who will look at the picture of that child and think, "He's getting what he deserves!". They are known as Donald Trump, his supporters, the modern GOP, Fox News, and the people who watch it. These people support and condone the psychological torture of innocent children as a "necessity".
13
Our tax dollars at work. I hope we see the final cost of this atrocious program.
19
This makes my blood boil and I don't even have any children.
The depravity of the Trump administration is staggering.
There is no bar, nothing, that is too low.
Is this who we are as a people?
Vote Democratic on November 6th.
Every seat, every office.
We must change Congress. We must.
Vote.
17
I've been a public school teacher for over a decade, in Texas. You know how adults are fond of threats like, "You throw that food, and I'll make you pick up every crumb on the floor in this cafeteria!"? It's my understanding that such consequences are somehow illegal. I'm not sure of the how or why of it, I just know we're not supposed to make children do such things, even though we ourselves may have heard it (or we're forced to do it) when we were kids. Therefore, I wonder how they can make these children clean bathrooms. Furthermore, I, a teacher, can't even use Clorox wipes (provided for the classroom by my students' families) in my classroom, unless it's after hours and children are not present. Again, I'm not sure of the details - something about approved cleaning materials and children. What are these kids cleaning up with, and is it legit?
The no hugging and dosing of the children with sedatives is a whole other issue I won't address here. You know that expression, we can laugh or we can cry. Well, elect a clown, expect a circus.
13
I don’t see anything particularly horrifying about these conditions. Likening them to slavery or concentrations camps only shows total ignorance of history and makes the so-called “liberals” making these comparisons sound unhinged. Lost in the mushiness of automatic moral outrage is the actual question: what is the point of the entire thing? Why to go into the expense and bother of separating parents from their children? What does the administration try to achieve? Deterrence? Hardly. Punishment? It’s illegal to punish children for the crimes of their parents. All in all, it seems the result of a harebrained bureaucratic scheme, carried out with with a mixture of incompetence and malice.
8
Good points. But if as you say this action was carried out with malice, then it was carried out with emotion on the part of the policy makers. Malicious acts on the part of a government will automatically elicit emotional responses from its citizens (if permitted). More than a few “emotional” commenters have also made cogent observations about this latest demonstration of the stupidity and recklessness of this Administration’s
These are sad stories, indeed, but they do not reach the level of tragedy. For that, one would need to travel to Yemen. I cannot forget the story which recently appeared on PBS newshour, showing the starving 11 year old daughter of a schoolteacher, curled on a hospital bed. She weighed 25 pounds...
These migrant children are worthy of our concern, but let's stop repeating over and over again how they will be traumatized for the rest of their lives. Those seeking asylum have likely seen far worse. Let's help them realize their resilience, and praise them for the courage they've shown.
And let's do whatever we can to change the administration in charge of this fiasco!
16
Can you not skip stories that hold no interest for you? Immigration is a big topic. Sticking 3 year olds in detention is a new low.
We have to face reality to get the kind of people in office who are not idiots, demagogues or "twice-right clocks". This is on the American citizens to demand better.
3
You nor anyone else can say which kid will be derailed by trauma for the rest of their life and which kid wont. It isnt a matter of semantics.
3
Just because someone is suffering worse somewhere else doesn't mean that this isn't a tragedy for these children. How callous of you. And just because these children have already been through the gauntlet, that doesn't mean they become numb to the pain of other atrocities visited upon them. That's not really how human psychology works.
1
I worked for a previous President of the United States. The once-fearsome, and -respected, U.S. is now known for terrorizing children like the poor kid in this horrifying picture. And we get laughed at in (and over) London — our most beloved and closely held friend. We deserve it.
7
“Please, Mom, communicate. Please, Mom. I hope that you’re OK and remember, you are the best thing in my life.”
That gave me chills. Samantha Bee was right.
15
Today, in our prayers, let us put a wish for these children to get reunited with their parents. Today, when we eat our food let us wish for these children to get reunited with their parents. Today, when we feel pain for these children, let us sit down breath all your pain into your heart and breath out healing love towards these wounds on humanity. Today, as much as we can, in everything we do, let us remember our love for these children.
6
The outrage here feels somehow dishonest to me. Detaining children in group homes where they have chores and lights out and group activities goes on every. single. day. in this country. Aren't these the same centers where kids coming across the border alone have been sent for years? And what about kids in temporary foster care centers with no parent in sight? What about homeless and women's shelters, where children and even infants can sometimes live for weeks or months? What about kids whose parents go to prison or who are sent alone into the CPS labyrinth? Aren't we similarly outraged? Have you ever been in a courtroom when a kid goes before a judge because her parents are facing abuse allegations? That happens in this country. The only difference here is that these kids have been separated from their parents at the border under a president we all hate. We're a nation of hypocrites if we don't also give the same consideration for every child alone or afraid. If our outrage is fueled only by our hatred for Trump, it means we'll stop caring (again) once another administration takes over.
30
The facilities you are describing sound like places many of our citizen children should visit to learn discipline and work ethic. Showing me pictures of little children with big eyes or kittens doesn't change my resolve. The Times should be ashamed for using that trick. We should be significantly reducing the numbers of legal immigrants to the United States and enforcing our current laws against illegal immigrants and those helping them. The United States is already over populated and it doesn't matter that the rest of the world is worse. We have our own poor and needy and it doesn't matter that others are poorer or needier. The Democratic Party and much of the media seem to have become the enemies of the American people. Congress Woman Barbara Jordan, an African American, advanced these ideas over 30 years ago.
14
7.5 billion human beings, most of us could care less what happens out of our sight. I cant imagine what the future holds, more cruelty, more despair, but lower taxes for the rich.
2
Superb reporting and writing. Keep it up, NYT.
The character of our country hangs in the balance.
9
Separating children from their parents is hard to watch.
Reading, visiting and knowing how these children lived in Central America has to be part of the conversation: no running water, very little food, no learning, lights cannot be turned out at 9 because there is no electricity. No playing in the street because the gangs roam.
Helping these countries to be stronger economically provides employment so young parents fleeing for a better life don’t need to leave what is familiar to them.
Having to get in line is not as hard as Leticia thinks, she did this at home prior to starting he arduous road. Our kids get in line at school... I am saying stay home. When you enter another country- any country there is a learning curve.. legal or not.
2
My gut was bursting as the tears were falling, crocodile tears. I live in Washington Heights and on weekends High Bridge Park is packed with families barbecuing, celebrating birthdays, the bingo ladies, the dominoes players, the singers with guitars. But there are children everywhere. When I arrive with my Dachshund Walter, the children flock to him and want to take turns running him around. I have seen many of them grow up here in this incredible community where the grandmothers sing along to Dominican ballads in the The supermarkets and say "Gracias, mi amor" when I hold the door open for them. There is an enchantment to these real bohemians that exists nowhere else in New York today. This is the gift of an open immigration policy. To imprison and separate children from their parents for any reason is a crime against humanity.
4
...and come Monday morning, we'll march off to work. And we'll mostly not talk about it at the office, because it's politics and that's bad form.
We as a people should be out in the streets, our collective heels dug in, incurring sacrifice and risk, to say loud and clear that this -- all of this -- will not pass.
Because this is it, now's the time, and I'm sorry to say that we are going passively along. I know, we marched already. But wasn't that mostly for a few hours here and there on scattered weekends? That's not what I'm talking about. Looking at Rachel Maddow on the TV isn't gonna get this done. We have to do more.
9
I am a 68 yr old man. As I read this story I wanted to cry. And then I did. I am deeply saddened for these children, parents and our country. What in God’s name are we doing?
12
How do countries in eastern Europe treat their illegal immigrants? And don't say, "we're the richest country in the world" so ... While that statement is true in the aggregate, plenty of other countries enjoy a higher GDP per capita (a better measure of how individuals and families are faring). Finally, if you consider how the real median income in the U.S. has gone nowhere for the past 40 years (i.e. for two generations), then you might understand how downwardly mobile, formerly middle class people might have compassion fatigue. To them, articles such as this don't really resonate.
12
Every person who claims that it is the parent bringing the children here who are responsible should ask him or herself why anyone would risk their life and the life of their children to come here. Living conditions for many in Central American countries is desperate. Many are seeking asylum, which is not illegal according to U.S. law.
Our country is using the children as hostages to make the parents give up their claims of asylum. That is the real crime.
13
Build the wall and all migrants will have to go through US Immigration. Those with valid visas will be allowed to enter the US. Those claiming refugee status will be allowed to make their case, but if they fail to persuade an immigration officer, they will be returned to their countries of origin. Just saying that you come from Honduras, Guatemala or Nicaragua and fear for your life will not be sufficient for entry. Apply to the US embassies in your home countries for valid visas, then you can enter on presentation of your passport with a valid US visa. All developed countries have similar laws.
9
But, very few people cross the border illegally compared to other forms of entry.
So, lets assume the wall cuts illegal entry by say 10%. OK, I'll give 20%. Then what?
I lived on the border. Its secure.
1
I just have to echo, what others post here, I feel sickened by the fact that this is happening in this country to children. There is something terribly terribly wrong and to think that this even was considered - is beyond beyond belief and still the disbelief that this is happening in this country right now. Every - every child needs to be reunited asap. This is wrong this is so terribly clearly wrong. To think that leaders are not doing more now. Now - to stop - to put an end to this cruelty. We need leaders with human hearts.
4
Every parent , if they are their parent, or adult who brought these kids here should be criminally charged. If they sent their kids here unaccompanied then they should still be charged in absentia. They created the problem for these kids who should be immediately returned to their countries.
There is no way I would have been allowed to illegally trespass on the property of or toss my kids over the high gates of Oprah, Jobs, Gates or some other billionaire. My defense of wanting them to have a better life and demanding they be taken care of by those whose property I illegally trespassed on would have been laughed at. All while I was carted off to jail and my kids removed from my custody.
6
The immigrants seeking asylum are acting legally. Sorry you don't want to understand how that works.
1
To my earlier comment I need to add that all the photos for this story are apt, understated and moving. You look into the eyes of that 3-year-old and realize that our government -- funded by our tax dollars -- is the proximate cause for this child's bewilderment. We can't bear this on our conscience.
For this front-page photo, Victor J. Blue deserves to be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He's captured in a single glance the whole story.
7
As a teacher I am appalled at the number of environmental, child care, and educational violations here. Every child in our country has the right to suitable learning and living conditions while in our government facilities. Being forced to scrub toilets is a clear violation of OSHA. All the other conditions listed here create "unsuitable learning" and psycholgical environments. Come on state attorney generals! These child care workers cannot be licensed or credentialed or they are violating the law! We are a country with civilized laws for how to treat all children, so let's go after the credentials of those who are violating these laws!
8
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
You have lived a charmed life.
4
This despotic policy should be included under articles of impeachment against President Trump. The courts have already found much of it illegal. As a nation, we do not visit the sins of the parents—however they might be imagined—on the children. No honorable man or woman does this.
6
Absolutely right. This brazen crime against children belongs right on Trump's doorstep.
1
The most humane thing would have been to have kept the family units together and at the first chance, deport them together - pay for their first flight back to Central America and even provide a nominal stipend to help them settle back, which will partially offset the fees paid to the smugglers. I read that this is offered to illegal migrants, but very few take the US up on the offer.
Central America is not at war. Poverty and gang violence exists there but there are gangs also in the US (MS-13 and others), and there is poverty in the intercities as well.
What would Canada do if Americans decided to escape gun violence and gang violence and cross the US-Canadian border on mass? The same thing that the US under the Trump adm is trying to do on the Mexican - US border, i.e., exert some control in a situation that historically has completely lacked any control whatsoever.
Enough is enough
4
Keep up these tug at the heart string stories and lose at the voting booth in 2018 and 2020. These stories are lopsided and one-sided. The other side is that these cases are almost always lacking merit for asylum. Most Americans would agree to help citizens in their home countries but want to see an end to illegal mass migration to ours. Most Americans see that we are being duped with all of these false asylum claims which is costing us billions, (housing, immigration court, emergency room visits to hospitals, EASL in schools across the US, criminal court, policing) and we finally want some control. Spend a fraction of these billions to improve the migrant-exporting countries.
10
No touching, no running? It is dangerous for children to not have human touch and exercise, but I guess it is easier for the facitily to watch them and it is legally safer.
I don‘t mind the cleaning toilets part, that is just like family chores. But separating small children from their parents without communication between parent and child is torture. Some Trump supporter here compared this to their summer camp, where I’m sure she was sent by choice with a loving hug by her parents, and where she knew she would be back in her safe home after a few weeks. Really!?!
I am German and I used to think horrible things like this happen in Germany (in the past), and in other countries, but not in the US while everybody is watching. I am appalled. This is bad for all of us.
It is true that the US can‘t solve all refugee problems in the world. Immigration has to be contained. But the problem is not as big for the US as Trump makes you think it is. He is playing with your fears.
7
I was struck by the beauty and vulnerability of this little boy and thought of the thousands more not reunited with their parents. A policy in violation of the UN charter on the Rights of a Child.
The dilatory dawdling by officials to reunite families is reprehensible. How long are they thinking this treatment will be tolerated? Meanwhile, the Trump time-bomb keeps on ticking......
2
The most humane thing would have been to have kept the family units together and at the first chance, deport them together - pay for their first flight back to Central America and even provide a nominal stipend to help them settle back, which will partially offset the fees paid to the smugglers. I read that this is offered to illegal migrants, but very few take the US up on the offer.
Central America is not at war. Poverty and gang violence exists there but there are gangs also in the US (MS-13 and others), and poverty in the intercities as well. What would Canada do if Americans decided to escape gun violence and gang violence and cross the US-Canadian border on mass? The same thing that the US under the Trump adm is trying to do on the Mexican - US border, i.e., exert some control in a situation that historically has completely lacked any control whatsoever. Enough is enough
9
We see our share of immigrant children at our practice, mostly from Central and South America, and the overwhelming impression you get from them is: they are kids. Just that.
Often, they are the glue keeping the family running. The older ones - 8 or so - take care of their siblings and translate for their parents. Generally the children are well behaved, and both the kids and parents are very cooperative with treatment, even treatment that most kids find annoying.
I understand the economic underpinnings driving us to question our immigration law and our enforcement. I have see both sides. Job losses to a local construction firm that has lost contracts to competitors who use day labor, displacing long time employees, as well as the fantastic ability for people who don't earn much to afford to hire contractors do do maintenance and repairs. Low wages hurt us and help us and policy is complex.
BUT - I don't see how the debate about wages and full employment excuses us from seeing these people - these children - as something less than human. If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
60
America was shocked to learn about N Korean concentration camps where generations of N Koreans were locked up as slaves. Well, where is the outrage now when Trump's America has attempted to resurrect her version of internment camp?
46
The difference is in North Korea, they starve their own people, in this scenario we are saving someone else's people. A little hard work never hurt anyone, so spare us the comparisons with gulags in the hermit kingdom.
1
Under Trump, America detains immigrants and separates families facing non-state violence (rape and death) from gangs (as Obama noted in his 2009 Nobel speech). Dusty, tired, slumped, meek, the women raped; their children not M-13; no Middle East terrorists found. Only courageous families willing to work, who are saying, “we want to be--on your team!”
Economics is an easy way to inflict abuse on communities with a narrative that says their abuse is in everybody's best interests. He is a favorite Trump technique. His narratives depend upon blame. Without it he has nothing to rail against.
Trump crossed a line; test case or trial run, Trump is at war with humanity, with hemisphere neighbors and allies, and refugees and families of workers of color. “The law is the law,” stripped of context, circumstances, conscience, compassion, puts America on the edge of the Jackie Robinson mistake: mandating cruelty and wasting talent.
I want get out the idea that Trump's actions are a strategic rehearsal/push for non-lethal force attacks on communities and families of color and higher international taxes. Under 12, family separation creates neuro-chemical imbalances in children that affect their cognitive/emotional development. Tariffs go to the government; Trump is raising taxes!
Children reuniting are crying and smiling and dazed; their separation was deliberate, chaotic, and harmful.
In Scotland they chanted: “No Trump! No KKK! No Racist USA!”“No Trump! No KKK! No Racist USA!”
188
Amen. I'm WITH you, Bigly.
3
What else needs to happen before the Republicans and the 40% feel this has crossed a humanitarian and moral line?
224
The differences are many:
1. Seeking assylum isn’t illegal;
2. Children of parents who are incarcerated aren’t kept in facilities, but with others family members or in foster care, where presumably, they are hugged and not drugged;
3. Forcing young, incarcerated children to perform labor is akin to slavery, which is prohibited by the Constitution
3
The indecency was only hiding in the shadows.
2
They are people who don't care they are being lied to. ...even when they know they are being lied to.
They think that little of themselves.
Don't expect much.
4
THIS is what we've become. I'm ashamed. I loathe you with the fire of a thousand Suns, GOP. YOU own this, and the malignant creature is on you.
NOVEMBER. Seriously.
533
Agree whole heartedly!
3
>Phyliss
Thanks Phyllis - but let us know what we should be doing with those crossing into the US illegally to avoid a repetition of the events described in this article.
1
The parents are to blame - no one else. Its an outrage that parents drag their kids on a dangerous journey or send them with others. Parents should secure their own towns and villages the same way Americans did - vigilantes. I don't feel sorry for these losers who refuse to protect their own towns and people. How many refugees are we supposed to take in? Should we fly them in from Africa and the middle east? How many millions do the Socialists want us to take in? Can we please send them all to Hollywood? Can I get some answers to very logical questions?
69
Your "losers" confront not only gangs armed by American weapons flowing south from US gun dealers but by powerful elements assisted by the US government; witness the abortive effort by Hondurans to resist an American-approved overthrow of a reform government a few years ago. Much of Guatemalan history since the 1950s has been marked by recurring US support for military regimes ready to make war on their own people. Stop being an apologist for American cocaine and opiate users who finance turmoil in Central America!
105
Portland has enormous concern for their poor - you should know that as a resident there. And this is not an either/or situation. Love is boundless. Peace.
2
The incarceration complex is much more complex these days. Big money to keep them all hidden.
4
Good God. How long before they’re forced to pick cotton and shine shoes?
186
Those tasks they are expected to do are tasks that are not like slavery, in no way. Our own children are waited on hand and foot, nothing is demanded of them, feel entitled to have their every desire granted, no matter whether their parents can afford it or not - adults have forgotten that family is a community, where everyone should do his or her part. These unfortunate children have been torn from their parents, and I really feel sorry for them, but that does not mean that they should be exempt from tasks that they should be doing at home, too.
3
America has millions of unfilled jobs, so I can imagine the GOP wanting these children to earn their keep. Trump is paying billions of dollars to his friends to house and feed these children. It saves his friends money when the kids scrub toilets.
4
How long...???? Aren’t “they” in a sense doing this already?
1
Before I got far into this report, the thing that came into my mind was Dotheboys Hall and its head, Wackford Squeers.
Much of Charles Dickens' fiction was a commentary on social conditions in Victorian England, and it influenced public and political opinion. Were he around in trumpian America, his writing would be derided in right-wing media as fake and anti-American., while the rest of the mass media would fall over themselves to find some spurious "balance".
By the way, one thing that's missing from this report: what are the punishments for disobeying rules about hugging or touching, for example.
163
Yes, Dickens came to my mind right away, but also Charlotte Bronte - it sure sounded a lot similar to Lowood in Jane Eyre.
2
Well the article mentioned the ‘doctor’ who would give unruly boys injections in the middle of class. And the threat to the little girls that they would have to stay longer if they didn’t follow the rules. I’m sure there’s worse.
2
Good question.
1
This is so horrible I could barely get through the article. No hugging your sibling, no writing letters to your mom, 3 year olds cleaning toilets. It’s disgusting and immoral.
Every American should be deeply ashamed. This is not partisan it’s just plain evil and anyone who defends it, from any party or for any reason is not fit to govern and does not deserve.
Any American who could support, allow, ignore or excuse a president/administration or party that sponsors this horrific and cruel behavior are complicit and do not deserve the rights generations have fought and died for.
Sad
482
I've always believed in "never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence". But it's hard to apply this here.
If it's good enough for the Marines, it's good enough for little little kids?!?!?!
Cleaning toilets? By small kids?
Isn't that criminal?
If it's not, it certainly should be.
Make that the first question for the Supreme Court nominee.
Land of the what? I think I know. And it's pretty disgusting.
225
My kids learned to clean bathrooms, make their beds, help with laundry and meals when they were little. It's part of learning to take responsibility for the living space you share with others.
2
Chores? Cleaning the bathrooms? Certainly good for any kid. It would have been good if President Trump had to as a 10 year old.
What I read here is clean, safe, disciplined, though maybe too regimented for little ones. Sure beats walking through the desert or riding on top of trains.
It only bothers me that these kids don't have access to phones, writing materials, and stamps. Incommunicado is wrong.
4
Yes, it's criminal. Child abuse, child abduction, child endangerment, kidnapping, obstruction of justice, more. These are all felonies in response to a misdemeanor at the border. Trump should be jailed the moment he sets foot back in the USA, a country in which Trump does not deserve citizenship.
1
There is a word for detaining people and making them work for government contractors.
Slavery.
305
In Japan and elsewhere in Asia, part of a child's education is helping keep the school clean. Martial arts studios also require students to clean. Cleaning and keeping the dojo is order is akin to keeping one's mind in order.
17
Mark Spence - that is one part of the day at school, it is part of their sociey’s Social contract, and they go home to their families, play with their friends, do their homework, and sleep in their own beds.
World of difference from being held in a detention center under conditions enumerated in the article.
8
Perhaps, but cleaning one's room's clean is not the moral equivalent of slavery as was originally said.
History will record this and we (the United States of America) will not be judged well on what we are doing and allowing to happen to these children and their parents. I pray these children possess skills of resiliency and heal from this and commit to a better world than what we've created for them.
132
And what would Mr. Trump feel if he were to be separated from his family? Wait a minute. That's not a bad idea.
30
The simply truth is that these children should never have been smuggled across the border outside a port of entry, be it by their parents or, in many cases, by adults trying to use the kids as living visas. A further simple truth is that the more generous we are in treating these children and especially their parents by not immediately deporting them back to their own countries, the more we attract even more illegal immigrants, thereby increasing the general suffering. We cannot allow individual pictures and stories that tug at the heart to keep us from having effective enforcement of our existing immigration laws.
64
The surely indigenous name/lineage duly noted. The problem is Congress doing nothing but fundraising off this issue for decades and now the solution is more fundraising topped with cruelty to little kids.
Sorry- we have to get some adults with actual working minds on this. Immigration is at a trickle, Trump just tweets on his phone and lies. We need more substance than his hot air.
5
There is no simple truth. Truth is not simple but in this case it's called "brutal truth".
Ah, the magnet theory. Be nice = be overrun. Of course this theory is naive and wrong. People flee because of extreme persecution which is why they embark on treacherous and life threatening journeys.
If America really wanted to be the solution and not the jailer, then it would look beyond its borders and offer constructive aid to S. American countries gripped by violence. That is not a simple solution but truth is never simple.
2
And so America dies, fails and passes on. Comments like this one are nails in the coffin.
2
This is so clear, the child needs touch and nurturing ! Where indeed is anyone, the parent has been separated from the child? As a teacher for years of children, I beg anyone who knows this trauma to do something ASAP
66
This picture of the young child who looks scared and intimidated is heartbreaking. We used to see similar pictures of young children in Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Now this cruelty is being inflicted by the Trump Administration in our name.
84
If readers would take the time and effort to read South and Central Smerica they will find that our country st times have not helped but hurt these countries especially those in Central America.
A Marshall Plan I tiaged several years ago might have avoided many of the problems we have now.
And for those unschooled Child Welfare And Child Abuse and Their history. Child abuse is child abuse is child abuse.
For those interested check out The Children’s Defense Fund and the American Academy of Peditrics latest statements among other experts.
41
No. The US needs to keep out of those countries. No more.
2
before the Civil War, white and some black, thugs made a living as slave catchers and kidnappers of free blacks. the people who are running these kid prisons are of the same ilk. the government that hires them, sets these obscene rules and incarcerates children are like the antebellum presidents who condoned slavery. The Civil Rights Movement was an attempt to change these unsavory qualities of the American past. the current administration, who call themselves "conservatives, are rushing to bring back racial discrimination, the worst aspect of the American dilemma.
70
“'Like summer camp,' said Representative Eliot L. Engel, a Democrat of New York who recently visited the campus."
In case anyone is wondering why the Democrats are viewed with suspicion and even hostility by some on the left.
Since these children were torn from their parents arms, separated by hundreds or thousands of miles, and, as the Times is now reporting, barred from sending even a letter to their parents, it's not at all like summer camp.
86
You should read the full remarks Engel and his colleagues made before jumping to conclusions. The inclusion of that quote in this article was to highlight the widely differing circumstances in which migrant children find themselves - some facilities are like camp and some are abandoned Walmarts. All are wrong and those kids should be with their parents - that is what they said.
Your attitude of distrust and blame for the only party trying to do something to force the reunification of these children is not helpful.
4
As far as I know, summer camp is voluntary. Why was a Democrat so dismissive of personal autonomy and freedom? I know the GOP is, but now the Democrats dontbrhink freedom is important either?
Can someone please kick the dead body that is the Democratic Party our of the cockpit so we can get done real representation?
I saw that too. People in his district - primary him out! Or vote Thursday party! Who needs Republicans when you out have DINOs like him?!
What is happening to the USA? What terrible evil has seized my once decent neighbours?
248
Odd.
That’s what us folks with common sense and a desire to take care of Americans ask about you.
Maybe we should make a path that takes all illegal immigrants straight up to Canada and Canada can absorb all of them since they are so willing. Obviously they care more and can afford to absorb all of them.
1
The Republican Party has allowed and encouraged this sort of police-state fascism. And if the GOP has to collapse in order to restore freedom to our democracy, so be it. They chose Trump knowing full well what they were getting.
1
They are children, not prisoners, not troublemakers but children who have been separated from their parents, who are in a strange country and are probably quite lonely. The rules that are in place are rules that you use when dealing with juvenile delinquents especially those with histories of sexual abuse or being sexual abusers.
This is probably even more damaging than the separation. We should hope that God does shed some grace on us. Maybe we'll learn the meaning of human kindness instead of counting the cost of every thing and knowing the value of nothing.
113
Guess what? I don't care. Not one bit. I (and I believe I speak for many or most conservatives) are so fed up with mass third world immigration and the deleterious effects it has had on our culture and our nation that I'm at the point where it's "by any means necessary." We need to stop, and reverse, this trend, and if playing hardball with illegal invaders (and no, I don't care if they're just coming here for a "better life," not when that "better life" is at our expense) is the only way to do it, then so be it.
53
Hi Jon. Here's Jon.
Reading your comment makes me cringe. I am sure you are not an evil person. So why would you write something like that? You have obviously received some "likes" here. And your views have been seconded by many others.
But if your political beliefs lead you to forget your humanity, then your political beliefs probably suck, right? Come back, Jon!
10
The better life is not at our expense. That is a Fox News talking point. Yes, we need laws, but we need a compassionate way to help refugees who will pay into our tax system and become productive partners in the American dream.
5
Hi Jon and wow. With this another nail in the coffin of a dying country.
I live in Germany, our refugees are welcome, supported and integrating. The stories abound, we all pitch in.
We don't live in fictive fear. You thrive on it personally, the US seems to be sinking into total moral deprivation with it as an anchor.
Bet a broken dollar you go to church and pray real hard.
Thank god for honest, moral atheists.
2
I DO CARE - and I'm going to show I care by voting entirely Democratic in November. It's the responsible thing to do - to rescue our democracy, and our decency.
No matter how right, left or centrist you are - please take a stand against this president brutalizing children to appease racist voters, denigrating our NATO allies to sell US manufacturers' weapons to them, polluting our environment and causing cancers to appease his deregulation-greedy corporate donors, attacking abortion rights to please the irresponsible personal intruders, and promoting gun rights to placate the violent crazies.
Vote down Trump's power in November, and then vote him out shortly thereafter.
And please, don't worry about the fact that we have candidates representing all parts of the party up for election in November- that will be a healthy dialogue - just get Trump's Congress and Trump OUT.
319
This was a Trump created, totally unnecessary crisis. As soon after order is restored in November, people must be jailed!
79
This is what Trump does--he puts himself into various holes and more often than not cannot dig himself out again. As a result, every single scandal during the Trump Administration was completely avoidable but Trump jumped in anyway. And as always, Trump is the reason for all of his woes. No other president has worked in such a self-defeating manner, not even Nixon.
Mueller knew what he was doing when he added more indictments this weekend. Trump can deny it all he wants, but he's guilty of treason at the very least. But will he be held accountable for the abduction of thousands of innocent children with no legal justification? How many life sentences would that add up to?
2
The Trump administration and Sessions kidnapped these children with no intention of reunification. This was a deliberate decision to terrorize migrants by taking their children, and then deporting them to send the message—do not come to the USA or your children will be taken and you will never see then again. It is an abomination. It is child abuse. They do not care what happens to these children, indeed they may just deport them later. The children were pawns, not people. And yes, this would never have happened to whilte children. I hope that the judges handling these cases will speak loud and clear and hold them to account. I am embarrassed and sad for my country, but I have hope that persons of conscience will resist. Unfortunately, the GOP has lost its soul.
142
"Do not misbehave. Do not sit on the floor. Do not share your food. Do not use nicknames. Also, it is best not to cry. Doing so might hurt your case.
Lights out by 9 p.m. and lights on at dawn, after which make your bed according to the step-by-step instructions posted on the wall. Wash and mop the bathroom, scrubbing the sinks and toilets. Then it is time to form a line for the walk to breakfast."
Can anyone tell me how this is different from a concentration camp? I'd love to be enlightened.
117
Sounds like a decent military, catholic or any other well run school. The kids are lucky to get the discipline and training. All at no cost to them or their families.
36
At concentration camps kids became part if medical experiments if they were twins. People were forced to do hard labor and beat up by guards if they didnt comply. Guards would strip search people and make them stand out in the cold mornings naked. Some prisoners were made sex slaves of the guards. Some prisoners had to help tatoo numbers on other people. Prisoners died for lack of food and over work. People slept 4 to a bed in lice filled barracks. There was inadequate toilets. Prisoners were marched between camps.
I feel for the kids. Some of the rules are tough, but they are there to keep order. The no touching one is probably to help prevent sex abuse of older kids to younger kids.
When I was growing up I had to get up and go to bed at certain times, had to help clean the toilet/bathroom, and follow rules and structure. Even at my summer camp. We kids even made the kitchen duty at camp fun by singing together. It is one of my favorite camp memories
Do I think the kids should have been seperated - no. But this articles description of the centers doesnt describe some terrible place. I think that people running them are doing the best they can with a bad situation.
I think we should encourage our Congress to get it together and come up with better legislation to address immigration, instead of all the fighting.
3
Except no one involved made this choice. I'm appalled by your position. I suppose the Japanese who were forced to move to the internment camps were fortunate to have their housing paid for as well.
No, She doesn't care now nor does the Fake Ivanka. How surprising that the last couple of months the Trump children and the Republican Party has kept their teeth wired with not a sound coming from their mouths. I hope they go down in flames, or better yet, take a vacation to South America where the inhumanity of human lives is a never ending nightmare. I pray every night that this corrupt presidency will be over, and that if it is, Vice President Pence will find a cave and stay there forever because God know we don't need him at the helm.
63
Maybe, just maybe, it would be better for their parent to present herself at an embassy in her own country, which is the process by which one applies for asylum. Then these heartbreaking stories could be avoided. But of course this simple idea does not occur to the commenters like SKG who talk about "crimes against humanity." Lighten up, fellow!
44
It's my understanding after looking it up today that asylum can only be applied for at border checkpoints or after entering the country.
4
No, that's not true. https://immigration-law.freeadvice.com/immigration-law/asylum/filing_Ame...
1
My daughter pointed out to me that the only thing that appeals to people, are stories. There is a narrative here and people love the visuals. Heartbreaking, cruel, pathos filled sad stories. I ask all the people who weep here, why did their parents lead them here? Because even if it seems a scary, prison like environment no kid should be in, the good old USA will finally embrace them into the fold. Why stop at the wall? What is to stop the Rohingya coming in for refuge? How about all those war torn African countries? How many millions will we take in?
I ask all my liberal allies, how pragmatic are you in this matter? Are you willing to let your taxes be spent in the billions resettling all these children and illegal immigrants? This without a thought to the many, many homeless children who are American. What about those settlements in poor Southern states where they live within their own sewage? Why are people so focused on the emotions within the news that they lose sight of festering problems within the house.
This is the message that will bring clarity to the GOP. I believe the democrats are deluding themselves, blind to the reality and vast numbers of people, republican and democrat who share common worries regarding illegal immigrants.
51
The number of immigrants, with and without documentation, is on the decline and has been for years. What Immigrants, especially undocumented ones, pay into the system in the form of sales taxes and income taxes (yes, many pay into the federal and state systems and never collect) far outweigh what they receive in benefits. And with nearly full employment, this country needs these people to come.
59
Your daughter is right. Pictures are powerful. When I see this "illegal" child I see my two year old American son. The feeling in fact transcends nationality, class, race. It is a human thing that we call empathy. It is an emotion and emotion are often driving our rational behavior, our pragmatism. Because also the concerns about the billions spent and the taxes spring from emotions, the fear of poverty, the desire of wealth. These are also emotions. And in the end we need to follow emotions with reason. But at the core of the emotions I cannot really feel different for a homeless child in New Orleans or in Guatemala City. And I do not feel more or less responsible for one than for the other. We live in a world that is increasingly connected. We live in a place that takes 90% or the world resources and leaves the crumbs to the rest of mankind. It make therefore perfect sense that this connection enters the spheres of emotions and reason and that we are moved by more factors than the interests if the American taxpayers.
36
Better to pay for integrating refugees into our communities than to pay for the largest military budget in the world.
3
Thank you for telling the heartbreaking stories of these children. To think that the only reason they must endure this uncertain fate is to satisfy Trump's demagogic obsession with immigration.
Ironic, isn't it, that in Britain, he talks of his mother who immigrated from Scotland? But then, of course, she came from the "right" culture.
52
how were their days before coming to the US? shall we also shame the countries, governments and societies of the places they came from? Why have they not built stable societies, one may ask.
41
Wrong. If a child's parent is incarcerated, the child lives at home with another parent or relative or guardian. The child and parent remain connected, have visitation rights and legal representation.
None of that is happening here. Toddlers are being forced to represent themselves in court.
But you read the NY Times, so you already know that.
What's really troubling is watching Americans who say they love Liberty actually trying to defend it.
... History will remember what we did here.
47
Two wrongs don't make it right.
29
Because the US government had a hand in destabilizing the government and economy where these children came from.
2
Much of what happens to these children seems like gratuitous cruelty. You put the child (including infants) in a windowless icebox for several days for processing? Why does the temperature have to be so low? Obviously it's expensive, and it seems to serve no purpose other than to torture.
You separate siblings so that they can see each other only briefly.
When a child is upset, you sedate him with strong drugs (and probably without medical supervision).
You refuse to allow a child to be comforted by touch, whether by other children or by adults.
You refuse to allow a child written communication with anyone.
You wake him at dawn by banging on pots until he's up and out of bed.
You make him clean toilets and scrub floors. A 9-year-old has to make beds with military precision.
If a child refuses to come in, you drag him inside by his arms and tell him you can do whatever you want.
They even forbid children from sitting on the floor or using nicknames.
I've read that it costs taxpayers $450 a day for each child in detention. Surely that kind of money can pay for staff to clean. Surely it can pay for psychologists who could help an upset child (the sedation is an easy fix for little money). Surely it could pay for mail from these children to their parents. And surely it could pay for a central database connecting these children to the parents from whom they've been separated. The greatest crime is that many of these children will never be reunited with their parents.
139
I've read (in Newsweek) that the CEO of the "non profit" Southwest Key Programs has an annual salary of $770,860.00 !!!!!!!! and you know who is now paying that salary.....
52
The law here separates children from their parents all the time when the parent is arrested. The treaty also requires that a government is the source of you being abused. We have all those things in the US, violence, crime, poverty, child abuse, spouse abuse, etc. Stay home!!!
36
It sounds like a decent summer camp with rules made by lawyers. Children are separated from their parents who are arrested all the time, and those are citizens.
30
After reading this I can only wonder why their parents brought these kids to cross the border into the US. I am sure they will be much happier when they return to their homes in Central America.
44
Child endangerment, child abuse, crimes against humanity. There should be howls unto heaven of mass outrage for treating children like this. There aren't enough of them! And where are the little girls (all under the age of 5!) airlifted to trafficking central in Miami, not one day after they were yanked from their parents arms in Texas? Think that's beyond the pale? I would too if Trump's campaign director had not been tried, convicted and sentenced for sex trafficking children! Where are the children?!!! Where are the children? And where are the real reporters investigating this mass crime against humanity? The time to act has long since passed.
33
Confused: why are kids cleaning “government” facilities?
55
I’m horrified at the blatant cruelty that these children are subjected to. Yes, their parents broke the law by coming here but the kids are still kids and do not deserve the punishment of concentration camps. I’m 12, and I can’t even imagine not being able to hug my little brother when he and I are scared. I knew that Trump was vindictive and mean but I never thought that he would sink this low. I can’t believe this man is the one leading our country.
148
I'm appalled at the lack of outrage amongst the readers.
73
I’m in the rural West and I’ve stopped being surprised by the callousness and gullibility of many Americans.
Oh, Melania. . . Do you care now? Perhaps you will bend over a few toilets in these centers while you volunteer to help little children hold the scrub brush (that’s a tool with wire bristles used to clean receptacles of human waste. Probably not made of gold, in this instance.)
Oh, Ivanka . . .will you donate some of your hard-earned dollars to the ACLU, immigrant support organizations, lawyers working pro bono and others who are trying to correct the sins of your father and his inhumane policies?
87
None of these atrocities would happen if these children were white.
141
Don't be so sure it won't happen to white children in future.
The strategy here is to normalize detention. You start with brown-skinned people who speak another language because that plays into right-wing nationalist prejudices. The practice becomes acceptable in order to defend the "cultural integrity" of the US (I've seen comments from the right to that effect even here in the NYT), then it can be extended to anyone this administration deems an enemy. And we already know that the Great Orange Baby regards liberals, Democrats, and the independent media as enemies of the people who aren't "real" Americans. This is why comparisons to the beginning of the Holocaust aren't frivolous ("and then they came for me …").
When we look at these children, we should see them as our own.
1
Trump, Miller, Session, the GOP and those who vote or voted for them are evil. This cannot be allowed to continue. Those who implemented and carried out this policy from the pages of a Nazi handbook must be prosecuted for this crime against humanity.
54
Documenting these crimes against humanity by federal officials and contractors' employees should be going on now, so they are on notice that they will be prosecuted when our federal government once more reflects civilization more than savagery. It is second in priority only to getting these children out of the hands of these sadists, who manipulate them like so many chess pieces to feed the anger of American nativists. State and local law enforcement can either investigate and seek civil and criminal remedies that may be available, or they can be complicit.
43
More than likely these children have had unstable lives before their parents or in the case of unaccompanied 15 and up stormed the border . Most of those applying for asylum claim spousal (violence in their home ) abuse or gang violence ; they have already been damaged . They come from poverty , and most damaging of all , the lack of proper food , school , or in some cases familial warmth . The parents of those that care for their children , are more than likely here for economic reasons and not what they claim . Yes , the cold hearted detention and separation is not the answer , but neither are ankle bracelets ; but speedy hearings , conclusions , and strict interpretation of the immigration laws . Only then will it be fair to all , those whose applications are pending , before the river at the border seeking immediate asylum and entry to the U.S.
35
It does not surprise me that the Trump administration botched the processing of these individuals. Trump has zero foresight and his anti-immigrantion policy advisors probably told him that he would not be held accountable for reuniting these families. “After all, they entered illegally, so they have no rights,” was likely the reasoning. Similarly, his supporters, Fox News, and the sycophants in DC chant the same rationale. What is more disturbing than the way these kids are being treated is the fact that the average Trump supporter feels no morose over it. These supporters don’t believe these children have any human rights in this country. America is losing its humanity under the tutelage of an administration immersed in hate and subterfuge. We are living in 1940 Germany.
49
Don't come here and you wont have to face any consequences. Following rules is clearly not what these people are used to, but I see no harm in making them do so if they are going to inflict themselves on us.
38
As punishment for crossing the border with a parent, siblings are not allowed to hug each other. New friends out of necessity in the shelters cannot touch each other. Children are natural touchers and to deny them this on top of everything else is just cruel. I cannot imagine how my grandchildren of various ages from 18 months to 15 would be able to handle this.
31
It's my money that's being spent, and I am ashamed that it's being spent for this kind of cruelty.
37
"These people." You mean the little kids?
1
Really? Seriously? Is this any way to treat any humans whether they are illegal immigrants or not,particulary children. It almost sounds like a concentration camp,made to clean toliets,marching in line to breakfast,wearing uniforms. This is not Nazi Germany this is the United States of America.
46
Instead of spending the money providing better services and care than we do our own kids - let’s spend the money deporting them back to the countries they left.
The kids won’t have to “suffer”; the taxpayers won’t have to raise every poor person who can show up at our border; and liberals won’t be whining that we aren’t spending enough of other people’s money encouraging more illegal aliens and their kids to invade America.
Problem solved.
36
Replying to so-called "Informed Voter" from USA:
How unsurprising. You're a perfect examplar of what Republican operative Rick Wilson called a "theater of cruelty." You enjoy watching innocent people suffer. You enjoy being cruel.
Wilson was quoted in a Newsweek article. An excerpt (if the NYT doesn't object):
“I think the pictures of the cruelty of this administration are a very deliberate part of this,” Wilson said. “They are a feature, not a bug, of the Trump administration’s policy. And so I think we’re in a situation where no one inside the administration is unhappy about these things because they are only talking to their base, they’re only talking to their core supporters . . . And their core supporters want anybody who’s darker than a latte deported. They’re not happy about immigration of any kind. They don’t believe in the asylum process. They want to take and separate these families as a matter of deterrence and as a sort of theater of cruelty. I think it really doesn’t speak well to their moral standing.”
Doesn't speak well to their moral standing. That's an understatement.
37
That’s what Obama did. But he did it without the cruelty, stupidity and using other people’s money keeping the separated kids in stir to subsidize the privatized camps’ owners. Why do rightists always have to show how tough they are when it comes to folks who don’t have squat?
1
Lisa - are you assuming everyone who wants the burden of illegal immigrants removed from this country is white?
1
Everyone says or screams VOTE but where are the voter registration drives? So important especially in states with voter is laws. When will we invest in identifying people not registered and help them go through the process. I see no sign of this being done.
12
Then get out there and start it!
8
The plight of these children is heart breaking. On the other hand, I think we are back to the situation in 2014. Now migrant parents will cross alone, get apprehended, and then the children will cross at the border with details about their parents, at which point they must be reunited with their parents. Since parents and children cannot be in custody, longer than 20 days, they are free to take a shot at the asylum, or join the 11 million illegals in America.
Not noticed by the Times: Illegal immigrant Hondurans cannot work in Mexico. If they try and someone reports them to police, Department of Immigration takes custody of them within 2 hours in urban areas, and 6 hours in rural areas. Mexico does not want to leave "foriegners" in the custody of local police, where they may be mistreated.
Seems like Mexico is still a country.
23
Only people without a heart could read this article and not feel sick, disgusted, outraged, and ashamed that this treatment of these children is happening in our country at the hands of our government and being done in our name.
These are children and they are being treated like criminals made to clean toilets and not allowed to touch their siblings if they happen to be being held -- let's drop the euphemism -- and call it what it is -- incarcerated with them.
Shameful and horrifying esp. when you compare the article about Manafort -- a criminal and traitor -- being treated like a VIP in a hotel in his so-called jail -- with his own toilet and shower, laptop, cell phone, and not being required to wear jail garb. My God -- we have truly lost are way as a nation when we can tolerate this kind of inequity and flat out cruelty to children.
78
57 out of 103? That is a losing team that needs to be fired! Since when can we accept not returning children to parents who where already deported? The USA had kidnapped these children. Even criminal parent citizens can give another close family member custody until a court processes the criminal charge. 57 out of 103 Mr Trump you are fired@
28
So heart broken and ashamed...If this is what the American public wants, if this is what they voted for, count me out. There is no Human Rights Abuse Party...yet!
28
What monster thought up the rule that siblings cannot hug each other? That children cannot share food, or cry? For what possible reason other than pure sadism were such rules instituted? I hope they are punished, preferably in this life.
105
It is not unknown that children who have been sexually abused could continue the cycle of abuse with other children. How can someone easily tell? These are not sheltered, cared for children, they've been exposed to and, perhaps, had first hand experience.
1
SIBLINGS Please! More danger from the guards!
As we head to November, we must keep repeating what this evil administration did. We must remember in November.
42
And every one of us somehow must get 10 (or 50 or 100) additional people, preferably widely dispersed around the country, to vote. No matter their viewpoint! I believe that, in the hypothetical situation of 100% participation by eligible U.S. voters, the complicit do-nothings would be carried off in a tidal wave.
11
I am so enraged, so disgusted, so sad...These are children...what have we become?
56
Never thought that the United States could be so heartless and cruel. The lifetime damage these children will face; and exactly how many will never be reunited with their parents.
77
Cruel? How? To have kids do chores?
21
Making one’s bed is just fine. But cleaning toilets and getting rid of dirty toilet paper is another - in the very least, these are demeaning. And it would seem that janitorial services would be the responsibility of the contractors.
These children have been denied so much.
The question we should ask ourselves: how would we want our grandchildren treated if they were in the same situation? Our standards should be nothing less.
17
Can’t comfort a sibling with a hug. That is cruel.
15
What kind of monsters treat three year olds this way? It is unbelievable! And the US is actually asking these destitute people for huge bail amounts and even transportation money to bring their kids back from across the country? What has this country become?
118
The United Nations' 1967 "Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees" (of which the US is a party) protects an individual based on protected grounds such as race, religion or political affiliation (how fitting).
Using the UN's own definition, economic hardship or living with criminality (even gangs), is not a "protected ground" and therefore not a valid basis for asylum. Fleeing a country for economic hardship is a nothing new (and many legal immigrants have endured the process to our country's benefit) but claiming crime or a lack of economic opportunity counts as protected asylum undermines those who truly deserve asylum.
Also, crossing into another country illegally and then being indignant or unhappy about the consequences is also not the basis of a nation's immigration system.
What about the public elementary schools which have had to increasingly furnish bilingual education at expense of other children in terms of overcrowding and resources? Also, where are the NYT stories on unpaid hospital bills from non-citizens (your taxes or insurance supplements this) or the 20% or more rate of "non-citizen" inmates at Federal prisons? See the Fed Bureau of Prisons website if you don't believe that one in five convicted federal prisoners is a "non-citizen".
No, not all undocumented immigrants are criminals or rapists but they certainly aren't refugees worthy of asylum to game the system, either.
32
@Name Unknown: Your reading of the Law may well be correct (ie that many of the asylum seekers do not meet the law’s criteria to receive it), but that doesn’t stop a parent from trying to escape a difficult situation, especially from one that puts their lives at risk.
And you are missing the point.
The problem here is not that the law is being applied, but rather that children are being cruelly separated from their parents. This is because of the government making changes that put a strained over the top. Yes, there were already problems, but they needed to be fixed as part of the plan (or at least improved). To any sane observer, this requires more judges and more Flores-approved detention locations. Furthermore the HSS needs to develop strong collaboration procedures with the border patrol and Homeland Security. A fix to the immigration legislation is also required, and should be possible for a determined government with a non-partisan approach.
Instead the Government simply broke the already poorly-functioning system by forcing a change in procedures that overloaded it. And the policy of separating the children from their parents, is just pure evil. For this (and the lack of planning) the current government must take full blame. And should fix it!
21
Well, someone has to serve the guests at Mar-A-Lago, right?
9
About bilingual (and ESL) education: these are funded on top of (that means "in addition to," meaning, it ADDS to, and does not subtract from) local funding by federal funds under Title III. There are plenty of studies that show that multilingual children fare better in the long run in terms of educational outcomes - in layman's terms, they outperform their monolingual peers.
5
Concentration camps for three year olds. Can this country sink any lower (knowing Trump, I'm afraid to ask)? I don't have the words to express properly how utterly vile this is.
73
Has the president ever considered how his son would feel if he was separated from his mother, or how Ivanka's kids would feel? Worse yet, is that siblings are not allowed to touch each other? The care workers are not allowed to hug and comfort the kids. If they think it will prevent child abuse it won't. I am willing to bet that a lot of the kids are being sexually molested by the keepers and the older children.
No, this is not comparable to what the Nazis did. They took the children away to kill them. It is still a disgrace.
29
Trumps children would never suffer any atrocities because they are white.
12
I can relate. All of us can. Who can stand children suffering? However, what would be a better solution? Incarcerating them with their parents in “family” prisons? Sending them back to their countries of origin on the spot? Accepting them all in and giving them American citizenship (BTW, this is the current approach used in Argentina with illegal immigrants from neighboring countries, they all become Argentines in about 6 months time)? But while this may work temporarily it can only incentivize more people to make the illegal crossing.
And what to do with those who arrive alone?
I can’t see any easy solution and it appears to me that no matter what children (and adults) will continue to suffer.
19
Real answer is complicated. Democrats had no answers on the question of illegal reform. Hillary Clinton backers(not the campaign) floated a proposal that would allow illegal immigrants to register for a "green card- a renewable work permit" at USCIS offices. This proposal was amnsety without Congressional approval. Once they have green cards, illegal immigrants will no longer want to work in the low wage industries they currently work in(agriculture, tourism, restaurants). 95% would no longer want to work in agriculture. This would cause a collapse of the agricultural economy, leading to demands of a guest worker program that would import 2 to 3 million workers in agriculture. These guest workers would also obviously never want to leave. All this is obvious to someone who has lived in any county where agriculture is the #1 sector of the economy.
13
The 'real answer' is not complicated. The real answer is to the question of 'What is YOUR responsibility?"
And yes, sure, the U.S. can't take everyone and we need to have secure borders, blah, blah, blah ... but where in heaven's name can you find justification for child abuse as a deterrent?
Not one other country on earth has child abuse as a policy.
May God forgive us.
21
Ah, so the plan is to welcome them illegally and have them work at below minimum wage. Great plan.
7
Aden Galicia Lopez, 3. His picture breaks my heart. He's still a baby and he was torn away from his mother. This was done after a harrowing journey to get to so-called safety in the USA. Likely she soothed him by telling him "be there soon." What a disappointment for a baby boy. He is with his mother now but he will always feel insecure because of what was done to him during his formative years.
56
Thank you for writing about this. One of the most painful articles to read as a mom, as a human being. I forced myself to read it. Whereas, you, and reporters like you, directly witness the suffering these kids are going through, reporting on what you saw in person. This is a difficult time for our country and I am just so grateful we have journalists. Thank you.
70
It is up to us to fix this . Raise your voices, protest. Call all your elected officials. VOTE VOTE VOTE!
48
Comparisons should really run toward the Slave States of the Confederacy in the years leading to the Civil War.
Slavery was legal, as every Confederate traitor likes to say, nevermind that it was monstrously immoral and being outlawed around the world - except for the Southern Slave States.
Cleaning toilets is just the start.
Conservatives and Evangelicals will find nothing wrong with farming out these children to work in farm fields to work for free, paying for their keep.
They won't become citizens, and the Confederates will like keeping them in the camps.
After all - it's legal.
JUST like slavery was legal.
40
Can an appeal be made to the International Court in The Hague? Surely these are crimes against humanity and their perpetrators should be charged with such! I am truly sickened. Injections? Scrubbing toilets?
After just watching the heroic rescue of the nine Thai boys trapped in a cave, the lack of humanity of our own leaders becomes even more magnified. The tears of these sweet innocents are flooding the cold cement floors of their man-made caves. Their captors may one day seek forgiveness from God. I cannot forgive them.
49
International Court in The Hague has no jurisdiction over the USA. Two ICC only has jurisdiction over war crime not over states enforcing there borders against illegal migrants.
8
Sadly, I am pretty sure the US government is getting billed for the cleaning of restrooms by some private source while the staff is forcing these wrongfully imprisoned children to do that work. It is all revolting.
25
The photo and the first paragraph alone make my eyes well up completely with tears and I physically cannot read this article.
32
We are Nazi Germany and those who aren't vocal, marching and calling and protesting in any way they can are complicit. We are ALL responsible. And may we all be held accountable.
148
We are "Nazi Germany" because we try to stop a flood of economic migrants from illegally crossing our open borders and join the almost 6% of the population illegally residing in the US?
While we refuse to accept real refugees from wars we started in the Middle East? Or while we make it that much harder for people trying to immigrate to the US legally, even if they have the qualifications to enrich and contribute to our society, because our immigration system has been clogged up by illegal entrants?
I agree that we need to protest, but I think we should protest against the criminal abuse of the system and against those who enable such abuse.
30
Yes. Thank you for posting this.
what Trump has done to these most vulnerable young children, their mothers and fathers is more despicable than any presidential act in my lifetime. Perhaps tied by wBush's embrace of torture.
88
they broke the law by illegally crossing into USA and lost there kids because we no longer let those with kids cross illegally they promise to come back, there there hearings but don't show.
20
In times like these I wish I believed in God because I'd like for the perpetrators of these atrocities to think they face the ultimate retribution they deserve.
48
The officers under Hitler also claimed they were just doing their job.
122
As this situation unfolded, anyone who is a parent or works with children - could well imagine what ill effects these children were experiencing by the mere separation from their parents. Now, here we have more details that read like prisoner of war stories. You don't need a back ground in psychology to know that from this day forward these children will have difficulty trusting people, difficulty bonding, difficulty taking risks, and difficulty being in relationships. I have often disagreed with choices my government has made - but in this - I feel profound sorrow.
65
My friends, heads MUST roll in November 2018 and 2020! This administration is pathetic.
93
USA! USA! USA! Be ashamed USA. You voted for this.
30
Hillary Clinton got 2.9 million more votes than Trump. Our antiquated "give rural states a say via the electoral college" is what got Trump elected. The majority of voters wanted Clinton and they did not want this.
76
Shame on you trump! Shame on you sessions! Shame on all the employees who have played a part in these most despicable crimes against humanity! What evil things were done to you to commit these acts against humans. As many will reply with comments similar to mine, those that have answered with no compassion, no sense of right or wrong, I ask, would you feel O.K. with your child cleaning toilets, falling asleep crying wondering when you will see a loved one again? I think not because in your eyes your different, your better then they, and that is the real problem. When you separate yourself equality runs out the door and these acts are what follow. I would say shame on you also but those of you who say these things might, if the tides change, hang those like myself, or threaten to strike fear in children to act similar as you do. Hopefully there are more of us and maybe, just maybe we can keep from becoming like you!
39
I am so heartsick that I cannot finish reading this article. How did America get to this hellish place? There is no punishment severe enough for Trump and his administration. And it should be shared by those who continue to support the tyrants despite their sin of child abuse. I suspect they'd still see nothing wrong with slavery. Our flag is drooping. The world is pointing its finger.
238
This us utterly barbaric. How would Trump and the wife feel if their son Barron was made to perform these tasks, and receive an injection to induce sleep? This is heart-wrenching. I hear people declare, “This is not America!” Apparently, it is.
78
Who ever decided to choose cute Adan Galicia pose for this picture, to show how well the separated children are looked after, failed miserably. All the stuffed toys in Adan's arms cannot hide the distress and hopelessness he is suffering. His large eyes and his pursed, drooped lips convey the real, sad story.
53
Good journalism. Thank you NYT and reporters for keeping us informed.
90
“More than 100 government sponsored detention centers”. Who is making money from this? Who was lobbied as this heartless and unjust policy was discussed and decided upon? Up until this I didn’t want to go through an impeachment when (please Heaven) the House is in Democratic hands. Now I want Trump out. I want Jeff Sessions and Alex Azar disbarred at the very least
80
Yes, NYT please investigate and tell us who these companies are and what parent companies, holding companies etc. own them.
32
Components of this child detention program that seem of questionable legality:
1. Forcibly taking children from their parents.
2. Torture by exposure to inhumanely low temperatures in the "icebox".
4. The apparent control of a disruptive child by sedation.
3. Forced child labor -- the detention facility uses the children as janitorial staff.
44
It's all about the money. Follow the money and you'll find the monsters profiting off this tragedy, the ones who don't want it to stop.
34
I am sick to death of hearing the Trump apologists trying to blame this on the parents, many of whom have *legally* applied for asylum, or spreading the false claims that President Obama did the same thing (that's a lie) or that the children mostly arrived alone without their parents. The truth is the hateful Trump and Stephen Miller did this to terrorize parents into not attempting to seek asylum. If these were rich Russians looking to buy Trump condos and launder some money on the side, they would be welcome with open arms, but the fact that they're brown-skinned victims of terror means we should treat them with inhumanity. Trump's racist and cruel policy is disgusting.
351
Gerald L. Neuman, the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School and the co-director of the Human Rights Program at the Law School, wrote in an email that in his opinion, detaining children, with or without their parents, in order to deter seeking asylum “amounts to arbitrary detention in violation of the United States’s obligations under international human rights law.”
104
Absolutely horrendous!
29
"...100 government-contracted detention facilities for migrant children around the country that are a rough blend of boarding school, day care center and medium security lockup."
The Republican owners of for-profit prisons are laughing all the way to the bank. Those private prisons were having money problems, and the owners were petrified that with prison reform, we were going to decrease our warehousing the poor, mentally ill, and minorities in this country. We already imprison an exponentially larger percentage of our population than any other wealthy country in the world. Now we are imprisoning asylum seekers. More profits. Ca-ching. We are becoming a despicable place.
47
You are right, this is who we are, but I don't think we became this in 2 years. I think it was there, hidden just under the surface. Trump's support has been just below or at 40% consistently. That seems to be the % of Americans who are fearful, hate-filled, racist, and yes, deplorable. As long as the 60% rule, the rest bow to publicly acceptable behavior. But when given permission, they devolve quickly to their true character, even delight in the pain and suffering of others. Just maybe what makes us different is not simply the % we have of each type and which dominates our public policy.
42
Social workers do that sort of bullcookies regularly. One of my friends has 4 kids who are in foster care staying with relatives, and the social worker at the agency revoked her weekly visitation rights because she let the kids' father chat with them on her phone during the visit. He's in a jail, wrongfully I would say, but that's another matter of injustice to explore. Anyway, they are his kids, he loves them, they love him, and the social worker like a nazi thug said visiting with him is not allowed. What's unheard of in the child separation here is that they are potentially being shoved into separate countries from their parents. But any such separation for reasons other than gross abuse are in my opinion outrages that the legal system is unable to inflict sufficient retribution upon. This I feel about those ICE agents, the officials directing them, and the social workers who daily abuse families within America.
26
The government is censoring basic human, relational care in the separation of families, not only through children and parents being placed in separate facilities, but in the deprivation of touch between siblings and in forbidding written communication between parents and children.
Deprivation is a form of touchless torture--a technique employed in US carceral facilities for submission, admission of guilt, and punishment. Would someone please write an article on the separation of families as a form of "touchless torture" where separated families not only become the scapegoats to deter others considering crossing the borders of the US (legally or illegally), but as a form of coercion for pleas, suppression and control?
Facilities may argue that forbidding touch is keeping everyone "safe" from unwanted or harmful touch. Even prisoners are allowed to hug their visitors in greeting--and hold hands in supervised visits, however.
The forbidding of writing in dormitories is rather a protective measure for the government. In time, the narratives and drawings will emerge. The children's drawings may become the best record of this atrocity in US history--if they are not all confiscated and burned or put into "confidential" government files.
Miné Okubo's wrote of "Citizen 13660", her drawing documentary of the systematic scapegoating defined by Japanese internment camps, "I hope that things can be learned from this tragic episode, for I believe that it could happen again."
60
the not touching policy is inexplicably ignorant
8
The cruelest point here is that these children have been torn away from people who love them. Whether or not the children like the food or are made to clean the bathroom is irrelevant. What matters is that there is no one to give them a hug or kiss or even a pat on the back and they do not know if or when they will see their loved ones again.
51
Actually, Lindsay, the vast majority were NOT taken from their parents. They were traveling with traffickers or coyotes who were of no relation to the children. In the rare cases where a child is, in fact, separated from its parents, the separation is temporary and for the child's own safety. Once it has been determined that the child is not being trafficked, abused, or otherwise endangered, they are reunited. In the meantime, the children are provided with food, medical care, shelter, education, and entertainment on the taxpayers' dime. And, yes, expected to clean up after themselves, do basic chores, and follow rules. This is far from the human rights violation virtue signaling liberals claim it to be. Would you rather we turn a blind eye to human trafficking and child abuse so that you can pat yourself on the back when smugglers cross the border with someone else's child and no questions asked?
17
Who dragged them through a terrible, dangerous journey. Shame on their parents to put them through this and them out it on the US taxpayer to take care of them.
16
Mary's comment is what Fox News is telling its viewers, and they want to believe it. They want to believe that they're really SAVING the children. Nobody likes to think of themselves as complicit in a terrible state-sponsored crime against small children. Anyone who doesn't educate themselves about the facts--that small children, even infants, are being forcibly removed from their parents, many forever--is complicit. The Trump administration just told the federal judge who had ordered reunification that those children and babies under five whose parents had already been deported will remain in U.S. foster care indefinitely. The government says that it has no responsibility to reunite these families. It is not temporary.
4
I could not even get through the entire article. The stories were so heartbreaking. I kept thinking if my own grandchildren were in this situation, how frightened they would be. And surely they would not understand.
I used to be so proud of this country; now I only feel shame and anger.
I vote and I protest and I speak out and I donate money, but the cruelty, the ignorance, the incompetence, the destruction of democracy just continues.
What has become of the US?
140
Not being allowed to hug your sibling or a new friend is cruel. Not knowing where your parent is or what steps need to take place before you can see them again is cruel. Making no attempt to track which parents have which children is cruel.
I do not want this country to be cruel.
42
Until very recently in history, ordinary citizens could plausibly claim "I didn't know" about whatever atrocities were perpetrated by their governments on others. But now we have real time reporting with audio, visual, and forensic evidence. We cannot claim "I didn't know". There is no excuse for how our government is treating not only these children, but all asylum seekers and migrants.
To claim "it's fine, better than their home", or blame the victims "they shouldn't have tried to come here", is to either are willfully ignore overwhelming reporting, or lack basic human empathy. We do know. One day history will judge us. Today, need to speak up and stop the horror of this administration before it further destroys our national soul.
96
Yes. Speak up and vote!
20
Echoing letter writer A. Stanton from Dallas, TX: If separating children from their parents for no good reason isn't an impeachable offense, nothing is.
America hang your head in shame.
85
Donald J. Trump, his administration AND every single Republicans, IS responsible for this EVIL and this atrocity!
The America, I loved and admired, which opened its arms to Cuban refugees....no longer exists!
Shame of you, Republicans, YOU own this black mark on our history!
Karma....
47
These are children whose parents ILLEGALLY crossed. You neglect that little fact. This happens other times. Drive drunk with your kid in the car and see what they do.
33
It isn’t a crime to arrive at the border and ask foe asylum. Why is it that people don’t care about this?
381
I don’t think the authorities would lock your kids up in a remote location.
29
They don’t lose your kids in a detention center!!!
19
This is soooo Trump. I keep wondering "WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE!!!!!!
25
Agree. Where are the college protests?!!!!!
7
No hugging, even of siblings? Okay, I get it, the adults are paranoid about being accused of child-molestation or of tolerating it. They saw how easy it was for their own side to gin up hysteria about nonexistent child-trafficking in a pizza parlor. But no writing in their rooms, no mail? What do they think the kids are, felons in a maximum security prison?
Now stop, take a deep breath and think back two years. No matter what your party affiliation, no matter what you thought of Trump, anywhere from God-Emperor to Satan incarnate, did you ever imagine that it would come to this, that we would be discussing the mass imprisonment of young children who have not committed any crime? Well, did you? I doubt that any German voters in 1933 envisoned the gas chambers and cremation ovens either. But you get there one step at a time.
150
Scrub the sinks and toilets? Do they also have to wash the dishes and do the laundry?
“The children will be taken care of — put into foster care or whatever,” White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told NPR.
Is this the "whatever" part? Smells like gulag.
50
What is wrong with doing chores??
22
Nothing.
2
No they aren’t. The children’s centers are nonprofits, adults are for profit.
Enough is enough.
Really?
When?
10
There is not a "Christian" bone in this administration. Baby Jesus would have been separated from his mother, Mary and Joseph as they were homeless, unlawful, and immigrants. Since Trump has not released his tax returns and has not been vetted, he and his family gang could be up to their necks in this repulsive use and form of corporate welfare using tax dollars. This administration has no shame or compassion; they are ruthless and cruel to their core.
31
Actually, I have to clean my toilet, if I want it clean. And the inhumanity of having to walk in line; the mind boggles. To my mind, much of the care these people are getting seems pretty good indeed. The photo today was a dandy though; I can't imagine better unless the boy was given a puppy or kitten to hug.
26
"I can't imagine better unless the boy was given a puppy or kitten to hug."
Or his parents, say.
Have you ever had treatment for lack of empathy?
28
Thank you - I agree 110%. The lack of empathy and humanity in so many of these comments is staggering - i am at a loss to express. All I can think is that those who support Trump are so adamant in their loyalty - and so loathe to admit his incompetency, lack of intellect and compassion - that they are willing to excuse any and all of his actions, regardless of the inherent and obvious inhumanity.
I hope this man will be relegated by history to the dumpster where he belongs. I am so relieved to have moved home, but my heart hurts for those compassionate friends and coworkers who remain there - America today is not the great country it has the potential to become.
12
Reading this makes me angry and ashamed. All of you people who voted for Trump: Does this make you happy? Does this make America great again? May he and all of you be called to account for this shameful and heartless policy.
Of all the insults to these children, this one is most telling:
“You had to clean the bathroom,” Diego said. “I scrubbed the bathroom. We had to remove the trash bag full of dirty toilet paper. Everyone had to do it.”
That they aren’t allowed to flush their dirty toilet paper??
20
I think that was a poor translation - I'm assuming paper towels.
Trump, this is just wrong.
10
Children cleaning toilets sounds like slave labor to me.
My tax dollars at work????
22
I cleaned toilets, washed, dried, & put away dishes plus mopped floors and made my bed. I was raised by wonderful, loving parents and I was expected to do chores. I see nothing wrong with these children doing chores. After all, they are learning a work ethic, especially when none of their family is paying for their upkeep.
14
None of their families are paying for their upkeep?
They were forcibly taken from their parents and in many cases their parents and families do not now know where they are. What are you talking about?
8
The US taxpayer is still paying for all of the upkeep of these kids and their parents
9
This is good; instill a good work ethic in these kids before they are deported
12
Good point. Maybe the Administration can get all those child labor laws that will further help “unshackle” businesses from such burdensome regulations. That way we can compete with countries like Pakistan.
20
More emotionalism. Please inform the irresponsible parents that illegal immigration has consequences to their children.
32
Forced child labor is not congruent with this country's ideals.
19
Why don’t you visit both the adults and children’s centers and tell that to their faces, and only after hearing their sides of things? I am not advocating that they be allowed to remain here, but I guess I’m not smug enough to be so callously and cruelly cavalier about it.
14
Label me "proud to be emotional".
9
Here is another story that shows only one view---the absolute cruelty by Trump and ICE. What the NY Times fails to consider is that one of the reasons children must be separated from their "parents", is to confirm their identity. Guatemala has a huge problem with rampant child sex trafficking. Please, if you're going to report on this situation, include other angles other than crying children.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-guatemala-humantrafficking/guatemala-...
24
I would like to hear more about the people who choose to work in the children's prisons. Some must be kinder than others, but working as a prison guard for children does not sound like an proper job. How are they hired and what kind of resume is required? Are they desperate for work, and do they cling to their jobs? What benefits do they get for working in this less than ideal situation? In Germany what was going through the minds of the prison guards? How could they go on to their own families in Nazi Germany? How can these workers in America stand to be guards in a children's prison? I guess somebody has to do it....I find the giving of " injections" to the unruly particularly chilling. I fear that the noise making at night could be dangerous for the child inmates, and lead to other draconian measures, perhaps?
23
Sounds like a military prison. The main problem is that they apply rules fit for older children to kids that are barely beyond their toddler stages.
It is obvious the facilities weren't meant for kids. And the dumb contractors that run these places are unable to make intelligent choices fit for the situation.
19
Anyone thinking this is 'not too bad' should be asked to volunteer their own kids to be treated in exact the same way, except reversed. The adults can speak Spanish and give the kids lessons in Latin American history.
39
This policy is exactly what one would expect from a man whose public statements about his own daughters involved (even in the case of an infant Tiffany) their sexuality, attractiveness, legs and breasts. Kids as commodities. For pleasure, his own, or for punishing parents who dare to flee poverty or war with their own children in tow. His enablers, Sessions, McConnell et al, with their own million dollar oligarch donations from pals of Putin, are equally abhorrent. Every ICE official who carries out this program carries guilt and shame. Every sanctimonious last one of the GOP and Red State democrats who voted for Trump appointees is involved in this cruel, unlawful program.
27
The current situation disturbing many is of a different order and magnitude as many more central American families are now seeking asylum because the only thing awaiting them in their own country is death, not just economic hardship.
Most of them are now aware of the family disruption & separations of Trump's Zero-Tolerance policies. But if you imagine your own family was in severe danger, you would logically think , as do these families, of the safety of crossing the border, north or south. The need for security and family safety is more important than what could happen to these families with Trump policies. Trump's dissuasion policies will only work if the U.S. (or any of the other central American countries now receiving immigrants) creates conditions worse than the ones these central American individuals and families are fleeing.
8
Why aren't they seeking asylum in South America, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic? They are of alike cultures and speak the same language. Why not claim asylum in Mexico. It isn't all bad. Why come to the USA??
19
Living in the relative safety and security of the USA , it is easy for some to advocate that asylum seekers and refugees put themselves, their children and family lives at high risk, stay in their country, fight, and not run away from the turmoil and dangers of central America. Many families are in fact seeking asylum in other latin countries. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, family asylum applications in Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Belize have risen 712 percent since 2009. Highly reliable reports all confirm that these families seeking asylum are fleeing because of extreme violence, murder, extortion, rape and abuse in their home country. As the violence has escalated, the number of child and family refugees has increased accordingly. Perhaps those here who often so glibly advocate that refugees not run away and stay to fight might very quickly change their tune if their own family resided in San Salvador, Guatemala City or Tegucigalpa.
2
No touching? Young children cleaning toilets? This is unbelievable. Why no touching when the kids most need human touch? Why clean toilets when there are adults present (it seems)? These two things, like everything else about the situation, accentuate the cruelty and harmfulness of this whole immoral situation. We are a nation of immigrants, and we need them--to do more than clean toilets, I have to add. We can only be grateful for the kids' spirits that inspire them to "moo" to each other and giggle in the dark night, without the comfort of a family member.
24
A recent commenter on a Times article talked about the path to fascism. He said he had made a checklist for himself to gauge the progress of the Trump administration down that path. He had already checked off his first twelve steps, and now he had to check number 13 - concentration camps. I never thought we’d get that far, but that said, who’d have thought that here in the U.S. we’d have concentration camps for children? The issue is not even so much the conditions, which as this article points out range from good to bad, it's that we're doing this to kids at all.
You have to recall the Edmund Burke quote, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." What are we going to do to stop the triumph of this evil?
52
"Cleaning Toilets, Following Rules: A Migrant Child's Days in Detention", an article about illegal immigrants who came to America was the article that interested me the most this week.
Our president's "zero-tolerance policy" has been awful on many immigrants coming from Mexico. These children are taken from their parents after illegally crossing the border and taken to holding facilities, thousands of miles away from their parents. They spend their days waiting and wondering if they will ever see their parents again. They have strict rules to follow: no misbehaving, no sitting on the floor, no sharing food, no nicknames, no crying, and no touching anyone. They try to make the most out of what they don't even have. And, at the end of the day, they are only children, and they have friends, but they need their parents to help them get through life. This was a very emotional article, which is why I chose to comment on it. It really opened my eyes to things that I didn't know was this bad.
10
We need to solve this problem fast. This is a disaster and unamerican. Let's open the borders for everyone in need. We need to provide care for all of the children in central america who live in poverty stricken areas. Next let's abolish ICE and then create a special tax on millionaires and corporations to set up better "camps" as the potential new US citizens cross the border. If we cannot raise enough money to provide care for the new "immigrants" then we can work with Mexico and the other central american companies to provide us $20k per person per year to help out. It only seems fair given that the countries are totally mistreating their citizens and cannot provide jobs, education and a stable political culture.
7
Are you kidding?? We would have a billion people in the USA and our social programs would go bankrupt
14
And, lest any of us forget for one minute -- these are privatized detention centers owned and operated for massive profit by the cronies of Trump and the Republican election machine.
Beware the privatization coming for all of us.
42
Wow. Many of the comments here show just how many Americans are out of touch with their humanity.
This is a horror show, and Trump and ALL of his enablers are responsible. To pretend the kids have it good because they are fed regular meals — when their emotional lives have been destroyed — shows how sick American materialism has become.
There are many thing to be ashamed of in our history. Our recent treatment of immigrants certainly ranks among them.
37
No child should be separated from a parent, ever! I they cannot get asylum they need to be deported as a family unit or if they need an asylum review they should be kept together as family units.It is heartless to have children in group shelters not knowing when and whether they will be reunited with the people they love.If this happens to just one child, it is one child too many.!This sounds like the policy of a cruel totalitarian regime.That is not who we are.
16
Children need love and hugs but they are getting injections instead! I wonder if these “doctors” know anything about these children medical history.
25
If separating mothers from children for no good reason isn't an impeachable offense, nothing is.
35
This is an outrageous injustice. We Americans, those among us that are still a people of conscience and decency, must speak out against this! Only if we rise up to rally and protest can we fairly absolve ourselves of these shameful acts, if we do not we are complicit.
11
PLEASE, folks, share this article with everyone you know! Post it on Social Media. PLEASE!
7
Sounds like a military prison.
14
If Trump ever knew of this treatment, which I doubt since he doesn't concern himself with the details of his fiats, it would probably remind him of his time at military school and hence would seem perfectly fair and reasonable.
4
I want to cry after reading this article. The state of confusion and uncertainty these kids are in leaves them feeling there isn't any security in their lives which is so important to a good childhood. We have to demand this situation be cleared up now and all children reunited. I'm scared some of them will get permanently left without parents. This administration has been so incompetent. I don't know who we are anymore.
32
I'm no Trump fan but blaming him for this mess is not altogether fair. These kids have parents - somewhere - who brought them here illegally. Typical government, the make shift and hastily contracted shelters and workers are probably not top of the line and money is being made and taxpayers are footing the bill. It's unsettling and upsetting but the blame can be shared by previous administrations and the situation has been a long time in coming.
21
Allow me to disagree. Many people break many different laws. I imagine Mr. Trump may have too.
The nature and the gravity of the violation (coming to America to work) needs to be contrasted with the penalty (separating children from their parents and placing them in cages).
Each day this continues, we are all morally responsible for it.
22
Many of these parents came seeking asylum. They were deported without their children. They were not even given a "receipt". This is the biggest cruelty one can inflict-- in the name of our government. Shame Shame.
22
And again- arriving at the border asking for asylum is not against the law.
19
The thing about the kids making sounds like cows in a barn was an outstanding final touch. It must have taken great restraint not to liken the same noises to that of sheep being led to slaughter. I applaud the Times for their gaining of objectivity.
15
I am 77 and earlier this year, I had a cardiac arrest. My two oldest children came immediately to see me as they both live in California. Was I thrilled to see them! However my youngest daughter lives in England and on recovering, I cried at the thought that I might have died before seeing her. I cried again when we flew to England to see her. I cannot imagine the pain that these families go through, the policies are just cruel. I loved my mother dearly and still miss her. What difficulties will these children face in the future? Don’t we care?
25
I read this during a break from preparing for a grandchild's birthday. She turns 3, the age of this sad, lost little fellow in the first photograph. This treatment of the least among us will not be forgotten. What our once great nation has become, and the world's perception of us, is going to take decades to reverse, if that is even possible. I never imagined we would alienate our allies, mistreat our neighbors, or allow a dictator to essentially dictate our direction.
41
I hope this article makes every U.S. newspaper's Sunday edition. Imprisonment, away from contact with parents and siblings and other family members is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of our constitution. Those who cooperate in carrying out the incarceration of children should be prosecuted for their crimes against humanity. The deprivations suffered by these young kids will haunt them their whole lives and the anguish of their parents cries out to the heavens.
36
The parents who allowed their children to take the trip alone trying to get into our country were taking a chance on our hospitality. I see no reason we should allow them in and pay for all the expenses that occur with their education, healthcare etc.
Mexico seems to encourage and guide all the so called asylum seekers, I suggest they should keep them and pay for taking care of them
22
I am so sad for these children I am unable to finish the article. Anyone who has raised children would know this sort of regimented, structured, impersonal living condition, regardless of the physical care provided, still robs from these children their attachment to their parents, their self-identity,their emotional being. In short they have become robots, slaves, inmates to Trump's need to garner support from those Americans who see other people, especially non-white, less worthy of love, respect, care as all human should have.
I'd like to suggest that Trump put his son Baron and grandchildren in the detention camp for a try for a few months to show America is strong and great with wealth and military might, just not human rights.
29
Q: How does Trump sleep at night with his child abuse and destruction of families on his conscience?
A: He sleeps quite well. The question contains the false premise that he has a conscience.
37
Oh.. we're far worse than that.. This is nothing.
1
How clever, how profound.. Thanks for sharing! Would you take some mint tee with that?
3
Do you know of any GOP represenatives or ICE employees illegally crossing a border with children?
7
I have to wonder how the ICE people, GOP representatives, and even Trump himself would feel about their children being treated this way.
Sorry, I now remember: "I don't care, do U"
Silly me
438
Remember this America this, is who we are.
47
I read this and, like so many others I know, feel powerless to stop the evil that the US is perpetrating against immigrant children.
I ask all the so called “religious leaders” in this country why they are not providing us the leadership we want and need to stop the evil.
70
I am truly sickened by these stories. This is suave labor - inhumane, sadistic, and traumatic. We asked how the Holocost happened - for precisely the same reason - no one spoke up. And bags of dirty toilet paper - this speaks of inadequate plumbing. Why the 6:30 AM waked up? Children need sleep. No fruits and vegetables? Starvation. N Korea ( a place Trump loves) in the US. He is a scourge on humanity - no better than the lowest gang member. I see these strutting billionaires using tax payer money to buy dining room furniture, expensive trips, and pad their lifestyles. From Haley at the UN mealy mouthed at S Sudan to Trump drooling over Putin and N Korea- the US is morally bankrupt. Yes - the UN has the right to investigate and charge US officials with crimes against humanity.
359
Please, Times, allow people to correct their own comments. This impassioned plea would be so much better with slave than suave.
3
It is not inadequate plumping. In Mexico & Central American countries toilet paper is not flushed, but instead folded and put in a waste basket in every bathroom stall. The children are not accustomed to flushing toilet paper.
The future is here.
11
All of these "rules" are also used at prisons.
They're treating people who were fleeing violence to seek a better life, including very young children, like PRISONERS instead of refugees. This is sickening.
311
This treatment of children,and those who rationalize it away sickens me. I am ashamed to be an American. Is this what we"ve become in just 2 years?
263
Wounded Knee, My Li, Tuskegee experiments, the bombing of North Vietnam... and the Trump kidnapped children. Beware of America's "compassion".
Of course the list is one percent of the horrors.
74
And Japanese Internment Camps. PLUS thirty of more years, of the Chinese Exclusion Act!
We have hurt many.
15
To be fair please include real statistics that over 80% of these "children" crossed the border without parents and are and claim to be 16 or 17.... After they are caught..... also less than 3% of asylum cases are genuine.
Anyone caught breaking the laws should be permanently barred from the US.
as most illegals now are extorted by border gangs for Thousands in crossing fees they are not economic refugees.
24
You are terribly misinformed. You are incorrect in most of your statements, and no matter how they got there, these children (and they are children) were fleeing for their lives and are innocents in this situation. No child deserves to be held captive in such a manner, no matter how “good” the facility may be. Just imagine yourself and/or your children in the same circumstances. If you or they had been unfortunate enough to be born in any of their countries of origin, you would be doing the same thing to try to save them or yourself. The US has plenty of room and resources welcome these and many more, without sacrificing anything. They do not take jobs from American workers, they do not tax our welfare system or social services. Research has demonstrated over and over again that immigrants (undocumented or not) make our country better. They, in turn, only desperately want to be part of this great country, help it succeed and become participants in the American Dream.
8
Breaking the law should be permanently barred from the US. I love that idea, as Caucasians are responsible for most law breaking.
Also, define "illegal." I believe Melania was "illegally" employed when she first arrived?
I get your frustration, but we don't live in fear of immigrants, we live in fear of people with guns, which are mostly Caucasian.
26
please cite your sources for your statistics
9
So heartbreaking, so shameful, so damaging, so unnecessary.
Thanks to to the lawyers helping these families.
126
There are many denominations sponsoring resolutions and direct action against the separation of families at the border ... Members of our local Unitarian Universalist congregation, including our minister, were recently arrested while blocking the Secretary of State Kris Kobach's office (Kobach is currently running for governor supports end to in-state tuition for illegal students, draconian citizenship proof to vote, etc) during Families Belong Together protests in the state capital. At the UU General Assembly, held at the end of June 2018, resolutions were passed calling for direct action in support of immigrants and the abolishment of ICE as an agency of immigration enforcement, which inherently criminalizes those seeking sanctuary in the US ... see https://www.uua.org/immigration/witness/198427.shtml
10
What's described here sounds like prison, although I don’t know whether adult inmates in the U.S. clean toilets and I’m guessing they CAN write in their cells. This business of walking around giving shots of psychotropic drugs as a way to maintain order bends the mind. Imagine if that happened in public schools.
Mr. Trump says he's the first president who will solve the problem of illegal immigration. Super. But if his administration can't detain families humanely while securing the borders and applying immigration laws then he hasn’t succeeded. And no number of picnic tables and swimming pools substitutes for the presence of a parent. Simply wishing or complaining that the adult migrants should stop showing up with small children isn't a solution. Nor is telling everyone that the separation law was an Obama administration construct (particularly if he doesn't add that they didn’t actually apply this ultra-hard line, causing the spike in parentless detention).
"In response to an international outcry, President Trump recently issued an executive order to end his administration’s practice, first widely put into effect in May, of forcibly removing children from migrant parents who had entered the country illegally." Admitting that “my hands are tied by the Democrats” was a lie is a start. Now reunite these families. Please get it done, like the people in Thailand got THEIR impossible child-rescue job done.
In the meantime, children, keep mooing and giggling! That’s wonderful.
13
Perhaps, just PERHAPS we might want to consider what actions we are willing to accept in order to make us great again.
Without substantial, court reviewed evidence of danger to the child, how can ANYTHING justify, support, or condone a policy of automatically removing children from the care of their parents?
We are in the hands of cruelty.
113
Those that spout the MAGA mantra find any action that does not impact them personally or negatively to be acceptable. Trump is essentially building an army of socio-paths and it needs to be fed.
13
They should never have been separated from their parents. That is wrong.
However, there is one fact, in the heading which is misleading (used for reader sympathy) in a way. Growing up, and even now, we all clean our bathrooms and empty waste bins. There is no indignity in that kind of work for teenagers or adults Are you saying these teenagers did no chores in Guatemala or El Salvador and had servants for that purpose?
17
I'm more worried about the 'no touching' rule. Children need safe, reassuring physical contact. Imagine going through the most stressful period of your life and not even being able to get a hug.
I'm also concerned about the no writing, no letters rule. Children have to express themselves and communicate. If you don't give them a safe way to do it, then they'll find another way.
19
The treatment of these children is barbarism masked as policy. I’d suggest the Trump administration should be ashamed, but if their short time in power has proved one thing it’s that they are without shame. Or souls, for that matter.
105
Apparently when Peter Navarro shouted about a special place in hell he was talking about the Trump and his administration for these intolerable cruelties towards babies and children.
26
This is disgusting. I've not been so ashamed of my country since Bush II lied us into an unnecessary and illegal war. Oh, and elected Donald Trump.
Doesn't this qualify as a crime against humanity? Why aren't the leaders of our putative government and the ICE-empowered agents running these concentration camps being hauled off in irons to The Hague to stand before a tribunal?
269
This is indeed crimes against humanity.
How do we bring charges against this administration?
12
You can't and these kids are just fine
7
What is truly ludicrous about this situation is that no plans were made for tracking where these children were sent and where their parents were being held. This was so poorly organized...not that we should really be surprised by that. But you would think that someone in this administration would have used the vast tech system to develop a damned database. These poor desperate people came through a federal office, which apparently doesn't have a computer, or a person who just tracks the basic information: names, names of minor children, birth dates, transported by this company, transported to where? It's not like they haven't been talking about doing this since the election. Not only is this whole situation cruel and immoral, it is also really, really stupid.
191
It's hard to imagine a more incompetent adminstration than the one we have now.
11
This is so sad. Children need love and hugs, and they need their parents. Hopefully Trump, a father himself, will end this years (decades?) long policy brought about and enforced by too many Presidents before him. Not holding my breath though.
4
@Cindy - You're mistaken in your comment "enforced by too many Presidents before him". Nope, sorry, Trump is the only one who is doing this on a wholesale basis. In the past, only those with a criminal record were separated from their children because the parent would be jailed while awaiting their hearing, and children could not be jailed with them. Others entering illegally (not at a checkpoint) were simply detained for a short period of time and then deported WITH their children --- and by the way, the Trump administration has now reverted to this process because most US citizens protested the separations.
And Trump recently signed an executive order that those entering at a legal entry, under the claim of domestic violence or fear for their lives will no longer be considered as a reason for seeking asylum in the US.
This entire episode by this administration is a disgrace.
6
@Linda Grant - You should have said "What is wrong with this administration?", because they are the ones who started this inhumane process.
5
Come to my classroom this year and you will see a teacher who doesn't participate in the Pledge of Allegiance. Oh wait, stand for the national anthem? Nope. This isn't the America I grew up in. I hang my head in shame for what trump voters have done.
I have an idea...the next trump voter to commit a crime? Separate them from their kids...deal?
Kids are resilient and I hope they stay well and are reunited soon.
23
It's still hard to believe this is happening in the USA. If another country was doing this to children we'd be first in line condemning it. Many, if not most, of these children will be forever scarred, as will our reputation.
112
When are they going to reunite the sibling groups?
15
I find the writing sensitive and beautiful. I will remember things about this piece for the rest of my life.
5
“rice and beans, salami, some vegetables, the occasional pizza, and sometimes cake and ice cream.”
“several hours of schooling every day”
“recreation areas”
“rules, including no touching another child”
This life of sustenance and safety, paid for by U.S. taxpayers, is nirvana compared with life in their home countries. Heck, it sounds better than the life of many urban and rural poor American citizens.
Yes, the minority (about 20%) of children who came with parents should be reunited. But they and the other 80% of unaccompanied minors must be quickly processed and returned to their home countries unless they have a valid asylum claim, which the vast majority do not.
34
and you know this how?
10
me:
Just to confirm, the numbers are all based on eight months, not six.
1
me:
62% of adjudicated asylum claims are rejected.
Interestingly, about 40% of all claims never adjudicated, which I believe indicates that the person requesting asylum doesn't show up for court dates.
http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/491/
1
I just lost a comment, so will shorten this one! This is a tragedy for the kids, their parents, and our country, as we will always be known as a place where such inhumanity has taken place and may continue, unless it's stopped. The government has a moral responsibility to find the deported parents, pay for them to come to the border where they can meet their children, and apologize to everyone affected. The children may be scarred for the rest of their lives. This is a tragedy, but if the boys trapped in a Thai cave could be rescued, surely the US, with all its power and resources, can rectify this injustice.
22
This is the true legacy of the Trump government from people who say they don’t believe in government.
19
This situation is a stain on our claim to humanity. Nothing less than cruelty.
20
It is so sad to read about the lives of these poor, innocent children used as pawns by the Trump Administration. When my grandniece was about a year old, I babysit her while her mother went to pick up her older daughter from nursery school, a 20 minute drive away.
As soon as the baby noticed her mother was gone, she panicked, then cried and cried and cried. Her mother was only gone 45 minutes.
These children, ripped from their parents, will bear scars for life - developmentally, emotionally, and socially.
Please NYT, keep telling the children's stories. It is so important to keep the news cycle focused on the cruelty and indifference of the Trump organization to families and children.
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I was terrified of the dark when I was little and often panicked in the middle of the night. I’d cry out for my parents as if my life were at stake. One of them would rush in and stay with me, rubbing my back until I fell asleep again. I can only imagine what it’s like for these kids when they scream for help and their parents aren’t there to rescue them.
5
Our treatment of these children will be a scar on the soul of this country for decades to come. I wish I could find the words to articulate the horror, despair, and helplessness I feel when I think of these children and their families.
And I cannot even begin to conceive of the emotional and psychological scars that we have so thoughtlessly wreaked upon these innocent children. Young lives have certainly been ruined.
My first reaction to the catchphrase #abolishICE was that it was hyperbolic and reactionary. Now I think it might be a reasonable course of action as it is unmistakably clear that ICE needs drastic reorganization and oversight. I know what monsters made the decision to separate these families, but what kind of person enacts these decisions? What kind of person doesn’t allow a brother to hug his little sister?
58
Unbelievable the inhumanity involved in reacting to a helpless child.
11
This is not ok. I have worked with children separated from parents, sometimes for their own safety; it is a traumatic experience unforgotten ever! Is it worth it to continue the separations when we know what we are doing is devastating to children and parents. What is wrong with us??
147
@Linda Grant - You should have said "What is wrong with this administration?", because they are the ones who started this inhumane process.
4
Every person involved in this should go to prison. How can human beings do this to children? What have we become?
20
Thank you so much for this piece. It's heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. It truly shows the humanity of these children and how they go about their lives in these circumstances.
33
Unfortunately, it sounds like the standard treatment provided to U.S. kids in group homes and residential treatment facilities all over the country. The kids aren’t allowed to run or touch each other because they are afraid of liability issues. U.S. foster kids are all too frequently prescribed meds if they act out. These kids are in the custody of Child Protective Services, which is a poor substitute for a parent. There are a fair number of American kids who shouldn’t have been taken into foster care either. Yes, these kids need to be turned over to their parents or grandparents, provided the parents are not on the run from murder charges or turning them over to adults who will do the kids harm. But, since their parents crossed the border, they and their kids are now under U.S. jurisdiction and American judges make the decisions. Some of these kids may end up in long term U.S. foster homes while social workers try to find suitable relatives in their home countries. That is preferable to the group shelters they are currently in. And some of these kids may qualify for asylum on their own and be adopted by those American foster parents a few years down the road.
23
This reads like a fairly balanced account to me, not propaganda. It's addressing not the reasons, but the circumstances. It's also terribly sad, but not all actions come across as negligence to me. It seems that the system was not set up to handle the poor policy decision that came down from the top. *If we don't examine how this all plays out - we run the risk of losing touch with our humanity, AND of repeating these same mistakes!
61
Interesting that if Donald Trump’s kids were taken from him, my guess based on who he is, would be that it wouldn’t effect him that much. He’s the master who needs to teach others lessons just like his daddy was. Problem is, they’re the wrong lessons.
114
I don't know. I'd guess that his children are the only other humans that he actually cares about.
3
Does he? As long as they're working for the Trump organization. Let's see how Barron does.
The cruel treatment of these children brings tears to my eyes.
381
I don't understand where the "cruel" comes from. These children's parents dragged them across several countries, on trains, in tractor trailers, across scrub land, across deserts - but you call the U.S. Government the cruel ones ?
Fathers have left them alone in their home countries for years. Mothers have encouraged them to go alone the U.S. but we still are the cruel ones.
25
Cruel treatment....really? My sisters and I were not allowed to sit on the floor and were expected not to cry even under duress. The hugging part is partly understandable in a environment that ACLU deems potentially litigious.
16
Cruel treatment? Really? It sounds like any other group home for minors. What are you expecting, a Chuck E. Cheese's?
18
There are so many things wrong with this horrible, inhumane, terrifying result of Trump's policy, that I hardly know where to start. One thought that comes to mind, though is why, on top of everything else, are these children made to clean toilets?
651
My wife is from Japan and she has told me she and the other students were responsible for cleaning their bathrooms. She feels it was good for her development and wishes our own son had the same experience in his US schools.
8
Was your wife in a detention center after being separated from her parents while she was cleaning toilets, not knowing what had happened or if she’d ever see her parents again?
The cruelty on display in these comments is apalling. Makes me feel shame for this country.
1
"The optics" are bad? But kids are going to travel north, drawn by the cushy institutional living described here? So which is it? Are the optics bad? Or are they are draw?
Similarly, are those "significant numbers of American kids" worth investing in over these "foreign kids" - or, is guaranteed medical care, food, education, & safety a socialist pipe dream that fails to promote responsibility? (so poor kids - citizen or immigrant- are outta luck)
3
Please, people, step back a minute. How does any decent human being justify the utter cruelty of Trump and those who follow his orders. There is no dancing around it. Just look at the photo of the three year old child in this story. Look at his face. Really. Look at his face. How can any decent person support a president who is inflicting this horror on other human beings. How can they support a man who mocks handicapped people? What is the reality of the United States of America? This is simply wrong and immoral. Shame on the United States.
839
I think the answer lies in your use of the word "decent." They simply aren't.
5
“You had to clean the bathroom,” Diego said. “I scrubbed the bathroom. We had to remove the trash bag full of dirty toilet paper. Everyone had to do it.”
I am guessing you probably see that as an apprenticeship program for the hospitality industry.
2
Separating kids is WRONG.
But, I cleaned toilets and emptied waste bins as a teenager and still do so. Are you saying they had servants doing that in El Salvador and Guatemala?
6
Sounds like these kids are being treated just fine, and are quite frankly getting better care than significant numbers of American kids. Regular meals, medical care, Civics classes, responsibilities, and safety from predators are all good things. While institutional living can seem cruel, I can imagine it is likely better than what these kids have endured in their home countries. While the optics are presented here as bad, the likelihood is that word will get out that the US is offering free day care and education for foreign kids. Just climb over the fence.
86
"While the optics are presented here as bad, the likelihood is that word will get out that the US is offering free day care and education for foreign kids. Just climb over the fence." So should we make it harsher, to send a more effective message?
7
I have a group of friends who visited the detention center next to San Diego and Tijuana border. They reported abuse, name calling, yelling, and demeaning behavior towards kids.
Give some low level guards authority with a bit of anger and hate, that is formula for abuse and cruelty!
6
You seem to forget that these kids were kidnapped from their parents and are being deprived of human touch and family security. I hardly think hot dogs make up for that.
23
As a peace officer, I was the manager of a California county’s juvenile hall for seven years. Had any of my officers treated the minors we had in custody like our government is STILL treating these children and their parents, they would have been fired and criminally charged.
There are no words to convey my anger and utter contempt for all of those involved in this still-unfolding course of viciousness and cruelty. And that includes those who would say that they were “just following orders.” I would quit on the spot if I were ordered to forcibly take little children from their mothers.
703
I will probably get in trouble for the comparison, but I recall a Holocaust testimonial in which the woman described how her 5-year old self was separated from her mother. I don't remember the exact circumstances, but she recalled reaching up out of habit to take the hand of the Nazi soldier taking her away. He slapped her hand and she says she understood then that she was in a world forsaken by God. I know, I know the present situation is a far cry from genocide, but I think we have crossed a line when such cruelty is explicit policy and the hearts of so many seem hardened to it.
807
They're going to associate education with isolation, and imprisonment.
Not to mention, how much do you want to bet they didn't go over child labor laws?
Well as long as it's better than the conditions they were in before, it's just fine. Sarcasm.
3
What you are saying isn't out of line at all. In fact according to the United Nations, this policy of separating children was an act of genocide: http://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.html
"Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.".
I am actually more upset that there are people discounting and silencing Holocaust survivors, claiming that they and others are being hysterical by pointing out these atrocities. I find it incredibly offensive that we are ignoring their warnings after what they survived. What is the point of those memorials and preserving those horrid camps if we ignore these people and ignore the similarities of what happened then vs. what is happening now? The Nazi comparison is apt.
I say this with rage, as my grandfather was murdered in Auschwitz. The time to be loud is now, I won't be shamed into silence by those who claim the left is "overreacting".
3
Standing in line in a Costco today, a huge store brimming with food, clothing, health products, shoes, camping equipment, all the plenty we take granted, I couldn't take my eyes off a little girl, Hispanic, about three years old, dressed in a starched, white, ruffled sundress, and wearing matching white shoes. She wove around her father's legs, gazing and smiling at people, sometimes touching his pants leg—confident that he was there for her, full of confidence herself.
What if she were suddenly grabbed away from him by strangers, put on a bus or an airplane bound for God-knows-where, became lost in a crowd of other lost children, then herded into some strange building, not knowing what had happened, where her father was, or if he could ever find her again?
Innocent children, snatched from their parents, and sent to these dystopian prisons, not even allowed to comfort each other, is a blot on our society that will be permanent.
This happened to the children in this story, happened here, right in front of us. It is shameful, horrible, and it should be a warning to all of us of what could happen to any of us if the crimes of this administration are not stopped.
747
In my community, I not infrequently see Spanish-speaking families out shopping together, Mom and Dad, two or three children, and maybe Abuela—the picture of gentle togetherness. I don't understand seeing that and feeling threatened by it.
White working-class parents who are "from here" are often screeching at their kids trying in vain to get them to stop acting out when they clearly don't feel that same family cohesion and haven't been taught how to act in public. It's evident to me which families make my community a better place to live in.
2
Well said.
The migrant parents, by choice, subjected these children to harsh and life-threatening conditions in trekking through airid desert terrain. With little to no money. With little education. With little understanding of basic of written or spoken English. The parents could have settled in Mexico or south in Peru - both countries providing a safe habit. They chose to pursue entry to the US to seek its generous social services and charity care.
I went to an expensive, upper class summer camp in Pugeot Sound, Washington as a child. The session was 6 weeks. As part of the camp experience, campers were assigned daily duties. Cleaning the latrine (bathroom) was one daily duty. Scrubbing the common-shared toilets, wiping the sinks and counters, washing the floor. I could name other tasks and duties. Kitchen duty, laundry detail, cleaning the bunk cabins. The meaning: Living in a community requires that each person contribute. No task is beneath any one person. My parents paid top dollar for me to attend a lovely summer camp where I was expected to contribute.
These migrant children were not unfairly treated by being expected to follow common rules of shared living space, having duties, and being respectful to others.
I passed several homeless people in Portland, Ore this morning on my way downtown. Where is the equal outpouring of concern for our legal citizens who are destitute, poor, or suffering from mental illness?
114
People also forget that a lot of these children are trafficking victims, used for prostitution and even raped and beaten by the coyotes the "parents" pay so they can cross. IF they are the parents, that is - who's to know who really is related when they often do not bring birth certificates on purpose.
It's dangerous, the trip the children endure to get here? The "camps" are hotels by comparison. If a parent is willing to subject a child to such arduous journeys and has no means whatsoever to raise, clothe, feed and educate their child - they shouldn't even have custody in the first place. Now maybe if these children are adopted into American homes, they'll have a chance of assimilating to the culture, learning the language and having job and education prospects. It is hurtful to be apart from one's parents, but it's even worse to have to be raised in abject poverty and abuse because the parents weren't even responsible enough for birth control.
If those children were American, CPS and family courts would VERY LIKELY get them out of the home to protect them. But bcs they're foreign, suddenly everyone's okay with leaving children with unfit parents.
Makes you think.
I don't understand the comments that criticize readers who express outrage at the Trump administration's separation policy, asking "What about the homeless in Portland?" or "What about poverty-stricken Americans living in southern states?" Why is the assumption that readers dismayed by what is happening to the children described in this story aren't also dismayed that there are American citizens living in distress here? It is possible to feel empathy for more than one group at a time.
2
When I read this comment and others along these veins, I know that America will never, ever be great again. So sorry to get this confirmation on a Sunday morning. Yes there are homeless too. Not either/or.
In Europe we also see, every day, the contribution and success of so many of our 1million plus refugees.
6
If they had stayed in their home country and worked to effect change there, they would have none of these problems. French citizens during World War 2 formed the resistance, fought the Nazis, blew up trains and conducted sabotage. Why don't these people organize and fight against the gangs they say are the reason they are emigrating.
32
Amen!
Didn't know there were 5 year olds in the resistance!
5
Actually, the latin american governments are so corrupt that the gangs started as the "resistance" but having poor leadership, they became criminals in no time, plus add that guns are banned. What's left for these people to do, get away from there, most of them are women and children.
4
This is inhuman. Making children clean toilets, the injections, the staff talking referring to "them" as though they are animals.
This cruel rule is only beginning - it's incomprehensible that they were allowed to get this far. Democratic politicians need to do much, much more, to help with the crisis at the border, instead of relying on privately funded charities to do all the work. The Trump Administration is breaking international laws - why are they not being prosecuted, for one thing??
116
Doesn’t matter who you voted for, or whether you voted or not. Doesn’t matter what state you are in.
If you are an American citizen like me, this is on you. Just like it’s on me.
The people perpetrating these crimes against children are bullies, or complicit with the bullies. And the cold hard truth is that so are the people who voted for Trump.
And bullies, like fascist governments, don’t stop their atrocities of their own accord. They must be stopped, as in someone else has to find a way to stop them.
Where are the mass protests? The mass strikes? If 3% of us simply stopped cooperating with day to day life - peacefully protesting and striking - society would halt. And they would have no choice but to end not just these crimes, but this criminal administration.
Of course it’s sickening supporters and adherents would still be here. Still thinking it’s ok to torture helpless young children out of spite and to make a point. Which is why we need our own version of the Nuremberg Trials.
97
Truth, so hard to bear but so critical to embrace - thank you!
1
To all of those commenters thinking these kids are getting better care than US kids, that we just whining about them doing chores, and that it’s like your summer camp, could you please wear some ID bracelet for me as a nurse? That way if you are ever under my care I know I just have to give your meds, change your dressings, keep you on a schedule and yell at you until you to do your physical therapy. I don’t need to reassure you things will be OK, hold your hand while I try to get your pain under control, give you words of encouragement when you get up to walk the first time, remind you that you will get home one day, or let your family visit or hug you. Because you don’t believe that is essential care.
121