You know, decent human beings wouldn't treat a dog this way, and we have laws to punish those who would. Yet here we are - cruel and barbaric - and speaking for myself, very ashamed. What has happened to this country? Did someone steal it because we forgot how precious it is and failed to guard it or was it always just a mirage?
25
one child separated AT 18 MONTHS old !!!!!
11
These anti immigrant comments are willfully suppressing the truth about the US’s role in the destruction of the countries these asylum seekers are escaping.
Like the wars they support that produce refugees they don’t want to see or hear about, these asylum seekers are caught between their government’s cruelty and Trump’s.
12
Anyone who thinks that removing children from their parents in the way described in this article is 'fine' or 'appropriate' is a monster, full stop, Even if you want not a single additional person from Central and South America to cross the border into the U.S., you CAN'T be in favor of this practice and be a good or Christian person. Enough of this barbarism!!
17
Thank you, Mr. Kristoff, for speaking up for our nation’s best values.
13
"Why do we tolerate a policy that is so cruel to young children? " Before Trump's reign of ineptitude and profane un-leadership is over, we will see many more callous acts. In fact, decent Americans are suffering too. It seems as though anything that reflects common decency or appears to be helpful to the 99% causes bile tonrise in our un-President.
Is it any wonder that his wife refuses to hold his hand?
6
These children and their families have passed through a safe country - MEXICO - therefore ALL should be denied any protection or asylum in the US. Turn them back at the border and make them apply to Mexico. This is getting to be a fraudulent racket and we don't need to want the illiterate impoverised from Central American -they could try Panama or Nicaragua - basically send them all back and deny all their asylum claims. They are just looking for free handouts from the US which is why they ignore Mexico.
4
Of all the evilism of government over millennia, while this is not the worst, it shocks the conscience because we are all familiar with the importance of the relationships of parents and child. The American government has taken something amazingly positive, weaponizing it to serve its racism. The answer to evilism is applying the correct standard of justice.
(Thank you for the Dr. Zeuss cartoon. Here is a link about his bigotry https://freshwriting.nd.edu/volumes/2015/essays/can-we-forgive-dr-seuss
A Japanese student in college said that many view the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima as examples of racism.)
4
Funny title, gets your attention doesn't it ?
What if the title was " Cruel parents subject children to strange parenting techniques "
And the story instead of drawing parallels to Nazi's drew parallels to the Pied Piper Parents leading their children to jump off a cliff.
You think the NYTimes readers would read that story ?
Same story, different words.
3
Trump and whoever else is responsible for this should be charged with crimes against humanity. Where is the UN and the International Criminal Court in the Hague?
6
Why do the NY Times, the neo Marxist Left, the democratic party, and the organized crime businesses that employ immigrants and the millions of in our nation illegally (violating dozens of laws) use children as hostages, pawns and shields to violate our laws and defy the democratic majority's will and interests? Well obviously, because they can too! Particularly because the profits that our slave-wage business owners gain from exploiting many millions of immigrants, and citizens whose wages are killed by flooded labor markets, are so immense that they can afford to buy all the journalist prostitutes necessary to make up tear jerking 'stories' and "narratives" necessary to justify and maintain this crime against humanity of using children to justify organized business crime and mass treason against the sovereignty of our nation. The Israelis do not allow this transparent scam to take place in their nation. So why isn't the NY Times (that brutalizes readers with daily rememberances of the Holocaust) demanding that Israel let in 10's of millions of Arabs. Or let many thousands stay because they sneak in with children, or hide until they can bear a few within Israel's borders, or because many millions of Arab children might benefit from living in an actual civilized state with the rule of law .... well until the rule of law collapsed due to so much law breaking.
14
I was born here. My father's, father, up to several generations were born here. A country has been built. Borders have been set. Three to fifteen million illegals have crossed over into this new country in the last 20 years. That would be considered an act of war in all other nations. Why? Because the systems are not set for that type of immigration. When I was a young man, I found myself in downtown Mombasa Kenya. In less than 5 minutes a young woman told me she wanted to go to America because there was gold in the streets. I asked her how did she come to that understanding. She said they pay you for not working. She said she had never heard of unemployment. Do you understand why DACA, immigration and border control is so dangerous? The world believes that America will pay them for coming here. This is the belief system of those who come here illegally. It is a shame. It would have been much better if we had taught them how to grow their own nation. These sad stories of children does not solve the problem it only exacerbates it. The countries from which they come are just factories for the American businessman who seeks cheap labor and from the Democrats who seek a voter base that sees them destroying the nation with their liberal ideology. The opinion of this writer lives in a mindset devoid of nationalism. Devoid of patriotism. Devoid of conscience. Donald Trump is far superior to this diatribe.
12
This is a dramatic and ridiculous comparison. Taking in children who are in danger of facing genocide is different from economic illegal immigrants from immigrants. The United States is not under obligation to take in the entire population of other countries. Already one third of El Salvador's population is now in the United States. The answer is for these countries to be improved from within.
A better question is why do our other leaders, such as Pelosi and Dick Durben treat American born kids so cruelly? Kids in Appalachia, rural America, and the inner cities. We never hear these populations spoken for. Instead we hear continuously about DACA from elected officials and the mainstream media...especially outlets like the NY Times, CNN and MSNBC. That is highly disconcerting. You don't go fixing up your neighbors backyard and taking care of their kids when you are not keeping up your own yard, and taking care of your own children. It is a rather fundamental concept.
13
It is OK for Republicans to use anecdotes and push for policy changes, but it is not OK for others. The truth is the Republican party now led by Trump doesn't have a Christian bone in its body. They lie, obfuscate and ignore the true message. What we are left with is a party of zero sum -- if those kids come here, you won't have room in the school, doctors to take care you, a chance at a good job, etc.
7
The Republican party better not have a Christian bone in its body (or any other religion's bone, for that matter). The United States is not a theocracy; we have a separation of Church and State. They should be, in short, as irreligious as the rest of us.
Mr. Kristoff:
The immigration problem is truly difficult. How would you solve it?
4
You will never change Trump's mind by appealing to compassion or shame. He is impervious. If it appeals to his base, that's all he's worth.
11
A well-known and perversely truthful Medieval proverb says that the "road to hell is paved with the best intentions." And I would add that the hottest fires burn for those who ignore the suffering of innocents. These people are convinced that in order to make things better, to bring about a happier and more satisfying society, some must suffer: men like Lenin and other early Bolsheviks, Holy War murderers who slaughter innocents in order to establish the true religion, those who proclaim a new government and drag their former leaders to the guillotine in a Reign of Terror; so often is the pattern repeated. I suspect that the party of evil , the enablers of Trump, have as their ideology the notion that in order for America to be great again, for their supporters to be comfortable again--some must suffer. And they believe that we must rid ourselves of those who do not belong as these outsiders intrude unfairly and make society intolerable.
These outsiders may be children, may be decent people, but they don't belong. Like treating the highly contagious carrier of deadly disease , they must be erased as we might erase graffiti. I wonder if our president, who lacks depth and empathy, and his varied enablers, do not truly believe that they are creating a near perfect society --a place of prosperity and a well of contentment. A great society!
What will they think when the fires of hell consume them?
6
This morning I stood outside the ICE office in Newark with a small group of supporters including the wife of a man required to check in with ICE. He has been in the US for about 30 years. His terrified young US citizen children went in with him. Luckily he was let out today instead of being incarcerated because his lawyer had filed for a credible fear interview for him. He has to return to ICE in a month. More needless anxiety and suffering for this family. I think we need to do more to protect immigrants than stand helplessly outside of ICE offices. What kind of person am I who lets my government do this in my name?
11
Having children is not a license to break our immigration laws.
12
One has to wonder if Mr. Trump’s hostility toward immigrants might be rooted in his family’s origins as immigrants who came to America. You would think that the grandson of immigrants would have empathy for immigrants.
7
It's not because he can, many people have the authority, can do many things and they choose not to. It's because he is cruel and careless.
But I don't see many people up in arms about it either.
There is a documentary on PBS : Trafficked in America
"The investigation uncovers a criminal network that exploited undocumented minors, companies that profited from forced labor and the U.S. government’s role."
https://www.thirteen.org/programs/frontline/trafficked-in-america-pppgmt/
4
When does our cowardly Congress start to act as an equal branch of government? When will they stop putting party before doing what they must know is right? Trump and his minions are a stain upon our country. Not the first one in our history, but a stain nonetheless.
3
I was the Chief of Medical Services of only women's prison in Connecticut for 8 years. During this time, we housed an inmate who was a citizen of Aruba. She had arrived when she was 2 years old, and she and her family had stayed illegally. They all were fleeing poverty and violence, and America was the only home they knew. When she discussed the island, the conversation was brief: she had no memory, knew not one person, had no family member. She had 3 1/2 years to serve for a low-level crime. Then, because she was not a US citizen, she would be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation back to Aruba.
But the real problem was that she had borderline intellectual intelligence. She was able to function even in a prison environment barely, and the crueler of the correctional officers enjoyed provoking her into reactions that violated prison rules. Consequently, she spent her entire sentence in administrative segregation, locked in a tiny cell, alone, 23+ hour/day.
But the real problem was that even this woman was terrified what would happen to her after she was deported. She knew that she lacked the skills to survive in foreign land. She could imagine what life would be like for a woman like her. She pleaded for help, but of course, none came.
Her sentence ended, and she was picked-up by ICE and held in the York County Prison, an ICE Detention Facility, where she hung herself.
39
Heartbreaking. I’ve never understood this aspect of our immigration system. If people break the law, punish them by the law that applies equally to all in our country. Don’t tack on deportation, which is in many cases a death sentence by another name. It’s double taxation with higher stakes.
7
People come to this country for many reasons. One might be greed because enough money can buy a visa. Another might be opportunity to do what cannot be done elsewhere. Names like Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, Hannah Arendt, Igor travinsky and Stokely Carmichael/Kwame Toure come to mind. But people come for reasons somewhere between hope and desperation. Anne Frank might have been one. This vicious administration is turning its full might against such people. It's giving them good reason to hate this Republic. I cannot think of a better way to generate a new Al Quaeda.
10
Let's try treating people decently. It's not that hard.
8
From Seattle PI 4/26/18:
The U.S. government risks placing migrant children in the custody of human traffickers because federal agencies have delayed crucial reforms needed to keep the children safe, according to the findings of a Senate subcommittee obtained by The Associated Press.
5
Mr Trump is not the only person who should be held accountable for this cruelty. What about the people who actually do the taking? Wrong is wrong, even if your boss says you have to do it.
5
Cruelty is all he’s got.Hr doesn’t have clue how to govern, he has no interest in figuring it out. He can only deconstruct, he can not construct. I marvel everytime I hear a reporter or TV host talk about how he is a novice and that excuses him. HE IS LAZY, it is no more complicated then that. He has always had people to do whatever task he has no patience for. He is a spoiled lazy man. If we had any doubts, look at his Cabinet picks, look at the fact that he doesn’t read the PDB, He has to watch TV to get ideas. Everything is done in lazy sloopy manner, or done on a whim, or basic underlying guiding principle he has run his entire life to deny someone something they need or want. He is cruel and lazy.
4
Trump & immoral associates in his regime, of which there are to numerous to mention, are practicing human cruelty on a scale heretofore unknown in American life. This total disgrace to our country and his cohorts must be uprooted by elections, by impeachment, by any legal means necessary to restore sanity and humanity to our body politic. Ditto for the GOP congress, who approve fully of these heinous deeds.
1
There is a very big difference between the Jews who were trying to escape'Hitler's Europe and those who are currently coming to the US to claim asylum because they say their life is in danger back home.
And that is that for Jews trying to escape from Europe the idea was not to find refuge in the US. For them the goal was to go to any country. It made no difference to them whether it was the US or Cuba, or China, as their sole aim was to escape the danger their lives were in.
This stands in stark contrast to those coming to the US these days with the claim that their lives are in danger, but for some reason the only country they have any interest in coming to for refuge is the US. That same US that is also the dream of so many others whose lives are not in danger but instead offers great economic opportunities.
A good test would be, what if they could not get refuge in the US, where would they go. For the Jews escaping Europe the answer would have been anywhere on earth. However for the overwhelming majority of those claiming refuge in the US the answer would be back home, which indicates quite strongly that their very lives are not in actual danger back home.
In addition in most cases those claiming refuge do not face a threat to their lives if they stay in their country, the threat is only if they continue to reside in the town where they live. A person that can find refuge in another part of their own country should not qualify for refugee status in the US.
26
I've known a few Jewish refugees from China. In some cases, I've known the children of such refugees. These refugees had all wanted to come to the United States but went wherever the could get visas. Many eventually made their way to the US after the war, though many others went to Israel. The real test is whether you would have written the same reply about white refugees. Do you think the US should help French Jews who feel threatened leave France, or to you think our government should take the attitude that they should all go to Israel? I think we in the US should be willing to help.
14
We're discussing people who have credible claims that if they are returned to their country of origin, they will be killed. ICE is breaking up their families and sending them back to their country of origin.
You have skirted the whole issue here.
26
You might want to do some factual research on that many refugees will go to whatever country is safe and will accept them.
15
Never again. Never again. This saying is plastered throughout Berlin. Why are pictures of this cruelty not more widespread here? I am still haunted by the terror on the faces of the parents and children separated by the Nazis.
We are eroding our moral compas in bits and dribbles, forgetting our humanity with every small crying child, and turning our faces towards the greedy corrupt nations we vowed to fight, in ever swampier policy.
Thank you for bringing light to this Mr. Kristof, I hope more heed your warning before we sink further down the rabbit hole from which we cannot return.
8
It makes me sick to read this, but thank you Mr. Kristof for reminding us of the cruelty inflicted by this so-called Administration. Taking children from their parents is beyond cruel. It is evil and immoral. I am heartsick for the parents and the children. Trump and his minions see and treat these people as sub-human. We cannot allow this inhumanity to happen in our country. VOTE IN NOVEMBER 2018!
5
We should not be separating parents and children. We should be immediately deporting both back across the border, within 24 hours of arrival.
6
Trumps cruelty know no bounds.
4
"Those who are cruel to children appear not just to be ignorant, but to be genuinely evil." G.W.F. Hegel
8
This is so gut wrenching. Thank you Mr Kristof for bringing this to light. To forcibly separate a child from his/her parents and ship them off to a foster home where who knows how they are treated is the epitome of cruelty. I don't have harsh enough words, but yes I'll vote in 2018 and 2020. Trump truly is evil.
4
Just Republicans, yet again, showing that " family values" and " christian morals" are just empty phrases for them.
9
I'm amazed that, owing to the soiled reputation of the US in today's world, that refugees continue to seek asylum in a country that has withdrawn the welcome mat. Maybe the president fully intends to send a message to immigrants by attacking and displacing children as a deterrent to future aspirants for asylum.
Deliberate acts of cruelty to children are beyond inhuman. The president sees these children as collateral damage in his war against foreigners. By hurting and destroying children, the president wants to be seen as being tough on immigration and prevent "their kind" from "breeding" in the US.
The president is a wolf without the pretense of wearing sheep's clothing. He is a predator by nature who has no scruples about attacking the weakest and most defenseless among mankind. Decent Americans should be appalled by his heartless cruelty to children.
3
Re: When immigration officials pry a crying young child away from a parent and send that child to foster care, that is not “immigration policy.” That is “barbarism.”
It's not merely barbarism, it's insanity. The President of the United States is obviously insane, and the media are not demanding his impeachment.
5
We're ALL children of immigrants - earlier or later in US history. DJT - a 2nd-generation American - was born of a mother Scottish mother who arrived in NYC at 18 and became a maid, as her sisters had before her. Her husband was a 1st-generation German-American whose birth name was Friedrich Christ Drumpf.
Donald Trump treats immigrant kids cruelly not just because he CAN (and does), but because he's an intolerant racist xenophobe, and no one in the Republican Party has the cohunes to shut him up.
3
Love your columns, Mr. Kristof.
This exposes more of the incompetent, idiotic and xenophobic nonsense of this corrupt regime.
This is classic trump & co.: beat up on the the weak to make themselves feel/look tough. This is who trump is -- and always was -- and now, the country looks like it, too.
But we can start to change this in November. Vote, people. Vote.
2
What you described is unrequited hate of foreigners, no matter how deserving they may be, on account of being persecuted elsewhere. We forget that we ourselves have greatly benefited from the kindness of strangers, and enjoy the benefits of freedom and justice. But what Trump is doing is cruel and stupid. To castigate any individual on general edicts of xenophobia is despicable. Separating father/mother from son/daughter is an outrage. Are we really this ugly, barbaric and insensible? No shame, no guilty feeling by gutting desperate folks in dire need, suffering the iniquities of a global violence we might be possibly involved with? Are we this callous, immigrants as we are, having escaped ourselves, or our ancestors, from danger and death?
3
To Barbara: Your words so eloquently and movingly spoken say it all. Do not strive any longer to belong. You do belong, we all belong, as do those children - and adults - fleeing war, oppression, poverty. Nicholas K has begun a conversation that needs to be repeated and repeated. But it is not the written word alone that will solve an unconscionable crisis. We must do as well as say. These refugee and immigrant children are our children.
3
Breaking families is a long-standing tradition in the US. Recall the Native American kids sent to schools in Arizona, taken from parents to erase cultural memory of tribe and their way of life built on nature, family, and mysticism.
Think of African and South American people, children and parents sold to different slave owners.
Remember welfare policy requiring that no adult man could live in a household receiving assistance.
Even mass incarceration through inequitable drug laws effect this result today. So, I'm horrified but not surprised.
2
Mr. Kristof, you speak the truth.
Mr. Trump is a bully at heart, always has been and always will be.
Children are the easiest arget and weakest link among humanity as they have no voice, don't vote and no economic power.
3
This is just one more example of Conservative Jihad. It's not enough to deter your perceived 'enemies', you must punish them gratuitously. It's the Trump way. It's the Republican way. Vote in November.
2
What Trump is doing can be undone. We just need more Americans to vote, get rid of this heartless clown in the Oval Office, get rid of a Republican-run Congress and show the world that a majority in our country still has a heart.
1
The commingling of references to Trump and Hitler was some-thing we were told that writers were supposed to avoid.
President Trump is doing exactly what candidate Trump promised. In Alabama, he announced the creation of a “Deportation Force that would round up people…humanely” (ICE was already “rounding up people,” perhaps not humanely in Trump’s eyes). But the print media—journalists, reporters, opinion-writers—seem to have missed it; although live TV streaming caught it.
The Nazis also snatched babies from the arms of their parents— “Sophie’s Choice” in case there are no students of the Holocaust among us.
With all due respect to President Obama: How is one “unintentionally” cruel? At the first sign of despair, to continue in the offending act, cruelty is no longer “unintentional.”
Again, paralleling the Nazi era (Kristof brought it up), there were many Jewish parents who asked escaping Jews to take their children. Perhaps adults seeking US asylum were acting humanely; bringing the unrelated children of parents who had no hope of escaping.
While it may be inducing guilt by not recognizing the potential of Trump’s cruelty before we elected him, perhaps page-editors were wise to avoid comparison of events in America with those of Europe sixty years ago—they remind us that we have acted inhumanely before.
2
If you find this type of action cruel and unjust as I do, please take the time to correspond with your congressional representatives today. Here is the text of the e-mails I sent to mine (Senator Debbie Stabenow and Representative John Moolenaar). It is the least we can do for these poor children. It will take you 10 minutes.
"Dear [name of elected official] - If you have not already done so, please read this NYT article (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/opinion/family-separation-border-immi... and let me know what your office is doing to stop this cruel and unjust practice. Thank you for your attention to this."
2
It is painful to read, see and hear Gestapo tactics are being used by Americans, who are sworn government workers. We went to the U.N. to fight for children laborers and the rights of children being tortured, detained, exploited, kidnapped and murdered around the world. Yet, today the cruel treatment of children, does not matter if legal or illegal, is being allowed to happen under the Pretend King Trump's regime. We have laws to protect our young and these laws should be extended to all children. This is inhumane treatment. Is this what we have become, like the Europeans who looked the other way when they came for Jews?
If our leaders continue to stomp on our American values then we need to hold them accountable for these inhumane acts. In the meantime, the only way we can resist these inhumane actions is to be witness to it and document it by recording these "crimes". Are we there yet?
1
It’s his bullying nature. He’s never grown up and now he can bully majorly. It’s his show of strength. Melania, we need you to stand up to the biggest bully of them all.
This lack of empathy, cruelty and blatant racism coming from the “Party of Family values” tells you clearly who is the sheep and who is the wolf. Some of these people come here to do the most difficult jobs and work 2/3 shifts a day. The fact that their contributions is usually overlook and diminished by a rather racist agenda shows you the ulterior motives.
This situation is incredibly unfair, real Christians should react to it.
3
Barack Obama handed unaccompanied children to anyone who showed up to claim them, it seems, and many are missing.
But because President Trump actually believes in enforcing American law as written and enacted, he is the monster this decade in what ued to be a newspaper put together by journalists.
6
I had to stop reading when you compared Central America to the plight of Jews in Nazi Germany. Also, great job completely ignoring that they cross the entirety of Mexico a country which is much less dangerous than the countries they are coming from, which in itself strongly suggests they are predominantly here for economic reasons not to get away from the troubles in their home countries since they accomplished that when they entered Mexico.
10
How many Americans have ever seen the Dr. Seuss cartoon from 77 years ago that showed Adolph Hitler's treatment of Jewish and "untermenschen" children during Nazi Germany's hegemony in Europe? Because "they didn't matter". Thank you, Nick Kristof, for your words about why president Trump treats D.A.C.A. children so cruelly - "because he can"! President Obama understood what was at stake for the born-in-America children of undocumented immigrants. President Trump, unknowledgable of American and world history, is unfit to lead our country. It was apparent yesterday, during French President Macron's address to the Joint Session of Congress, that president Trump cannot compare with the French leader's brilliance and humanity. His passionate rebuttal to Trump's grotesque nationalistic policies was incisive. We dearly wished he was our president instead of the too inhuman, too bigoted, too mysogynistic leader who was elected by his loyalists in 2016.
We Americans are all immigrants. America was built by black people stolen from Africa in chains, coffles and manacles - and they built our country with their labour when they were considered just the property of white people. The shame is unbearable and now we have a president who treats immigrants cruelly and beyond comprehension. Trump can and will continue with his policies to turn our democracy into a third world country, unless he is stopped and removed from office. We weep. We are ashamed beyond bearing.
83
Nick's implicit comparison of Trump to Hitler is highly offensive.
Everyone should to opposed in principle to the separation of parents and children at the border. However there is a rational basis for such a practice when male asylum-seekers present themselves with a young child of unknown origen.
It is simplistic and counter-productive to define complex immigration issues as the result of the supposed personal "cruelty" of a president that Nick obviously detests.
18
"Father and son entered the United States legally, presenting themselves to an immigration officer, providing birth certificates and other documentation, and requesting asylum to save their lives."
How does that make the child "of unknown origin"? What else should he have done to prove he is the child's father?
29
They did not enter the United States "legally." This would never have happened if they arrived with a visa or border-crossing card. Also, thousands of women enter U.S. with young children requesting asylum, without incident. An adult male entering with a one-year-old child raises red flags.
I join Nick in his opinion. Detest Trump - absolutely. I too an an immigrant who came here on an ocean liner packed with war refugees in 1951. All European languages could be heard on that ship. When we entered New York harbor I was on deck. It was packed. Suddenly passengers rushed to the right side of the ship. I followed wondering what was happening. We cruised right past the Statue of Liberty - older passengers knew all about it and explained it to me. That moment almost 70 years ago frozen in my memory. Trumps contempt expressed often - to gather votes from a lesser portion of our citizenship. I return that contempt to him and his "supporters".
14
For goodness sake, why do they keep coming if we are so inhumane? When a country has millions of interlopers within their borders consuming healthcare, education, etc the cries of racism and nationalism do not prevent the citizens of a country from feeling overwhelmed and uncharitable. You and Clinton and Pelosi and Obama and every other “don’t turn them away” proponent has first filled your family coffers with wealth that is OBSCENE. Yes, the Clintons’ speeches, Pelosi’s insider trading, the Obamas’ new mansion (and Barack’s saying he would like to never fly commercial and have some ownership in an NBA team) have penetrated to he masses. We are selfish and immoral and those folks at the top are not in any wayselfish or piggish. Right?! And I have a bridge to sell you!!!
7
As many a Times editorial on these matters has said, NK “doesn’t believe in open borders”. I would like to hear for once of what limits he would put on immigration
One million? Two million a year? How many?
9
This new policy of separating children from parents with the sole motivation of cruelty as deterrence is horrendous and shameful, and part of a larger trend. I volunteer at immigration court and work with journalists who have visited these detention centers. They are kept at a cool 55 degrees, in the middle of summer, in Arizona, just to make it uncomfortable. Migrants call these centers 'La hielera'-- 'the cooler'. What other government facility keeps their thermostat at 55 degrees all year round?!
1
Not simply because he can, but because he wants to.
Sophie's Choice, William Styron
I cannot read this account without immediately associating the violence here quite explicitly with the inhumanity of the Holocaust. Therein, one of the first raw gestures was to savagely separate mothers and fathers from children, from parents. That cruel severing of the most sacred relation is trauma for trauma sake, period. Shamefully inhumane
2
This author is uneducated about these kids that are allowed into the US. They were sent to fake "uncles, aunts etc" who then put them into working as a slave while the "uncles, aunts etc" (labor providers) take their wages to pay for their & their families debt to get them here. The debt never gets repaid. These kids are denied schooling by the "supervisors", work 16-18 hrs a day and live in squalor. It is human trafficking and I'm glad the President is trying to put a stop to it. Some harsh lessons are taught so that they won't be repeated by the next person.
10
Donald Trump sometimes does cruel things to punish his critics, sometimes just to demonstrate that he is the boss and sometimes just for fun.
On the subject of the immigration of black and brown people, Trump has been convinced by his chief of staff, John Kelly, that deporting people of color and Muslims, is an important deterrent to others from trying to enter and stay in a traditionally white and non-Muslim country.
We’ll probably never know if Kelly also said to Trump, “Besides, it’s fun to watch the videos of the families and hear the outraged cries by bleeding-heart liberals.”
If you believe the treatment of illegal Alien children is cruel, the you have Congress to blame. Under the laws Congress is given us, they are subject to deportation. it is against the law for them to live here.
Quoting from our Constitution's presidential duties "... he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed" The very first line in Article I, Section 1, which immediately follows the preamble reads "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."
In short, Congress's law defines who is here illegally and the President is obliged to execute them.
3
Right, we have the resources to invade Iraq, with the consequences we know, but admitting folks who would positively contribute to the economy is beyond our reach. The human cost mentioned in the paper is just the cherry on top. TPOUS can boast to his pal: "Vlad honey, I shrunk the US"
Oh, the outrage! Oh the deliberate cruelty and hate! Oh, the humanity!
What can you expect from a country and a party that discards its own children every day, abandons them to hunger and hopelessness and somehow finds a way to blame five-year-olds for their lack of ambition?
A country and a party that refuses to support its children and their families in even the most penurious of conditions, and feels well justified, blessed by their perverse God in many cases, for doing so.
What can you make of a country that inflicts pain and lasting damage on its youngest, then goes after the benighted souls who endeavor to teach them and improve their life chances?
What can you make of a party that controls every lever, has the key to every deposit box, manages every industry and sector yet can find only the cash to throw at the richest while they hysterically deny any need to help the worst off, the ones damaged by federal policy and our business of the day which is focused on the main chance and today's profit, has not a care for workers or their communities.
How do you reach politicians so bigoted and close-minded they have long since drunk the "the business of America is business" Kool-Aid when nothing could be smaller-minded or more deadly?
A political class robbing their own children and their futures with no care for children outside their borders, unless to perceive them as targets of some sort.
Immigrant kids? Really, who cares...
1
Cruelty is the current pretend president's stock in trade. Something probably happened to him at a very young age. That's what I have heard some people say. But really it fits in with the Cons in general. Have a strict father inflict suffering as a strategy to achieve some ends. They forget that the means are the ends.
I am an immigrant, and a citizen. I was treated well throughout the immigration process. But I’m from Canada, highly educated, middle class, speak excellent English, was sponsored by a spouse, and wasn’t desperately escaping untenable conditions back home.
What if I’d been from Central America, not speaking English, poor, with no local person to speak for me, and desperate? Is it these “low on the totem pole” conditions that trigger bad behavior (“because I can”) by immigration agents? Do they trigger them by the President?
Every would-be immigrant needs to be treated with respect and humanity. As many have said, we are a nation of immigrants. How have we forgotten?
62
Way to go conflating legal and illegal immigration...Of course legal immigrants are treated well they are guests, why would anyone expect the same treatment for people caught trespassing. If they have valid claims they can submit them at the embassy in their home country or they could submit them to Mexico where they had achieved their goal of escaping whatever problems they had in their home country, but they for some reason feel entitled to live in the US. I'm sure if you came home and found someone had broken into your house and was living there because they were poor you would let them stay just like if you had invited them.
4
Keith...those seeking asylum ARE legal immigrants.
it's not conflating illegal with legal immigration. the idea is humanity. If you put humane treatment above all else -- and you should if you worship at all - then the treatment described by Kristoff should be something you work to end. Remember, we all fall short of "the law of the Bible," and the only law we should follow is the Golden Rule.
8
Why aren't you publishing the names of the specific officers involved in deciding the child's fate and carrying it out? If the officers on the ground knew that they were going to be named publicly each time they pulled a screaming child away from a parent, it could have a profound and immediate impact. It's clear that the decisions are arbitrary. Let's put the incentives where they belong.
4
This is the trumpian version of ‘shock & awe’. A brave man leading a group of ‘fine people’.
Thank you Mr. Kristof , for an intelligent, insightful article. To the less than intelligent who wonder about how we are going to pay for immigrants who come from outside the United States, it might behoove them to think for a moment ( if they can) , and learn about just how truly this country is a country of immigrants. One of the reasons we became a great power and beacon in the world was precisely BECAUSE we opened our gates to those who had a dream for a better world than the one they were born into ...
There is a name for people who become selective about who is allowed to thrive and who is allowed to suffer. There is a name for leaders who get to decide who is allowed to live and who is allowed to die.
They are called fascists. Just read your history of Germany in the 1930s and maybe those of you who still don't get it will finally understand .
6
another excellent opinion piece. unbearably sad that emma lazarus' beautiful words on our statue of liberty are dismissed by those in power in our government. we've lost our moral compass.
2
As tempted as I am to comment at-length on the undeclared, but all too real, Trump administration policy on the forced separation of immigrant infants and children from their parents, all I can do is to echo the headline's affirmation, "Because He Can."
That says it all about our president.
3
So sad that “he can” because so many voted him into power.
I'm curious, if a single father/mother with a child(ren) were to enter the U.S. from, say, Ireland, Norway or France, and presented themselves to an immigration officer with the correct documentation and requested asylum, would the parent(s) be separated from the child(ren) days/weeks later?
As the grandson of immigrants, this opinion article makes me very sad. The cruelty of separating a young child from its parents is a crime that should make this nation ashamed. This current administration is heartless and focused on money in almost every decision. Fear that immigrants, legal or not, will take jobs away from citizens is one of the excuses used to create this sad situation. Perhaps some of Trump's children or grandchildren would like to pick lettuce or strawberries? We have witnessed immigrants who has gone into government, science, education and have done very well in those areas. They are not all farm laborers, though such laborers are also needed for our economy. Overall, there is a lack of compassion which, to me, seems so un-American.
52
Barbarism and deliberate cruelty from Trump and his people is to be expected. What shocks me is the agreement expressed in this Comments section, probably reflecting similar sentiment among Trump's "base." I know that Trump and the "base" reject science, but, for the rest of us, the science is clear that these children will suffer from trauma disorders for the rest of their lives with negative effects on life span, earnings, educational attainment, and emotional well-being. This is a horror.
2
Open borders and sob stories are not what American citizens want. This country already has more than enough people.
I don't want to live in an overcrowded country like this is fast becoming, thanks to immigration.
If I had wanted to live in Mexico, El Salvador, China, Nigeria or India I would have moved to those counties. But if I did attempt to move to those countries I would have had enough respect for them to ask permission first. I wouldn't show up without permission demanding to be let in while waving the American flag at every opportunity. But that's just me..
8
I think it is clear it comes from the redlining his father and then he performed while growing their real estate empire. The apple does not fall from the bigoted tree.
So how many steps are we away from 1930's Germany? Three? Two? How many inhumane steps until we decide we must kill these children, 'for their own good' and to 'teach their parents' a lesson'? Five? I don't know the answer, but I know we're on the road.....
1
The separation of families described by Mr. Kristof is clearly inhumane. But he fails to reveal the whole picture and the complexity of the matter.
A few years ago thousands of Central American children arrived at the border and eventually were returned home. They were illegals under the wrong impression that they would be admitted summarily. Understandably, Trump sought to reduce their numbers. Part of the problem was that, while most were illegal, some were bona fide refugees. Mr. Kristof focuses on the small number of refugees. Trump focused on the large number of illegals. And he sought to reduce their number by his inhumane family separation policy.
It came down too this -- should the US accommodate thousands of illegals or should it treat them with cruelty to reduce their numbers. I am with Mr. Kristof on this. But I believe the alternative -- turning back thousands of illegals -- is also inhumane. There simply is no good answer here and I think Mr. Kristof oversimplifies by suggesting that there is.
2
Treating people humanely is never difficult. Separating families while they await a court decision is cruel and unnecessary.
1
The reason these children are being separated from their parents is entirely due to the actions of the parents themselves. Now that they know the consequences the solution is simple. Don't come. Of course they're coached to say the right words to gain admittance. It sounds like they're all reading off the same cue cards. I'd like to know exactly who we can say no to. Anyone?
15
Coming to the U.S. to apply for asylum is not a crime, Zamboanga. You are confusing asylum seekers with illegal immigrants. Separating small children from their parents while the family awaits a court decision is cruel and unnecessary.
Asylees are supposed to stay in the first safe place. That would be Mexico.
Thank you Mr Kristof for this article. It is eye opening and helps me more fully realize how criminal and inhumane this act of our government is. I pray for all the children and their parents that they will be reunited soon and be strong in the meantime. I pity the government workers having to carry this through, surely it weighs on their conscience.
Your complaint should be with Congress, not the President. Our constitution vests all legislative powers in Congress and requires the President to take care that they be faithfully executed.
So if you don't like Congress's law, perhaps you should write your representatives. It is their laws that are being followed when legal deportations occur.
Don't facts and truth still matter? If so, you and the author may wish to petition congress.
1
Mr. Kristof: just tell us what you really want--stop with all the melodramatic tear-jerkering. In fact, tell us what all liberals want. It's simple really....we already know--open borders and a welfare state.
I hate to be the adult in the room...but who pays for what you want?
15
Mr Kristof specifically said he was not for open borders but that immigration policy is complicated.
I get tired of conservatives telling us what liberals want without actually listening to what they are saying. It really dumbs down public discourse and a real understanding of what the issues are.
It may be what you are hearing from your conservative friends and conservative media but has little to nothing to do with what this article is about.
This is about refugees coming here through legal means and having their families torn apart. Something that many in the party that has always labeled itself as the party of family values seems to support.
4
Perhaps, he just wants the country to live up to its ideals, instead of descending to the lowest common denominator.
1
Does my Kristoff want our border's laws enforced.
When I visit Canada I enter legally. Should I decide to illegally get a job and stay there permanently, I should get deported. Similarly, if you cross the U. S. border legally for a day of shopping, you don't get to stay simply because you were legally when you crossed.
BTW, when a deportation occurs, is there any reason the family can not leave together?
6
Isn't it ironical that todays paper has the ongoing story of our white supremacist, racists, bigot president and his followers side by side with the story of The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. How, as a country, we are still struggling with our past deeds and fighting to correct them. We can never move on as long as we have people like our dear leader trying to drag us back 125 years.
4
Mr Kristoff: With all due respect, what is the point of writing this column? What we have in the Oval Office is a monster---encouraged by monsters around him, notably Kelly and Miller. End of story.
3
In answer to your rhetorical question of how Trump treats Kids, here is the real answer: 1 The people calling the shots i.e. David and Charles Koch, Rebekah and David Mercer etc want it this way. The are very clear in their philosophies and I paraphrase: "People who are not contributing to the American economy are worthless. Furthermore, we don't believe these people should be afforded any help. This also applies to Americans, the poor, the disabled, the old."
2 The second and more immediate reason is that by treating all immigrants (as well as people of color, the disabled etc) so cruelly and blaming them for all the ills facing the U.S. they create a nice distraction, eagerly believed by the Trump base. Any teen who has studied history understands how Hitler, Mussolini and countless others were able to control their populace with this type of propaganda. The results are always horrendous. Thus as Trump continues to bombast, he and his people are rolling back all our protections, as well as lining their pockets.
7
It's disgusting that so many Americans agree with the policy of taking young children from their parents. and really don't see refugees and asylum seekers as human beings. Our nation's policy can certainly be to curtain illegal immigration. But, to do it so cruelly and without regard to decency and human rights is just wrong and diminishes us as a nation. Americans have become mean-spirited and vengeful. How did we get to be so callous? The majority of those who proclaim their hatred for illegal immigrants have never had any contact with them, and know nothing about them, apart from what they've been told in the media. Most have never lost a job to an illegal immigrant, or been affected in any way at all by their presence in our country. These Americans just hate for no reason. We've lost our way.
2
The cruelty of temporarily separating refugee children with their asylum-seeking parents is infinitely less than the cruelty of gang violence from Central America. It is not immediately clear that a non-English speaking, unemployed, homeless refugee necessarily provides better food, shelter, safety, and stability to a child than a foster care family. While restricting contact between children and their families are undeniably cruel, Kristoff provides little evidence or statistics on the actual policy practices. Trying to insinuate barbarism with unsubstantiated Holocaust comparison does not withstand scrutiny.
14
It does stand up to scrutiny if it’s your child being taken away for nothing more than just being. I don’t believe you need to be an American to be treated with kindness & respect.
20
Are you kidding? No child should needlessly be separated from their parents.
11
Trump's deliberate cruelty toward immigrants and their children is of a piece with his behavior toward others, including transgender service members and any other group he feels is weak enough not to threaten him. After all, at bottom all bullies are cowards, even the bigliest bully in the White House.
3
I am so depressed at the condition the country had descended to. Racism is acceptable, Nazi "America First" policies are applauded, the demonization of "The Other" is practiced from the
White House on down. I don't think I can get my wife to emigrate without her grown children. I may have to leave alone. The stain that the GOP has put on this country will outlive me. Let me end my life in a country I believe in, because I no longer believe in the United States of America.
4
Sometimes the sanest reaction to an insane situation is Insanity..
Our "President" is.....Himself....Borderline.
1
You attempt to sow sympathy for immigrants legal and illegal, without calling the latter by name, "illegal." Did you know that the Terrorist attack that happened a few days ago was committed by a man from Syria? It's not a shock that we don't see that news on your paper, but we constantly are bombarded with "sympathy" pieces that are supposed to make us feel bad about protecting our country in whatever legal ways we see fit. Never would you dare to speak the truth, that Islamism is incompatible with out culture, government and economy (they are against taxation more than Republicans). Look at PEW. Our country will die from the left having too much compassion, not from men protecting our freedom as is the lefts typical target. Shelby Steele wrote a brilliant book called "Shame" which was mostly about how white guilt is not helping black people, but the phenomena is more pervasive than that. The left here sows shame thru forced sympathy. They forget the civil liberties we have ensured, and focus on certain consequences that will sway your weak minded readers into giving up their liberties for the shiny new one's you guys always offer. There is no more important right than the first, and I use mine to say, if you want equality, we should shut down ALL immigration. Period. Then we won't have your complaints about quotas. We on the right want NO immigration. And these opinion pieces just serve to remind us of the nefarious psychological tactics of the left. Thanks
5
I find it interesting that you use the phrase “weak minded” when your opening words about terrorism suggest that you are responding out of fear. Truly strong minded people have no fear and have the ability to have compassion on others instead of being so inwardly focused, whether self or country. You could never ban everyone from ever entering. We rely on other countries as they rely on us. And even if you did, you would find the country rotting from the inside because the truth is there are as many bad people in this country as there is outside of it. Part of the reason this country is so strong is that it has attracted the best from different corners of the world. Yes some bad apples, but many good as well.
1
So, the president refers to sanctuary cities as "breeding grounds." What then should we make of his White House? A nest of vipers? A den of thieves? A crooks hang-out? A clown car? A ship of fools? A confederacy of dunces? How about "all of the above?"
2
Nick, our nine justices in the S.C.O.T.U.S. must reject any arguments that come from the Trump administration.
They should do it for our country's old image as a fair and balanced country whose Constitution was written by the framers to treat every individuals equally no matter their color of the skins.
Or what languages they spoke since our settlers came from six European countries who spoke widely different languages even after they arrived in this country.
Our writers of the constitution even encouraged more people to come here from different nations with unique religions of their own as they wanted to break the taboo that they all faced in their respective European countries.
Above all, our early presidents and the early members of the congress wanted to give everyone around the world a chance to set their feet on this land of the Indians which they themselves snatched from the original inhabitants : The Indians.
But it seems like Trump, whose grandfather came from Germany after he was kicked out from there for illegal activities like bootlegging or moon shining and running a chain of brothels with local prostitutes which he did here as well, is trying to defy the odds and prove to his racist followers that he'd change the Constitution if he's allowed to.
Trump is also trying to change the old slogan "Bring us your poor and your hungry" from our early lawmakers and the early presidents to his own slogan "Send us only your White Jewish and Christians. No body else."
We are not a fair and balanced country, never have been, never will be. We have never recovered from slavery.
1
justthefactsma'am, you're absolutely right.
God help us; and this is just the tip of the iceberg of white nationalist hatred that Trump and his ilk have brought us.
Even tho I won't be alive probably, I can't wait until Trump is out of the WH and history has judged him as one of the worst presidents in the USA -- perhaps the worst of all of them.
History will also judge him as a terrible, narcissistic, irrational, cruel person.
I doubt he'll be alive at the height of all these judgements, but his children will be and I hope they suffer shame for being co-dependent and ignorant fools for lying for him and covering up his evil deeds.
2
Why does he treat immigrants kids cruelly? No. he does not treat all immigrant kids cruelly. Those from countries like Norway and Sweden will probably be invited to the White House lawn for cookies and cake while those from elsewhere that are not blonde and Caucasian will be subject to humiliation.
It is what bigots do. Our president is a bigot. That is why he takes this split approach.
3
If the Department of Homeland Security 'does not currently' have a policy to remove young children from their parents, then why is it happening? It certainly was a policy John Kelly promoted and Ms. Nielsen is his protégée. Basically, I don't believe her spokesperson, it may not widespread, but it is occurring.
To the callous people commenting here, it is my wish you have a personal experience as terrifying as seeing your 11 year old friend fleeing naked and shot from her rapist since you apparently are unable to recognize the humanity in others and need to experience it firsthand.
2
Let me put it very bluntly, if those kids were blonde with blue eyes Trump will be welcoming them with arms wide open. It boils down to this, Trump is the mirror image of his core supporters who sincerely believes that a person of color cannot be better than the stupidest of the white guy among themselves.
1
Trump and his supporters are nihilists who believe in nothing, support nothing and care for nothing. They are turning our national motto into "E pluribus nihil."
1
Anne Frank’s family fled their country because they were Jews and Hitler was exterminating millions of them in concentration camps and gas chambers. No one is exterminating Central Americans or Mexicans so I find this comparison to Anne Frank and the Holocaust highly offensive.
And, no, I am not Jewish and I don’t have family members who died then, but the history of the Holocaust is about murder, not the fake asylum stories these people are telling. They could have and should have stayed in Mexico, their first country of entry, but they didn’t because they are country shopping.
The US cannot accept all the poor of the world. How about the poor billions all over the world who want to come here? If we take them we become the third world they left.
And, by the way, what about the lives of American citizens who pay for all of this with government benefits, and whose communities are affected with overcrowded schools, hospitals, crime and lack of housing? Oh, yeah, illegals first.
11
Why do US Taxpayers have to pay to educate and provide medical care for illegal alien children ???
These people are coming to the US for economic reasons not out of fear.
The unspoken here is that Liberals want Open Borders to allow anyone to come to US.
8
Not our problem.
2
Let's look a group of people in the news over the last several months:
Stephen Paddock
Nikolas Cruz
Travis Reinking
Devin P. Kelley
What do they all have in common?
They're not Muslim.
They're not from any of the banned countries.
They're not immigrants.
They all committed terrible acts that caused terror and mayhem and needless loss of life.
And let's go back a bit as well to another member of the same group: Dylan Roof.
And the leader of the free world is trying to build walls around our nation and implementing
a racist ban from Muslim countries?
Then again, he's the leader of the Republican Party, the same one that's trying to eliminate
non-existent voter fraud.
SAD!!!
5
Fear is the most powerful weapon in existence. It was used by Hitler to build a vast empire which came close to wiping out democracy. It has been used for centuries to justify violence toward people of color. And of course fear is being used by this administration to manipulate people into marginalizing the "others" and continue to build this political base. Treating immigrants horribly serves this end.
And it's working like a charm - check out DT's 39% approval rating.
Nearly 20 years ago Michael Moore, in his movie "Bowling for Columbine," identified fear as the fundamental cause of gun violence in America. More importantly, he pointed out how our media use fear as a means of "selling" the news; how so many other corporate entities utilize fear to promote their brands and/or increase profit margins.
So it's no surprise that this fear-based culture has produced an administration that finds and manipulates the deepest fears Americans have: fear of immigrants, of violence by black males, of equal rights for LGBQT citizens, of other nations, etc.
Fear sells, and America is buying it by the truckload.
So how do we reverse the growth of this profit-based fear mongering? I think the only way is to recognize and address it within ourselves and those around us. As the old saying goes, recognizing the problem is the first step in solving the problem.
2
I wonder at the actions of people who claim to worship the man who said “Love your neighbors as you love yourself.” Perhaps they are just working very hard to ensure that their neighbors can only be people who look, think and act like themselves.
1
Why Does Trump Treat Immigrant Kids Cruelly? Because He Can"
Yes, Fauxtus' treatment of immigrant children is cruel and disturbing. But his cruelty is not limited to them. He extends his cruelty to many other populations, also merely "because he can" -- Trans service members, Muslims, reputable journalists, the judiciary, NFL players who dare protest police violence against unarmed black people, women not named Ivanka... this list goes on longer than my morning allows me to type.
EVERYONE (except for select wealthy white men) deserves better consideration from this president. We have in the Oval Office a man who, at his core, really doesn't like most people.
4
It sickens me every time I hear the comparison of asylum seekers to Holocaust survivors. Holocaust survivors faced certain death in a gas chamber or bullets to a their own freshly dug grave. Asylum seekers are mostly seeking economic improvements. The comparison is a diminishment of the significance of the Holocaust. NK should know better but it is another example of the hysteria that has replaced sensible discussion regarding the right of any sovereign nation to protect its borders.
6
For a party that is so pro family, they sure know how to tear families apart.
1
"....today's policies leave me ashamed."
I think "shame" will be one of the primary historical descriptors attached to America regarding the Trump era. It will be deserved.
When children are the target of hateful and bigot policies, we must ask ourselves this question: How, as a society, are we contributing to this cruelty?
I hope theose Evangelical supporters who "worship" President Trump at all costs read this article. I don't think Jesus would behave the way he, his administration and often the too silent Republican lawmakers do on this topic and so many others. Shame! hame! It seems Mr. Trump can get away with anything he chooses because his goal is to make others feel inferior to him to compensate for his own insecurity -- but that is what bullies do.
Who are these people that snatch crying children from their horrified parents? Who, in America, would follow through with such barbaric behavior ordered by - whom? -the Chief of Staff? Sessions? Trump?
Do we honestly believe that these men are capable of inflicting these crimes against humanity? Well, actually, of course we believe that they are capable of committing these crimes. They told us. From their own lips. The current behavior of our Supreme Court has many wondering what is happening everywhere around us.
Every minute of every day that this goes on, WE are all implicated by allowing it. The German people learned that lesson well. How much longer will we stand by and watch these disgusting monsters run roughshod over basic human rights and the rule of law in our country? Where is the Congress??? Where is their outcry???
"Trump goes out of his way to dehumanize immigrants and even complains about them “breeding.”"
I am a new US citizen, I longed for it in the last 15 years. But now, I am more ashamed! I was fortunate enough to be born in a nice family, get good education and emigrate to US using those privileges and hard work. I am ashamed, is this the country on top of the hill with promise of freedom and respect for all, regardless of nationality, race, religion and wealth?
What can we do? how can we help these unfortunate souls, tired and sick
70
What can we do? Vote Trump and his craven enablers out. Vote in every election.
11
You can vote for candidates who share your values. If you care about human rights you probably don't want to vote for a Republican candidate as that party has now adopted an essentially White nationalist and anti-human rights platform.
13
Nicholas said it perfectly: "Because he can."
What determines the actions of bullies (and sociopaths, dictators and all evil-doers) is not whether it is right or wrong, but whether they can get away with it.
1
There is no way to read this today and feel ok about it. That is, unless you are someone who is unfettered by conscience. This is being done in our name, fellow citizens.
Mr Kristoff is an extremely credible source as he so often puts himself in places which we cannot imagine visiting. He does this to shed light on situations a civilized world should not tolerate. I am sad for these families. My grandparents were immigrants who came here when they feared what was happening in Europe. I am a beneficiary of their courage and the openness of American society. I realize that and wish the same for those now desperate to be safe.
Those who approve of what Trump and his squalid administration are imposing on our country do not represent the majority of American citizens. They must be replaced by voters who want to return to the actual “good old days.”
After reading about this cruelty, my heart was deeply affected by the knowledge that as it happens we are all being made criminals. The treatment of these families makes sense only to those who have lost a moral center, or maybe sadly, never had one. It sickens me that our normally kind citizens have little power to stop behavior that is done in our name. Please keep telling us what is true and thank you Mr Kristof for your humanity.
"where Fuentes was on a gang’s execution list, according to his lawyer, Noreen Barcena."
The notion of these raggedy gangs having execution lists of hundreds of thousands or millions of names defies common sense. But that is the number claiming to be refugees on the run from certain death at the hands of gangs, rather than conceding they are people interested in American-style phones, televisions, homes and health care. Has an immigration lawyer ever met anyone who WASN'T claiming to be on a death list, or challenged that claim?
I'd have more respect for Nicholas Kristof if he were honest and made his argument from his real belief system: There are scores of millions of poor Mexicans and Central Americans who are no more deserving of poverty than we are, so maybe we should divvy up our stuff with them.
Of course, if he admitted this is really the argument he is making, few would be persuaded.
3
Or maybe the cruelty is just to discourage bad behavior, to make illegally coming to the US a high risk with painful consequences kind of decision
Much of the criminal justice system is cruel. Losing your freedom, being locked in a cage with dangerous people, being executed, being fined, losing property—all cruel things we do to discourage crime
What we have been doing is a complete failure. Time to increase the pressure. Cruel? Yes. But it might work better than what we were doing
2
So what does Kristof suggest we do eith the thousand+ illegal aliens set to storm the borders in Tijuana today? Give them all asylum? No. Do not let them in, but send them all back to Mexico. When we separate the children from their parents put the kids in a catholic orphanage anywhere in the Latin americas
and put them up for adoption where they can have new parents snd a better life, not one faced with lifelong poverty and life long living off the American taxpayer.
2
I think about the stories these children must be told about America by their parents as they prepare to leave and make their difficult journey: the Statute of Liberty, the land of free, a place where they will be safe, the shining city on the hill. And then they get here, to what they have been told is a place of refuge and are torn screaming from their parents arms. Why? Because of a demented old man throwing red meat to a bunch of people who feel "threatened. We are truly monstrous.
1
I don't know for sure, but I wonder whether refugees, by rejecting their native culture, aren't being seen by Trump's people as violating a sacred tradition they are stuck with. It reminds me of Justice Scalia's cheerful observation that while impartiality might be nice in a Justice, we can't expect them to deviate from whatever they were taught as children. Refugees are deviants; maybe that's what's wrong with them, in the eyes of Trump and his people. How have we forgotten that we are all the descendants of deviants just like these?
Kristof claims he doesn't believe in open borders yet at the same time argues for them. Is he lying, or just an emotional confused "progressive".?
6
If you enter the US without a visa, including when asking for asylum, you will be detained. This makes sense, as the US needs time to vet asylum seekers and others. An adult detention facility is no place for a child, so they are separated and held. Not a heartwarming solution, but what is the alternative? When we released people with just a court date, many disappeared, only to turn up later having built lives here, or “dreamers.” If we had a facility to house families, that would create different issues.
Choosing to come to the US, hoping that it will all work out when you get here is a choice. It’s a choice that is made several times as you travel through other countries and refuse the US offer for deportation. Choices have consequences.
If separated detention is what we are going to do, then I believe we should communicate that clearly. If it deters people from coming here without the required visas, then we’ve eliminated an issue.
The NYT needs to do a story about asylum seekers or illegal immigrants with less sympathetic individuals. It feels like these pieces are carefully crafted to appeal to our emotions. Let’s get some first person stories from our border forces about the other side of these issues.
4
I don’t support open borders and think many illegal immigrants should be detained and deported if they are only economic migrants, but I agree that it is wrong to separate kids from their parents. The psychological damage done to children at a critical developmental stage is likely to be significant. Kids should be with their parents and go home with their parents.
Even in the Bible, it states children are not punished for the sins of their parents. Perhaps if Trump read a little bit more, he would have seen this.
Close the gates, pull up the drawbridges, batten the hatches. We already have 100 million too many people in this country. You can't compare the late 19th century, when we were trying to populate this vast country, with today, where we are bursting at the seams.
2
I wrote the president after reading that at least 700 children were separated from their parents upon entering this Country. This administration is cruel, dismantling environmental regulations, the affordable care act , refusal to take in refugees from war, etc... The definition of a Sociopath is " a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience." This is a fitting description of the trump administration. I cried for two days after this president won the election. Living in a Country willing to be this cruel is unbearable. We must change this GOP controlled Congress and Senate to gain control of our Humanity.
3
Do we want to become India or China with billions of people, a lack of open space, terrible pollution and high density housing projects, slums, etc. We simply cannot accept the "world" any longer. It's too small.
3
In the 60s we would have been in the streets. What's it going to take to get us back there?
The Federal government first priority should be to defend our representative republic, keep our borders secure, and remove people who are here illegally.
Globalist forces have convinced a lot of citizens that the first duty of our government is to be compassionate. Nothing could be further from the truth.
3
The folks who make and implement these policies are clueless about the the essential trauma we are inflicting on these young children. For shame! Every congressperson and ICE decision maker should receive immediate education about the critical nature of human bonding. Experts in childhood development please step forward!
1
It is horrendous to split up families and I hope the word gets out to illegal immigrants not to traffic children.
I want the cruelty to end- but I also want illegal immigration to stop.
The cruelty will end the moment people stop using their kids to try to earn more money.
The United States has no obligation to provide anything to foreigners. Remember: anyone escaping violence in Central America had to cross Mexico. If this were about safety people would apply for asylum there- it isn't about safety though. It is about making more money.
5
These are economic migrants. Their claims of asylum are fraudulent. Recent NYT article states that they are being coached what to say to claim asylum. Gangs are not all over Central America. People visit Guatemala as tourists. Gangs in one town? Move to another town or to Mexico, your first country of entry, not to the US.
9
Recent coverage of the terror state that ISIS created in Iraq and Syria documents the rape and sexual slavery of women meant to breed new soldiers for the “Caliphate”. Now imagine that some of the ISIS fighters show up with their infant children on our doorstep, masquerading as refugees. Should we let them in? And what if those are mothers who have willingly joined ISIS? Having a baby is not a certificate of virtue. I don’t understand the point of separating children from their families, and it is possible that it is done just as a gratuitous cruelty. But neither do I approve of taking in anybody, a legitimate refugee or not, just because they have a baby in tow.
2
When Trump was only the bully on the play ground he could harass only a few. Now he can harass millions with a tweet. He is in his glory.
1
This excellent piece awakens painful memories in me. Before and during World War ll my family tried three times to emigrate to the U.S. from Europe. We were Jews and my father was a highly qualified electrical engineer. In contrast to the Franks, we very lucky and managed to escape, first to Spain and finally to Ecuador, one of the very few countries with open doors.
1
Nicholas, thank you for your article and speaking up, too many influential people are staying silent and implicitly complicit in Trump’s actions.
Although these are Trump’s policies, this is an American problem; Americans who voted for Trump and still support him despite all the facts are directly responsible for his atrocities.
1
Maybe the strategy is "We need to send a message to potential immigrants in the sense that America is not accepting refugees anymore". However kids are the future leaders of the world. America needs friendly neighbors. This country can reject immigrants without cruelty. This is lack of long-term vision. What a contrast as compared to the Mariel exodus, when America had to deal with thousands of Cuban refugees. It was a difficult and painful situation, but cruelty was absent. You can google "Mariel exodus refugee tent photos" and you will watch hope, smiles, uncertainty, and pain, but not cruelty. Oh, and the children are together with their parents.
1
As always, thoughtful piece by Mr. Kristof. For more on Dr. Seuss' anti-fascism (which some would now like to forget) see here: https://imaginaryelevators.blog/2018/03/29/460/
1
Just keep writing, Mr. Kristof. When the drumbeat of justice and decency from those of us who abhor thee policies is quiet, then the nation will have died.
4
Perhaps Trump has learned by watching Australia. Here, in recent years we have done it all. I mean we have arbitrarily and indefinitely imprisoned asylum seekers, assigned them numbers to replace their names, separated men from their wives and children keeping them incommunicado, turned around their boats on the high seas and marooned them on pacific islands if we could not do that, denied them medical care, denied them safe and sanitary accommodation, exposed them to physical harm and blamed them for their murders and suicides, and so on. And those measures have broad popular support and are the policies of the three major parties: Labor, Liberal and National. As Trump said to Turnbull, when the latter explained our refugee policy, ‘you are worse than we are’!
2
The separation of child from mother is indeed barbarous. What is disturbing is that this separation was conducted slaveowners in the South over 450 years ago until the slaves were freed.
From the home of Frederick Douglass, 1841-1845
5
This policy, like torture, is just simple human cruelty, as Kristof suggest. It's not more complicated than that. It's a surrender to a primitive an ugly side of human nature that derives pleasure from another's misfortune. It's another sign that we are in the midst of an administration staffed from the top down by immature little bullies motivated by simple cruelty and aggression rather than by any studied policy. But it will pass.
4
Wow, this article is like a punch in the gut. As it should be.
I believe one of the reasons the United States has been so unaccepting of refugees—particularly children—is because of our history with our own First Peoples, the Indigenous Peoples of America. For over 150 years, Native American children were taken from their homes and sent off to boarding schools where many didn’t see their families for years, some never again. Many were beaten, raped, had their culture and Native spirituality stolen from them. It was all in an attempt to “kill the Indian, save the child”.
Much of America’s treatment of today’s refugees, especially their kids, reflects back to how our government treated Indigenous people. Sadly, we are very slow in learning lessons from the past.
9
Yes the article is disturbing. But the more we open our arms to immigration from lost countries the more they will come. The United States and Europe are places where one can live, work and have a family in peace and security. In many parts of the world that is impossible. And unfortunately there may be more of then than us. Think Syria and Central America. We can't take them all in. And we cannot afford to go into those countries and make them secure for their residents. Yes the world will have a reckoning at some point, including the impact of climate change, when the numbers of the desperate reach some critical level. I don't have a solution and I don't think there is one.
4
What does that have to do with the point of the article? Tearing kids from their families as a deterrant to others.
"Yes, but......" means you KNOW it's wrong. You don't have to have a solution to the entire complex issue. You just have to acknowledge that this aspect is wrong and should stop.
"And we cannot afford to go into those countries and make them secure for their residents."
Much of the violence in Central America results from gangs empowered by guns smuggled down from the US and drugs smuggled back up.
Perhaps instead of spending money on tearing apart and storing members of frightened, loving families, and instead focused resources on stopping the movement of guns and drugs across the border and on development projects that support our American neighbors, people would be able to remain safely with their extended families in Central America.
But, it is not "their problem" when it is caused by our guns and drugs, and it is heartless to ignore these good people,
By the way, what would you have done with Ann Frank's family?
I fully agree with you. But please remember your words when the climate keeps changing further: Make sure you and your folks stay down there in Boca, lest we separate your grand kids from their parents. We re getting pretty full up here, you know? (Maybe you could start building on stilts? Or how about doing like Noah?)
Just horrifying. We adopted our son internationally, and anyone who has had any such experience could write you a book about the terrible harm that children suffer when they don’t have the daily support and unconditional love of a parent who will always be there for them. And of course, *every* professional who works with children knows this. So here’s a question. Is it a violation of the US’s obligation under international human rights law to deliberately do this? It seems clear the US authorities are willing (and maybe even eager) to do this - is the administration stopping short of making it official policy in order to maintain a figleaf of plausible deniability?
4
It is disturbing to me that this is happening in increasing numbers with the current administration. Immigration is a tricky issue, one policy can be interpreted in a number of ways--hence Fuentes wife being allowed to enter the country and get their child back. However, it is unconscionable that children are used as bargaining chips. Trauma like this at such early ages will impact their development.
Funny, as an American living in Australia, I find it difficult not to criticise their offshore detention policies, but find it difficult not to. I certainly do not believe in open borders but we have refugee and asylum policies for a reason.
3
I am appalled, deeply saddened, and alarmed by the president's behavior toward immigrants and the license he has given his minions to inflict pain and suffering. As a second-generation American whose grandparents fled oppression and state-sponsored genocide, I have lived the American dream and been the beneficiary of a free and open society. The wholesale undermining and destruction of the pillars of that society run apace in this administration. The courts, at best, are able to stall or stop the most egregious offenses. The acid test of our republic's honor and conscience will be in the ballot box come November 2018 and November 2020.
9
I'd suggest we work with central american countries to improve their police forces but then we'd be subject to a barrage of NYT articles about how brutal and corrupt the US backed police are. Allowing poor refuges from Central America is an extremely wasteful way to spend our limited compassion budget. Educating a single child in the US costs more than $10,000 per year. In Honduras, that's enough to support a small school or enough police to keep a small neighborhood safe. Trump and Republicans would be open to such an appeal because it's a cost effective way of helping everybody. Kristoff and the NYT aren't helping.
7
I'm afraid that most of Trump's base would read this article and smile. That is all that matters.
5
This essay was very difficult to read. How is seperating very young children from their mothers and giving them away to strangers even legal, not to mention completely morally abhorent? How does this make our country safe?
28
This isn't up to the Trump while I don't really like him as our president this is an issue that Congress needs to fix. And why won't they fix it? Because as with the right and left it is ALL or nothing and the left has totally hijacked this issue. Its open borders for them and a free for all as to who gets to stay in the United States.
Once more level heads prevail and they can find common ground, not the all or nothing approach this can be fixed. But until the American people believe that they have secure borders and their is reason and fairness to our immigration policy there is always going to be major disagreement on this topic.
If I was a legal immigrant who did everything the right way I would be very upset about how we allow people to cut the line I waited on for years!
7
We know from Bowlby's studies that separating young children from their parents has a profoundly damaging effect on a child. It's obscene to knowingly hurt a child in this way.
24
One day we may remember that separating a child from their parent--and isolating them in some cases -- is child-abuse unless that parent has been proven unfit as a parent or proven to have broken a law and requires incarceration (although this is changing).
When this day comes, those who separated children from their parents because they could or because they had "orders" should be treated exactly like the guards in the concentration camps who said they were "just following orders".
Registering for asylum status is not a crime. Kidnapping children from their parents is a crime.
23
To be fair to the American public, not the Trump Administration, I don't think the majority are even aware that this cruelty is taking place. Not only do I fully appreciate Mr. Kristof's column, but I hope that it inspires more journalists to cover this phenomenon and wake the population.
I do a lot of work with children and I often fantasize about inviting members of congress, who glibly talk about cutting off programs that help feed and support them to come into the classrooms where they learn and tell them to their faces that they are sorry, but they'll have to take that apple or sandwich or crayons and paper to "balance the budget."
Similarly, I would like the more virulent "nationalists" to come in and tell early elementary students and explain to them why their parents, many of whom work two and three jobs to support their families, are "criminals" and if they want to see them again, ever, they will have to be placed in foster homes or public institutions for an indefinite period of time.
Thanks to this kakistocracy and years of one party courting extremists, we are actively creating a generation of traumatized children. This is a terrible trend and there will be repercussions beyond our control.
172
As a social worker I helped families from around the world make the adjustment to this country especially Portuguese. They were with few exceptions the most responsible, law abiding people I have known. I doubt seriously that those who make blanket bigoted judgments about immigrants have had any contact with them. This includes both legal and illegal immigrants the distinction of which is basically a matter of a card. Perhaps we should start to think about the value of human beings who contribute so much to our country rather than arbitrary legal differences. There needs to be a clear path to citizenship for these hard working people.
12
Thanks for the wonderful new word in my vocabulary. I spend time trying futilely to find words which adequately define the revolting gaggle of refuse that is our current "government" and kakistocracy is brilliant.
7
It won't matter. Remember, Jeff Flake listened politely to ALS sufferer Ady Barkan explain while they were on the same flight that a vote to repeal ACA would condemn Barkan to an earlier death. Flake listened politely and then voted with his party anyway. For the GOP, it's "Party Uber Alles" -- always. They simply do not care about human suffering. Power and greed are in their DNA and nothing will change that.
9
To forcefully separate children this young from their parents is to knowingly inflict massi terror and lifelong trauma. The silence of George W. Bush, the proponent of compassionate conservatism, and the silence of his supporters who swallowed that line tells us all we need to know about their sincerity, then and now. But maybe not. I will watch these pages to see if he speaks out. But really, the Dr. Seuss cartoon is still true for those in power.
8
Separation of children from their parents is simply a pro active policy, and more of a message, to would be immigrants to deter them from coming. If they know they're going to be separated from their children, they would be less inclined to come and therein lies the strategy.
While a bit cruel, it's not done arbitrarily, it has a purpose and that seems to be working.
10
it's not a bit cruel (why soften it, guilt?), it is inhumane.
8
A bit cruel? Your definition of cruelty seems a bit flexible. And why someone who has entered the country legally, such as Jose Demar Fuentes, should have his toddler son taken from him is beyond me. There is no way at this point to know if the policy is working to convince people not to come to the U.S., but it most assuredly is conducted in an arbitrary manner.
6
And there ya go! A bit cruel? As I sit here picturing having my young daughter ripped from my arms, I am speechless at this almost in comprehensible interpretation. Yes, it was "a bit cruel" when we did this to Anne Frank. And she and her whole family wound up dead. And we've learned nothing. Oh well, it's only foreigners so who cares, right?
1
I think it's because Trump is tired of seeing all the politicians and all the special interests put the children of other countries first for the last 30 years, he's flipping the script on a much overdue subject.
We have children here, American children that don't have enough food, quality education among other needs that have to be filled, we do not have the resources for the worlds children, we need to start at home, it not only makes sense but it's what's right.
13
I would agree with you except you are wrong about our government caring for our own children.
We cut taxes to the bone and schools don't have enough money to buy paper, pencils and newer text books, and we have thousands of teachers demanding a better salary. Do we want the lowest paid people to teach our kids?
We have thousands of children living with a parent in shelters. We have a government that is attempting (Carson headed) to raise section 8 housing rent "so the people will get a job". We have a government that has attempted to cut WIC and is definitely cutting food stamps and Medicaid, both of which poor people count on to help feed and care for their children.
As Americans, we treat our own kids in lower income brackets just as nastily and meanly as we, by your opinion, should treat other countries kids.
46
We have plenty of resources to care for our children and to treat refugees humanely. We choose not to use our resources in these ways, but rather to spend almost as much on our military as the rest of the world combined, while neglecting education and the environment.
33
Yeah we don't do a very good job at taking care of our children so your argument holds no weight. The people who separate immigrant children from their families are the same ones that fight tooth and nail to strip away support from American children and their families.
"When immigration officials pry a crying young child away from a parent and send that child to foster care, that is not “immigration policy.” That is “barbarism."
Nicholas, your column is deeply disturbing but I'm grateful you spelled out the hard truths about what's going on regarding immigration.
To think Congress for the past decade has been derelict in trying to agree on any much needed overhaul of immigration policy, leaving the entire mess in the hands of Donald Trump is unconscionable.
Yes this administration is deliberately cruel. As are the good "Christians" who elected him, forgetting the words of the savior they purport to worship: "what you do to the least of my people, you do to me."
When immigration policy becomes no policy but gratuitous psychological torture, this country becomes a mockery of its values. Like you, Donald Trump is the grandson of immigrants, something he never mentions in his attempt to make America white again.
It's simply shameful.
105
It might be helpful to differentiate the refugee problems of, say, Syria, from those of Honduras and El Salvador. The recent problems in the Balkans and Middle/Near East seem to stem from ethnic/religious hatreds and ruthless heads of state like Assad and Erdogan. In Latin America it appears to be all about illegal drugs and the violent gangs that control the trade.
Let's focus on Latin America. Is there any way to create conditions on our southern border that resemble the remarkably peaceful relationship we have with Canada? First, forget about Trump's wall. Everyone knows almost all smuggled drugs come through legal ports of entry. Then notice that marijuana smuggling has been cut in half. Could legalization in many U.S. states have anything to do with that? Once the opioid crisis started ravaging middle America, it was seen as a public health issue, not a criminal one. So let's legalize cocaine, heroin and meth and put the drug gangs like MS-13 out of business.
But we're not going to get off that cheap. It seems like it will take nothing less than a U.N. peacekeeping force to regain control of entire towns now ruled by gangs.
Once Latin Americans feel safe, institute an aggressive program of micro-loans to help thousands (millions?) of citizens to create small businesses and stimulate their local economies. Removing the reason to flee their countries will do much more to stem the flow of illegal immigrants across our southern border than Trump's wacky wall.
10
We don't have the money to fund even Medicaid adequately and other programs intended to help the poor in our country, let alone "...institute an aggressive program of micro-loans..." The American middle class taxpayer has been squeezed dry and the coffers are about to get emptier when the recent tax cuts have been around long enough....wait and see. Hint: see Kansas' economy.
15
Balancing compassion and pragmatism is hard, especially at a time when a good portion of our own citizens feel that they are receiving the short end of the stick and would prefer we focus our resources on our own.
BUT... that balancing act should never infringe on human rights. We should not separate families, or jail people waiting for a hearing. We should assure medical care and food, and resolve cases quickly.
Refugees are a global problem as more people flee from terrible situations. I admit that I have no great solution, and would look to our nation to work the diplomacy - the mix of threats and treats - to make their homes safer. But we should never be as bad as from the situation they fled.
Where are the Christians? These are the people Jesus championed.
23
You say Trump treats immigrant kids cruelly because he can. I say Trump treats immigrant kids cruelly because he a bigot, a white supremacist, and stuck in the past. He wouldn't separate a Norwegian kid from his parents...not that any Norwegians want to come here.
325
Linda, it’s not Norweigians coming here burdening tax payers using stolen social security numbers to receive government benefits, free health care and education. Their American anchor babies are entitled to welfare and food stamps.
They should all be deported.
2
Just a side note, but Norway is no picnic for children either. See the articles about decades of child abuse in Norway, for example: https://tinyurl.com/y8mbceze
The Dr. Seuss cartoon says it all. Even "America first" is right in place. Again history is repeating itself in the most brutal way (sorry, but this phrase is a favorite of mine). Generally, mankind follows the pattern "that everything will be better in the future". But quite apparently this is a kind of self-deceiving.
72
What the Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright have in common? Both where kids when they arrive in the USA with their parents. Kissinger was 15 years old when he arrived in 1938. Albright was 12 years old when she arrived in 1949.
112
As a nation we've always had a love/hate relationship with our immigrant communities both legal and illegal. We've failed refugees when they needed us most. I've always asked myself how I would want to be treated if I found myself in need of refuge because of a crisis in my country. We can't save everyone but we don't need to be deliberately cruel to those who flee their homes out of desperation.
58
Smuggling children over an international border is a crime, no?
How do we know for sure that these adults are actually the parents? There are teenagers being trafficked into prostitution and also working as virtual slaves in agriculture/poultry farms.
How much financial support are these parents capable of?
Zero.
22
They aren’t being smuggled. They are presenting themselves to border security with documents, and requesting asylum.
16
Well, in the example cited, Jose Demar Fuentes arrived at the border and presented immigration officials with "birth certificates and other documents". Yet he was still forcibly separated from his son by immigration officers.
So your red herring about child trafficking really doesn't apply here.
5
This is the 21st century. We are capable of answering all of your questions without resorting to cruelty, Trump's MO.
2
Excellent column. Trump’s administration seems determined to do as much harm to as many people as possible. It’s a national nightmare. PS You reversed two words in quoting the Dr. Seuss caption.
33
A simple and inexpensive DNA test can establish whether someone is sneaking a non-related child into the country, which takes away one government excuse. But not the excuse to cut legal refugees so drastically and arbitrarily; that's just animus like the travel ban.
32
Trump will be re-elected as President. Liberals like me stood in very long legal immigration queues to get legal entry into US. Providing legal
Immigration status to people who jump the queue makes a mockery of the legal immigration system. I voted for HRC, now I am voting for Trump.
31
Refugees are not entering the country illegally. They are asking for legal protections that U.S. law promises them. When a family attempts to gain U.S. residency, the odds are good that the children have already experienced significant trauma. The idea that my government would use those children as, essentially, hostages is horrifying.
231
Trump does not respect the office he holds nor the oath he took to uphold the Constitution. His immigration policy or any other policy that any voter likes does not change how unfit for the job of president he is. Voting for him is to reject all that this country stands for.
13
Refugees are not illegal immigrants.
6
There is a long list of nasty things Trump is doing "because he can." We need to keep a list of these transgressions against the vulnerable and neediest of us so we can legislate protections against any Trump 2.0.
68
There is a list! Amy Siskind has written a book and documents the actions of the Trump regime weekly. She was inspired by experts on authoritarianism who advise doing so.
1
Trump seems to revel in trashing the exceptional ideals America has aspired to. We aspire to be a land that welcomes the "tempest tossed." We aspire to be a land where immigrants can be deemed as American as the descendants of those who arrived on the Mayflower. True, we have not always lived up to these ideals. We have always struggled with the ugly curses of racism and xenophobia.
Yet, past presidents, Republican and Democratic, at least seemed to understand the ideals and the aspirations. Trump strives to make hatred of "others" acceptable and even fashionable. Yes, he does it because he can, and because demagogues have always used this cheap path to votes. But Trump also seems to enjoy the outrage it causes. It's tragic for the people affected and tragic for our country.
41
Until the heroin/meth smuggling issue is resolved, (in our favor), I will show more concern for American youth than I will for the young of any other country.
Trump would say the same thing if... (fill in the blanks.)
13
It needn't be one or the other. This nation is rich enough, and smart enough, to both walk and chew gum at the same time.
caveman007:
There is zero connection between heroin/meth smuggling and people claiming refugee status.
You might just as well say: Until the Portland Trail Blazers win every game in the NBA playoffs, I will stop brushing my teeth.
Showing concern for American youth (not the primary users of heroin or meth, by the way), should not require you to take great pleasure in torturing young children (by putting them into isolated detention away from their mothers).
Trump says many things, and then says something different the next day, but what he actually does is encourage the torture of helpless children who have committed no crime.
Well caveman , haven't you heard ? Meth is made here too and perhaps if Americans kicked their nasty preference for these drugs , maybe our American youth would be better off if , after all , we are the sum total of our upbringing .
Lately articles such as this one make me so sad I avoid reading them. For nothing will be altered. Trump will be president for 3 more years. Unless the mid-term elections bring major changes, there will not even be any meaningful restraint exerted on his polices.
47
If everyone who cares gets out and votes, we can make the major change happen with the midterm elections.
5
Illegal immigrants make up about 4% of the U.S. population. We want most of them here as they will do jobs the rest of us do not want. They typically enter the country through valid ports and overstay their visas. If they elude law enforcement and stay, their children are generally not taken from them (hence the Dreamers).
We can argue whether or not taking children from illegal immigrants is too harsh. It will certainly serve as a deterrent; Trump is testing what he can get away with here. Children should not be taken from legal-immigrant parents, unless those parents are somehow unable to care for them. Asylum seekers are another matter. If we want to deter refugees from entering the country, this is one way to do it. Again, Trump is testing the waters.
We can debate the nature of Trump’s psychology and motivations. Instead, let’s look at the situation more objectively.
There are currently about 7.5 billion people on the planet. Assuming just 1% of them could legitimately claim asylum, we have 75 million refugees. Most would take their families across fiery wastelands to reach the U.S.; 95,000 represents only 0.1% of these millions, essentially zero in the grand scheme of things.
The only way to cope with this innate horror is through the story of the starfish dying on the beach. Why bother throwing one of them back in the water? Because it makes a difference in that case.
In our case, doing so allows us to retain some grasp on what it means to be human.
19
I ran out of room with my comment, but let me just clarify: I do *not* think children should be separated from their parents in this way; it is a heinous way to treat people with regard to deterrence. I am just trying to add some perspective; percentages provide context for raw numbers.
13
Blue Moon - thanks for the story of whether it's of any use to throw the starfish back into the sea. Your answer that " it allows us to retain some grasp of what it is to be human" is poignantly expressed.
I'm afraid too many in our country have too tenuous a grasp on their humanity nowadays and are strangling themselves and others in a tangled web of end justifies the means, fear, and selfishness. Heartbreaking.
2
Nancy, if we up the (contrived) 1% number above to 10% and reduce the 95,000 number to 20,000 (as stated in the article), then 0.1% reduces to 0.002%, that is, 50x fewer starfish get thrown back.
What do we do (in the U.S.) as the global population explodes? Are we willing to stop having kids to save more starfish? Or, as you say, are we too selfish to do so because we need to preserve our "way of life?"
I think a lot about what our "way of life" really is. Around the world, people will suffer and die as they watch their children suffer and die. While I do not endorse separating children from their parents in the way discussed here, would it still be better to do that while legal cases play out, versus potential immigrants simply left to die at home? Who are we, really, and what do we want?
Is birth control a pragmatic answer in less-developed countries? The U.S., and the pope, have been working against it lately.
The U.S., and other developed countries, can't let everyone in; in fact we can only admit the tiniest fraction of refugees. Again, that is because we need to preserve our consummate lifestyles. So what do we have, and where are we planning to go? Maybe we're in the fast lane to nowhere; we just haven't figured it out yet.
1
I completely agree. I have been really upset by these stories. The assumption is that the families need to be punished, before knowing what their situation is. It's like making a family member watch while another is tortured so that they will be forced to cooperate, and in this case the people being traumatized are children (in addition to their parents). It's inhumane and makes me furious.
159
If they turn around can't they keep their children?
The parents have many choices, most of which will keep their families intact.
These parents have learned by word of mouth that they could complain once they are here and try to get that "permisio" that would allow them entry to the US with little concern for attending the immigration hearings that would determine their actual status.
Don't send the message that our immigration laws can be subverted and made to favor people who are not able to qualify for regular immigration status.
And, before complaining about me, please explain why you're not complaining effectively about the governments of the other countries involved. Those countries are happy to accept our aid dollars.
31
Nobody described in Kristof's column is gaming the asylum system. Where did you get the idea that asylum is used to subvert immigration laws?
Fuentes was on a gang's kill list. He doesn't get to keep his toddler son if he turns around. He's dead.
Btw, we created the gang problem in El Salvador, first by exporting MS-13 gang members to that country from ours, then by our huge illegal drug market. Our drug trade destabilized both Mexico and El Salvador.
37
Asylum and immigration are two separate legal methods. And their governments receiving our $'s is our problem, not theirs.
20
Please. It's perfectly legal to show up at the border requesting asylum. People request asylum for reasons (did you read the article?). If it were easy or made sense to turn back, they wouldn't have come in the first place. American's complaining about the policies of foreign governments has zero effect. We give very little in foreign aid (relative to what other countries give on a proportional basis) and it often amounts to military aid that helps create the situations that cause refugees. Frankly, I'd be happy to have Mateo and his one-year-old. You appear to be a person with little knowledge and no compassion --what are you contributing to the country?
68
I believe Machiavelli said you could unify the people by identifying a common enemy.
I believe ever since this has been used as the basic principle for dodgy leaders - 'oh look ! over there ! looks like bad people ! we need to protect ourselves from them ! trust me on this ...'
19
Same with Netanyahu in Gaza. No accountability as they commit crimes against humanity. It boggles my mind that people who have been through evil incarnate in turn inflict the same on others. Trump, Netanyahu and Putin are the bullies and it is terrifying that kids are being raised watching what is accepted behavior by these men.
81
Why ? Because he can. Exactly .. children are for photo ops and keeping wives busy .. in the Trump World.
26
A true refugee is required to register for asylum at the first safe haven country, not the preferred safe haven country. The family from El Salvador were refugees in Mexico but not the US, in the US they are migrants. They were together in Mexico and should have registered their asylum claim there. If the claim could be verified and is accepted, they could eventually be settled legally by a host country. So, no, they did not enter the US legally, their documents did not include a visa to enter the US legally, they circumvented the UN asylum rules.
This piece is supposed to garner sympathy for such people, and of course, the US should provide logistic and financial support to fight the narco-gangs in El Salvador. But the government of El Salvador also has a responsibility to fight the gangs in their own country. Are governments in the world helpless except for western governments such as the US?!
Also, how is it that claimants from Congo first apply for asylum in the US and not a neighboring safe haven country in Africa? This is also circumventing the UN rules.
The refugees / migrants are breaking the asylum rules (to register in the first safe haven country) and are country shopping to get to the US. It is an abuse of the system.
Also, the comparison to Anne Frank and the holocaust of 6 M Jews is more than an insult. None of the refugees / migrants cited are members of a persecuted minority (religious or ethnic) group. The comparison does not hold up.
40
Even if I were to agree with you I have to ask:
This is an excuse for cruelty to children? Or to anyone?
29
Anne Frank's family did as you say all refugees should do. They moved from Germany to Holland. 'Much good it did them.
29
I can't figure out what U.N. rules you're referring to. There is no U.N. rule, much less law, that requires an asylum seeker to register for asylum at the first safe haven country. Here in the U.S. we follow U.S. asylum law, which requires simply that the asylum seeker be affected by one of several defined conditions: political opinion, race, religion, nationality or social group (i.e., homosexuals, women from certain countries, etc.). Although these conditions don't specify generalized violence or civil war, credible threat of death has been successfully used to gain asylum. There is a rigorous screening process for every asylum seeker, so it's pretty hard to game the system.
Yes, they entered the U.S. legally and immediately registered for asylum. You're imagining the other requirements.
The comparison to Anne Frank is very apt. In both cases, families are fleeing death. Both are genuine refugees.
El Salvador is a failed country, and Mexico is close to being one. The gangs run El Salvador. It's more dangerous than any other country on Earth, including Syria.
28
Donald Trump's grandfather, Mr. Kristof, was also a beneficiary of America's magnanimity and tolerance. Perhaps it was because Friedrich Trump was a German. In the New York of 1885, it was still "Italians and Irish need not apply." So the present president's father got up a leg up on everyone else. The oddity here is that Christ is the middle name of Fred Trump. How that came about is anyone guess.
But this president is repaying his early supporters by either breaking up families at the border or by denying them entry. It can be no secret that "Make America Great Again" is pure code for "white." His Chief of Staff, Sen. John Kelly, who once could claim honorable service on his résumé, has been very quick to play the role of a Heinrich Himmler, Trump's henchman. The general, himself a descendant of Irish immigrants, has willingly hitched a ride on the Trump train of racism and cruelty. Only certain "others," it would seem, may honorably qualify for American citizenship.
The Irish-American chief of staff has licked the stinking boot heels of his master, the descendant of German immigrants who came here looking for something better than could be had in Germany. Trump got in before how many others?
It may be a score of years--or more--before America can begin to wash away the stain of its stingy, miserly approach to refugees who wish to apply for citizenship, much like the American president and his general did.
I suppose it all depends upon where your folks come from.
88
Trump and the DNC are both guilty. Only Trump can see his error and foolishly made a deal to help disadvantaged children. Unfortunately, he was double crossed by the DNC. Only the DNC could pretend to care yet throw our safety to the criminal gangs to make a point!
1
I get the overwhelming impression that Mr. Kristof seeks to prioritize the needs of the world community above that of our own citizens. I guess who you've got a sweet gig at the Times it's no big deal to force the poorest US citizens compete with even more desperate new arrivals.
33
I get the overwhelming impression that Mr. Kristof believes in Christian values.
"Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
Matthew 25:40
5
Most of the elite, ivory towered, liberal types are clueless as to what it's like to have to compete with endless migrants both legal and illegal. They don't have to think about it because they never will have to compete for anything. Living in walled neighborhoods with private schools and fancy summer homes in white places like Wellfleet.
2
One of the best comments on this column, it's true, majority of those write for the New York Times would rather see a hungry American child than a hungry immigrant, these are the facts
Can anyone explain to me how this poor excuse for a human being continues to hold the most prestigious political office in the world?
When are we going to come to our senses and demand that he be legally removed from office? How low will he drag this country's honor and reputation before his supporters wake up?
Have we no decency? Have we no shame?
108
Our cruelty created many of these problems in the first place. Our lax gun laws make it easy to smuggle guns across the border where they're used by drug gangs in Mexico and Latin America to terrorize citizens and destabilize their governments. Then these people come to our borders only to be separated from their children. America first indeed.
13
I think the separation going on to dissuade illegal immigrants from towing their children over the border with them. If they know they will be separated from their children, they won't bring them along or come at all perhaps. It would hopefully discourage some who may be putting kid's and babies lives in danger.
In the past we gave instant passes to children coming in. This is their ticket bringing along their child(ren). They used to be able to jump the queue. Not any longer.
27
jm, when did we ever give instant passes to children coming in? Do you have any source for that claim?
The answer is never. Nobody gets asylum because they brought children. They're granted asylum if they meet strict requirements.
26
"American exceptionalism on display" I love this country but am finding it recent behavior towards immigrants to make me shamed.
51
Get real. The problem here is not with the president. It is with the parents who game the system and exploit their children to gain admission to the United States. These people are breaking the law and cynically using their children to skirt it. The parents of these immigrant children should be ashamed of themselves. What they are doing to their children is immoral. They should try applying for citizenship using the channels that are currently in place.
27
PeterW:
Did you read the article?
A parent is not "gaming the system" it their life is threatened and they need to flee or be killed (leaving the child to the mercy of the murderer's gang).
It is not illegal to request asylum in the US (the topic of the article). The arrivals turn themselves in to Border Patrol.
The parent and child is not granted asylum until a lengthy vetting process and a hearing before an INS judge. During this time, the asylum seeker is innocent until proven guilty, and the child is most assuredly innocent.
You seem sure that all of the asylum seekers are frauds--is it their brown skin, or their ability to speak Spanish? What percentage fraud by the parents is required in your mind to justify the torture of their children?
Worse, PeterW, torturing a child is a crime against humanity. It is not made better if the parent and child is later denied asylum, nor is it made better if the parent is granted asylum.
BTW, the wait for going through channels can be many years, way too long for someone facing a credible death threat.
Did you actually read the article?
5
Shame on you for promoting a cynical conspiracy theory. Asylum seekers are LEGALLY seeking asylum. They're not breaking the law. They're following it, and if asylum is denied, they'll return to their countries. Having a child doesn't buy you anything when you undergo asylum review.
Like many commenters, you seem to be confusing asylum seekers with those who enter illegally. These are two distinct legal categories.
What the Trump administration is doing to these children is immoral.
6
I wonder what you would do if they came for you and your child.
Hopefully not try to break a law to keep your child safe.
2
Why "barbarism" in quotes? This *is* barbarism, full and undiminished, abject to what America should be.
29
Thank you for drawing attention to this. Separating children from their families is unimaginably cruel. There is no reason for it. The children are not terrorists, and they will be deeply traumatized. Several hundred families have now been separated. The Nazis also separated children from their parents, and there are horrifying photographs documenting the separation.
Why have Kelly, Nielsen, and Trump created a policy that is so sadistic? This is a crime against humanity. Children are being harmed.
52
We all have compassion for the poor and the unfortunate. But Congress has had opportunities to resolve our immigration laws and has passed on the responsibility. Primarily because the Dems look at illegal immigration as an opportunity to add seats to the House in solid Democrat urban areas through the process of the census which is coming up and counts all "residents", legal or illegal. For the Dems to act like the only ones who care is unconscionable. They have an agenda of course. Let's call a spade a spade and start acting like adults and come up with immigration reform that is appropriate for the times. Some compromise will of course be required on both sides. Trump has tried to start something but the Dems are obstructing on all levels when it comes to immigration. They still want chain immigration and the visa program that takes jobs from American (Disney). The latest lunacy is to do away with CBP and ICE when the Dems take over the House and maybe the Senate in 2018. A country without borders ceases to exist as a country!
25
You think Democrats plan to do away with CBP and ICE? Where did you come up with this stuff?
Trump had the opportunity to do a comprehensive immigration deal with Democrats in September 2017, which would have included money for his wall. Trump was enthusiastic until Fox News began to pan the deal, at which point he pretended that he hadn't scuttled it himself. Now he refuses to consider standalone legislation on the Dreamers even if it includes his wall.
Btw, the subject of this article is asylum, not illegal immigration. You're confusing two different issues.
Unfortunately, everyone in America doesn't have compassion for the poor and unfortunate. Trump obviously doesn't.
3
A reasonable person might question why rational parents would risk sending their unaccompanied children on a 1,000 mile trek with assurances only provided by 'coyotes' who have a demonstrated record of murdering and abusing thousands of unaccompanied minors. But that would only be questioned by a reasonable person.
25
The article reasonably identified that terror, poverty, rape, and murder are motivations for the risks.
13
This article is not about unaccompanied children. It is about refugee children being separated from their parents upon arrival in the US.
23
It tells me those parents think there is a worse fate for them if they stay. So they gamble on a coyote in order to get them somewhere they may be safer than where they are.
1
There is only so much room in the lifeboat. Where is the outrage toward the corrupt, incompetent governments who perpetuate these conditions ? When will they be held accountable ?
29
Using the lifeboat analogy in this discussion of immigration is very appropriate, especially in a Titanic scenario. For those of us already in the lifeboat--U.S. citizens living within our country's borders--it is quite logical not to have our lifeboat overturned by too many people trying to climb on-board. However, no matter how logical it is to ignore all those seeking refuge or even respite, we cannot ignore the irony that we have purchased our own survival at the expense of our humanity.
7
Why can’t we do both ? Holdgivernments a countable and keep families together?
1
Am I my brother's keeper?
1
Every Republican elected official in America should be calling upon President Trump to change this cruel, inhumane, and shameful policy. The ones who are too afraid to condemn this should be voted out.
17
Of course Trump treats immigrant children cruelly because he can. But what is also true is that he must continue with this cruelty, in order to retain his base.
Children whose families have suffered under his vicious immigration policies are brown-skinned people. They rarely come from northern European nations. And this is precisely why his base applauds his cruelty. This is why his racist supporters are in lock step with a permanent travel ban on nations whose citizens have never committed terrorist acts on U.S. soil, but do have mostly brown-skinned people. There is no other explanation for their support.
A study by the University of Chicago noted in this very paper yesterday provided strong evidence that Trump's continued support isn't based on his voters' feeling "left behind", but rather, his rhetoric has tapped into their longstanding racism and their sense of entitlement as white Americans.
So Trump's administration will certainly visit horrific hardships on many more families like those Mr. Kristof describes, before his tenure is over. Trump makes no apology for this. In fact, he's proud of it. But most importantly, it is his ticket to re-election.
Perhaps Mr. Kristof's article should have been titled "Why Does Trump Treat Immigrant Kids Cruelly? Because That's Exactly What His Supporters Want Him to Do." If they saw many blonde, blue eyed children suffering like Mateo Fuentes, this practice would stop. With Trump voters, it's about race. It's always about race.
134
Agreed Kyle Reese. The election of Donald Trump was always about the backlash against the population that had the temerity to elect Barack Obama to the Ptesidency. I do wish columnists and commenters would stop ringing their hands and tying themselves in knots pretending it was anything else.
27
Or yet another title: Why Does Trump Treat Immigrant Kids Cruelly? Because We Let Him
2
Beyond Trump or Nielsen, I'd like to know what is going on with an immigration officer who would pry a baby away from its parent. Is he following a direct order, or does he feel like all bets are off, and he will do as he pleases? Does he get pleasure from cruelty, like so many corrections officers we hear about in our nation's prisons?
12
Jules, you hit the nail on the head. During WWII Nazis were simply following orders - and millions died.... Not just in concentration camps. That is always the excuse; I did it because someone told me to.
That is what it is to lack compassion.
1
It seems to me that a central aspect of Donald Trump’s character is cruelty. Just about every action that he takes can be analyzed by pointing to a certain pleasure that he takes in what can only be described as cruelty. His taunting, his malicious caricatures, his statements that are designed to keep the whole world (and its children) in horrific suspense in regards to what he might to next — he takes sadistic delight in all of this.
33
When I read Ms. Dickerson's article the other day and now this one, I felt shame as an American. To deliberately traumatize children for the purpose of discouraging immigration is a very real stain on our nation.
23
As a new mom, it’s clear these policies are horrific. Let history reflect that all the moms and dads, from Congress to Voters, who supported or stood silent in the face of Trump allow and are complicit in his policies.
So is being evangelical now the same as being pro gun, anti immigrant, blind to the Trumpian swamp and apologists for bad policy? Seems so. Rethink what Christianity really means. Kristoff is holding up a mirror.
21
Sorry, Mr. Kristof, but the decisions made by hundreds of thousands of individuals leaving Central America are decisions made by those individuals. The U.S. shouldn't tear up law and order to accommodate this wave. The world has many ugly areas as unfortunate as that may be but the U.S. (nor any other country) cannot serve as an unfilled sponge.
25
Kristoff isn't talking about illegal immigration. He's writing about those who seek asylum legally.
Why do so many commenters confuse these subjects?
3
Surely the religious right, evangelicals and followers of Jesus will step forward in the spirit of Matthew 25:40 , Whatever you do to the least of my brethren you have done unto me. Surely those who proclaim Matthew the evangelist will intercede on behalf of the least of our brethren, children. OR are these just empty words never to actually be acted upon by the Christian followers of Donald Trump.
13
Kirstjen Nielsen can hardly be trusted at face value for anything. This is the same person who testified that she didn't know if Norway was predominantly white and that she couldn't remember if Trump used profanity or describe some countries of origin.
Nielsen is yet another person not worth their salary, just getting paid to indulge Trump's prejudices and cover up for him.
27
@NM -- dear friend, with this president, it's always been about television ratings, in this case, the Nielsen ratings.
1
We are a big country, with room to settle new arrivals. The question is, have we the heart? I don’t think so. No person of character could tear a child from a parent, abandon a seven year old to sit alone, uncared for. I don’t know what we’ve become, but I’m so ashamed that I am a part of it. I thought we Americans were better than this.
150
Beyond the point that is makes me physically ill to read this article, it terrifies me. There is much historical proof of past atrocities committed in the name of our country, I had hoped that the light provided by modern media had made the bullies think again, but that has clearly not happened.
This administration is laying the foundation for decades of domestic upheaval as well as the real possibly of us being labeled a rogue state due to our treatment of refugees, the poor and the disabled.
We must now focus our concerns on this kind of under the radar behavior and look beyond the venality and lying of this group to the real threat they offer to our country. This is not about race or class, it is about how a people allow their government to act.
Harken back to Germany in the 1930's and the millions of 'good people' who shrugged their shoulders.
Let us not shrug our shoulders today.
19
This practice of separating parents and children is unconscionable and an indelible stain on the U.S., the presumed leader of the free world and a country comprised of immigrants and their descendants, like me. I hope that apologists for Mr. Trump and his administration will read this column and then take a long look in the mirror and decide if they can continue living with themselves. As I write this, I am also watching Kelly-Anne Conway on TV, spewing her support for the current president and disparaging his critics - it makes me want to vomit.
12
When immigration officials pry a crying young child away from a parent and send that child to foster care, that is not “immigration policy.” That is “barbarism.”
Trump ran as racist on a xenophobic platform. It was not act. 63 million Americans voted for him. The crowds screaming "build that wall" and cheering a proud birther, were not looking for a well modulated and effective policy to address a complex series of difficult tradeoffs. They wanted clear demonstrations of hate.
Barbarism is one of few campaign promises that Trump is willing to work on between TV time and rounds of golf. We can only hope his laziness and incompetence limits the damage.
23
We've got to be careful not to make this not all about Trump. He's a convenient cartoon villain -- evil, no doubt. But he is just the oozing sore at the top of a large and cancerous tumor of xenophobia, racism, and selfishness than runs through our country.
He is ultimately just the symptom of a much deeper rot.
23
We HAVE to take in kids in danger.
But we also have to separate economic migrants who send their kids here. These kids are from impoverished background and are bright people-but they are not in danger. Ethically we cannot leave vulnerable people behind but we are also responsible for poor kids and dying folks here.
Why not have a Asylum embassy in Central Africa, in Eastern Asia, in the middle east? There are a lot of kids who need help?
4
Stop. We cannot solve world hunger and want.
10
By definition, asylum seekers are in danger. They're not economic migrants. They are the subject of this column.
We have embassies in almost every country in the world.
Separating children from parents has been proven to create life-long emotional punishment. The Constitution applies to non-citizens within our borders and prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment." An NGO needs to bring a suit against the government to prohibit the cruel and unusual punishment they are inflicting on parents and children--many of whom followed the LEGAL rules for asylum and immigration.
76
How can it be policy to discriminate? We were all immigrants once. Even the family of the alleged president came from elsewhere, once upon a time. Can he bring that to mind? Dr Seuss' cartoon is so apt.
26
At the Women's March, among the most resolutely chanted vows, central to those of us who were marching was that we were not going to allow immigrants to be victimized, and to suffer, under the new administration. We weren't going to let them be deported. We would at the least protect them from harm and abuse.
Month by month the conditions have eroded, and whole new classes of people have been detained and deported. We certainly have failed to protect them.
Journalists have been writing about the obscene and cruel treatment of detained immigrants and their children from well before Trump took office, but worsening by far, since. The conditions are horrible, and there are catalogues of information easily available about the insanely cruel conditions and human rights violations that are taking place.
Children develop malnutrition because the camps refuse to provide familiar food, say rice and beans, to them. Children as young as five go in front of judges, to defend themselves, without attorneys, and as deported because they make a poor case for themselves. And then today's little nugget.
But there have been no big new marches. No millions of protesters.
What will it take for progressives to honor their promises?
19
I don't know about Portland, but no progressives were promising that in NYC--because we know that this is not something we can control in the short-term. We CAN control it the longer term by voting and getting other people who share our beliefs to show up and vote. Marches are for the most part symbolic; Trump is shocked to see how many oppose him, but he doesn't remember anything the next day. But the politicians are slooowly getting it as results from elections roll in. (Paul Ryan knows he's going to be defeated and ran away.)
5
And yet another op-ed opens by equating Trump and his policies to the Holocaust, and by clear implication, Trump to Hitler. You’d think readers might twig to this by now, but, hey, it DOES attract clicks and sell newspapers; so, as the cartoon reads, “it really doesn’t matter”.
“… it’s increasingly clear that family separation is in part about traumatizing children so as to discourage parents from coming to the U.S.”? (??!) That’s such an outrageous statement that Nick might consider providing some documentation supporting it, or at least a reasoned argument, unlike his bald and unsupportable claim that “Even kidnappers allow more communication”. But, no, he simply asserts it to flog an ideological position.
How do you keep thousands of asylum seekers with children down to infants for months while applications are being evaluated? Do you create schools for them? Do you provide guarded forums where children in foster care can interact with sequestered parents and transportation back and forth? Do you maintain a large group of medical personnel to assure that the special medical needs of children, such as regular shots, are administered?
Do we do that for cons in prison for bank heists?
The foster care option is a pretty humane way of caring for such children, matriculation in schools where it’s appropriate by age, and probably better healthcare than they received at home. It sounds like a rational, intelligent approach to dealing with a difficult problem not of our making.
20
Unless parents abuse their children, children belong with their parents, period. No exceptions. Foster care is not an option and no substitute for a family, no matter how well intentioned. It is the option of last resort. At its best, foster care approaches parental care, but often it’s not at its best.
36
But that is precisely the point. It is of our making. Coldness, and being aloof to people in flight seems to be the watchword here. We are Americans (whatever that means), and we must preserve our purity (whatever that means, too). Ah, but to be humane costs money. And money we do not have, because Ryan and Mcconnel gave it all to the corporations, those truly in need. Spare me.
26
Anna:
Again, we separate convicted felons all the time from their children, prior to sending them off to prison, sometimes for long stretches -- whether or not they have a spouse or other relatives to back them up. If they don't, then the child goes into some form of protective services, which may try to place them with another family.
8
And just why can he? Because a significant number of our fellow citizens approve and applaud his actions and I fear there are not enough good, kind, understanding people who will stand up in November and put a stop to this by voting in a Congress that will stand for decency and compassion.
120
When I was 4, I got lost in a department store, and a kind woman who worked there found me. "Are you my mother now"? I asked her. She was shocked, but I had already been separated from my birth parents and subsequently placed in 3 other homes, and I had no idea to whom I belonged.
I tell this because when I first read these reports, I was so aghast - I can't even find words. I have struggled my entire life to feel a sense of belonging, and reading that the US government is inflicting this trauma, this suffering, this anguish, on babies - babies - - and their parents - I just weep.
493
Thank you for story, Barbara.
25
It warrants repeating that Republicans believe that a child's right to life begins at inception and ends at birth. After that, children are cannon fodder to them. The cruelty is unimaginable!! What kind of country are Republicans creating??
19
Barbara- you so poignantly illustrate my concern for these children. How traumatic is it to be separated from your parents? What long term damage will it cause? I am a mother of five and can't begin to imagine the anguish these parents and children feel being literally torn from their parents' arms. Our government- OUR GOVERNMENT- is now sanctioning kidnapping children! Kidnapping! I am so disgusted, and frankly terrified, by the monster who is now the "leader" of the United States. And beyond disgusted with the do nothing cowardly and complicit republicans who stand by and do nothing! trump is spitting on our Constitution, spitting on the people of the United States and spitting on our reputation throughout the world yet protecting their cushy jobs is far more important than the sanctity of the United States which is their sworn duty to protect from all foreign and domestic enemies. The domestic enemy resides in the White House and the sycophants remain silent.
18
We have to have humane and compassionate but also realistic and pragmatic policies. Every immigration rule or law can't be complained about. So will Mr. Kristoff be ok to increase funding to immigration judges and courts so asylum cases can be adjudicated promptly and folks facing persecution are separated quickly from those entering illegally due to economic motives?. Similarly can we increase funding to ensure those folks that are released pending court dates, actually show up for the court dates? Of course not as he is opposed to that for sure to increase border enforcement funding.
Alternatively can Mr. Kristoff ever define a case where we say No to a child and a parent showing up and presenting themselves at the border. If you can't then why don't we call it loud for what it is, "open borders".
I am fully supportive of legal immigration including raising the levels as well as refugee programs for those who are truly oppressed or facing persecution. But we have to at some point enforce immigration laws. No modern country can go without controlling to some degree who can enter and stay and reside within its borders.
52
BTW my above post is independent of the specific scenario the family of Mr. Fuentes experienced. If father and son can be kept together in detention till their case is heard then that for sure should be the preferred policy. But the law might have different rules on how long can a child be detained before being released and that's what might be the case here. Ideally all cases should be heard quickly and adjudicated rather than the month long waits in the current system that leads to abuse as well as hardships to genuine asylum applicants.
5
Perhaps you missed this section of Kristof’s piece:
“I don’t believe in open borders, and immigration policy is complex and difficult. Yet Trump isn’t making hard decisions but unconscionable ones.”
148
Do you think you can specify, and choose to shield yourself from the result of your policies just when the scenarios is as ugly and cruel as this one, and when they are published in the NYT? Do you believe that there aren't many more, just as bad, or worse?
How about just admitting that this is unacceptable?
How about the USA not having cruel conditions for detained immigrants? How about reasonably humane detention facilities, and treating children, and for that matter, their parents, decently?
What is supportable about any American policy that necessitates frivolous and intentional cruelty?
2
Cruelty to others, coupled with bottomless self-regard, is at Trump's very core. I just saw a YouTube video of Barack and Michelle Obama answering questions from young children, one of whom asked what she needed to do to become President. Barack, after giving the expected advice "work hard" and "study hard in school," said this: find a way to help people, wherever you are in life; right now, you can find ways to help your parents, your friends and classmates, your neighbors, your teachers. And when you grow up, maybe you'll be President; but even if you're not, you can find lots of other great ways to help people. That was Obama's first impulse, to think of the Presidency as a HELPING profession, first and foremost; whatever his mistakes were, his heart was in the right place and he was rooted in a foundation of compassion and a desire to serve. Can you even IMAGINE Trump giving such selfless, other-centered advice? My heart breaks to think of this sorry excuse for a "leader" we have, and to think of the one we used to have.
405
Remember that beautiful photograph of Obama smiling up at a window of a day care center where there were toddlers of various colors? There was true empathy and delight in the children.
23
One of the factual claims made in ebmem's post is grossly inaccurate: "Before 2012, there were fewer than 100 unaccompanied minors coming to the US. After he instituted DACA, there were tens of thousands."
Prior to 2012 there were already tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors that the Border Patrol registered. See the table "Unaccompanied Alien Children Encountered by Fiscal Year" in https://www.cbp.gov/site-page/southwest-border-unaccompanied-alien-child...
Note that the number of unaccompanied alien children fluctuates year over year. In fact there was a big spike in 2014, but the number trends down in 2015 and 2016, which is 3 years after DACA started.
Based upon this data, DACA cannot be cited for any increasing trend of unaccompanied minors.
Also, it's unreasonable to conclude that DACA is responsible for precipitating a humanitarian crisis. The increase in 2014 was primarily a function of political instability in Central American countries.
The moral gymnastics mastered to arrive at this deplorable position is impressive. Let me guess, evangelical?
Thank you, Mr Kristof for shining a light on this cruel and barbaric treatment.No child should ever be separated from a parent.If they need to be kept in confinement the parent and child should be kept together.The child did not decide to enter this country so should not be punished and living in a foster home with no family contact is beyond child abuse.I am fairly certain our laws do not allow it.If people have to be turned back at the border there are dozens of more humane ways to do it.This shocking policy must end.
178
The federal courts have declared, during the Obama administration, that children illegally in the country cannot be detained. The catch and release policy of Obama resulted in adults vanishing into the wind and 80% not appearing for their immigration hearings.
The aliens in detention have the option of leaving the country voluntarily while they await their immigration hearing. For those parents who decline to do so, that leaves a quandary. So the children are released from custody into the foster care system, which is the same thing that happens to American children if their parents are in jail or otherwise unable to care for them.
There are more American children in the foster care system than there are illegal alien children in the foster care system. If an American father removed his one year old child from his mother and travelled thousands of miles away, in most states he would lose custody.
The policy is humane. The parents are inhumane.
10
@ebmem, you catch and release fish. You don't catch and release children.
There's nothing humane about this policy. I'm shocked that anyone finds it acceptable.