The fact that this is happening in the middle of the night tells you how shameful the operation is, from the standpoint of those in charge, that it cannot stand the glare of being exposed.
28
They are the government. They do not work.
Disgusting what people are saying on here. Either a bunch of trolls or heartless people who think it’s ok to cage children.
9
My blood started boiling and I can feel the anger at this and that it still goes on and it’s nightmarish. When will this ethnic cleansing end, it’s genocide.
14
@Jeannine Petty
Oh please! This is neither ethnic cleansing or genocide.
5
This is horrible! I can't believe these poor children's parents have subjected their children to such terrible treatment.
Of course the conditions they put their children through bringing them here was far worse!
Maybe these children should be put into foster care? I believe if an American citizen child were to be put into conditions, these parents have, CPS would have been called in and the children would be put into protective custody.
4
@Stopurcrying, our foster care system is over crowded and under funded....that wouldn't work. How about they not take these kids away from their parents. Since they have deported a lot of their parents already, these kids would be gone by now
10
Shameless! Expensive, too ...
7
This is how chaos works; and this is the means and the method of the Trump administration.
Almost 4,000 immigrant children are now being housed in a "tent city" in Texas. And there are only 219 comments about it in this paper. Why?
Because we've moved on. If this was a headline this past Spring or Summer there would be outrage, calls for the justice dept. to intervene, civil rights and religious organizations calling for a stop to this, etc., etc., etc.
The Trump administration has effectively broken our already fragile immigration system...and because that same administration has moved on to create chaos via the SCOTUS nomination, NAFTA, college loan practices, health care - the list goes on - our exhausted attention has moved on and 3,800 innocent children are being treated like chattle in Texas...
...and we've moved on. The long-term fallout and damage from this administration will far outweigh - and far outlast - any short-term benefits.
Making it even more critical that we all get out and vote next month. Even if you have to hold your nose...vote.
36
Ever see the slums of Bolivia - coming to a theater near you.
6
@ Jerome. Because these kids were so hastily separated from their accompanying adults, we really don’t know how many were used as cover for criminals. Nor do we know how many were abducted illegally. Either way, there are children in camps without their parents. Somehow, that doesn’t ring moral to me. And by the way, I live in a border state. So, to answer your question; I am not “impaired”, just empathetic.
12
The statistics indicate that there is near a zero probability that any particular one of these children being used by criminals. The probability is most likely < 1:1000.
It may be less and the damage to the children is most likely irreparable.
It’s the same con line used regarding voter fraud.
18
Dearest Denise:
You show no signs of empathy.
Your comments are rather unbelievable, and entirely refuted by science, statistics, and psychology/sociology.
These children are in danger of sex-abuse and child-trafficking!
Yet you seem to worry more about the adults with which they came -- who in more than 99.99999999% of cases were their parents, It is very likely those parents have been already "processed" and deported by the trump administration -- leaving these children parentless. The trump administration was not keeping records to match children with their parents - especially in those cases when the parents were earlier deported.
Now it is very likely these children will NEVER see their parents again. They have already been traumatized, and that trauma will only get worse as time passes! Imagine a ten year old or three year old who cries every night for their parent, and who spends every day looking/begging for them.
This is child abuse - that DJ Trump is responsible for.
PUNISH TRUMP FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY !!!
19
@IN That's probably the goal of this whole process, traumatize the children, so they will never want to come back.
1
How many commenters here are themselves hiding behind locked doors, walls and fences? Let them flood into your house and care for their every need for life, then, like the Pope, you can post about your great generosity.
3
These are not criminals, these are children. You understand that? Children. It doesn't matter what their parents did or did not do. We are suppose to be better then this. It's reprehensible, and if you people can not see that, can not feel compassion for these kids, shame at what we are doing then you have lost your soul.
36
So why are they here at all? If they are that close to the border, lets just ship them on over and be done with it!
4
It is not that easy. These are children and human beings. This is wrong.
8
@Joe:
You may not realize this, but you're more prescient than you realize.
That's exactly what the trump administration plans to do (or maybe has been doing)... sneak the children over the border "and be done with it!"
(and you should be ashamed of yourself!)
Who among sane Americans would be surprised if we later see evidence that some children were really taken across the border and left (or sold!!) to sex-traffickers and human-traffickers.
Trump regularly talks about "Mexicans" portraying them as not human. So it would not surprise sane people to hear this is what he's been doing to "reduce" the numbers. We already know the trump administration does not know exactly how many children it had -- they just don't know.
This means, they can literally "lose" a few hundred children, and NO ONE WILL KNOW!!!
Trump, his administration, and some in ICE are that despicable.
They are committing CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY!!!
8
Read the article, read the comments. Not going to waste my time here but I would like to bring attention to a detail that is so obvious it is painful. The people in bright green are obviously directing the "children". Logic would say that the staff are adults, so then why do all the kids have the same length shadow as the adults?
5
"migrant children"
In this case are illegal aliens.
5
@Ami:
No. They applied for asylum.
9
They're not migrants. They're illegal aliens. They're criminals. Criminals are separated from their children constantly. For some reason when it's foreign invaders and potential democrat-voters for life it's a big issue.
3
So. these children are "criminals" regardless of age, gender, physical condition, mental status? Like the 2 year old who speaks only a minor Indian dialect, separated from his mother, living in a tent city surrounded by those who neither speak his language (to the extent that a 2 year old speaks at all). Yeah, BIG bad criminal! How does this child ever find his parents because OUR government sent the illiterate, non English speaking parent back to the mountains without his or her child and unable to communicate. No, WE created the fiasco. We track lost umbrellas better.
21
@Kathleen King - we didn't create the fiasco. The invaders created it.
1
These children are not criminals.
12
At least they are living better in the USA, what do you guys expect Luxury Condos?
2
@Amanda Lewis There's a long way between being in a tent, unschooled and neglected and "luxury condos." Where is your sense of morality and compassion for strangers?
18
The fact that the number of separated child immigrants is increasing testifies that the Trump administration is continuing a practice that horrified millions of people and brought shame on the administration. But horror and shame must both be short-lived
7
I blame the parents of these child , they should stop bringing them over here . The ones that come over alone , parents should be arrested. This has to stop at some point and Mexico's president should take care of his people and, stop putting them at risk. I do feel sorry for the children but, the working class in America have to take care of the Americans who are struggling first.
2
Are you kidding?
8
These other countries are admitting that they have failed so badly that America has to babysit their children for them. Cowbirds do this, lay their eggs in the nests of other birds so that they don't have to care for them. When the cowbird hatches, it kicks the other ones out, sort of like when the migrants take jobs from Americans.
1
@mjazzguitar Show me the proof that migrants are taking jobs that Americans want. Farms, slaughterhouses, fast-food restaurants, and retail are looking for employees because native-born Americans don't want to work in those places, especially the back-breaking work on farms.
21
@mjazzguitar
These are children. Humans. Not birds. The lack of human compassion from people on this thread is overwhelming. Sadly.
17
@mjazzguitar:
Migrants don't take jobs from educated Americans. They take jobs from Americans who were too lazy to get their FREE GED. And those Americans become leeches on our economy, because they won't work in the jobs that migrants will work in!! Those uneducated Americans expect free handouts from Uncle Sam. At least the Migrants work 16 hour days and don't take money from Uncle Sam -- because they can't (they're undocumented - so they can't get money or even have a bank account).
There are far more of those uneducated leech Americans than there are migrants or illegal aliens.
If you're competing against migrants who can't even speak English, then you never educated yourself enough to get a real job. It's very likely you had a chance at FREE EDUCATION, but you blew it!
What do you think of all of those opioid addict (also known as a loser druggy) in every red state -- who expects Uncle Sam to "fix" them for free!?! Are they leaches too?
Do these innumerable brainiac druggies prove that America's also failed so badly? So easy to disparage others - when you don't know you're also in a glass house.
3
If this is who we are, what our country has become and is going to remain ... SAD!
And awful, and reprehensible, and counter-productive.
Change must come. Soon.
11
@jazz one:
Change requires getting rid of all GOP.
They enable trump - who's made America into a laughing stock - and who literally is exchanging love-letters with North Korea's dictator!!!
It really is madness!!!
#RemoveTrump
#ImpeachTrump
#VoteThemOut
#VoteBlue
7
Do many of these comments still apply for illegal immigrants who came to this part of America and on top of that took their land and killed so many native people? Or not? Did they stay in their home country and fought to make it better, like some people say here of people trying to come to the US? Or does it apply to the immigrants who went to South America or Africa, took the natives as slaves, killed millions, and stole everything they possibly could and took it back to Europe? Or is it legal to bring African people here as slaves? If these other illegal immigrants did nothing wrong, or nothing worse than coming here illegally to work, then you can stay here. If they were wrong in what they did, go back to where you and your family came from too and don't be so ignorant of world history and the world. Be human, if it's possible, too. Start by giving back the native people of this land their land. Start by paying back all the slaves brought to this part of America from Africa, separated from their families, killed, raped, etc. This will never happen because the world is still full of evil like all these commentators. I assume they think they will go to Heaven.
9
@Adriana who actually "took their land and killed so many native people"? Did you know that "native " people wore war paint, razed villages and took women and children as slaves long before evil "Pale faces" arrived?
1
@Adriana Thank you. I was getting awfully fed up with the self-righteous, selfish attitudes of many of these comments.
7
@Adriana World history? Attempting to compare people who explored and settled in what became North America to illegal immigration of 2018 is a tremendous and erroneous stretch. All of the wrongs you cite didn't start with the beginnings of what became America. The U.S. has probably been the most generous of all surviving civilizations to the original natives. You do realize there are several states where the majority of the land is owned by certain native tribes don't you? Throughout world history its been well documented people from all continents have committed similar terrible acts to weaker tribes/people/civilizations. Only the strong survive has been the rule since the world existed. Look at modern day Africa where tribal genocide still continues to this day. The Japanese have done heinous things over and over for centuries to other countries throughout Asia. Primarily without apologies. Don't get it twisted.
You also make the error in trying to lump all immigrants who came to America legally as the same. As an example, Italians didn't arrive in the U.S. until the 1920s, well after many of the things you describe happened. Its all good, keep pushing that false narrative all you want.
I wish the NYT would worry more about children who live in the U.S. legally than children of people who decided to knowingly break the law and got caught. They depend on the goodness of U.S. citizens to rescue them and usually those cold-hearted Americans you speak of ... do.
2
So it says these posts are edited for civility. Since when is calling the President of the United States "Hitler" or comparing our society to the Nazi regime civil? My parents raised me in a home that believed our country was for its faults a great country. Where if you followed the rules, paid your taxes and worked hard you earned the benefits of our country. Freedom however is NOT FREE. You have to follow the rules and LAWS no matter what age you are. Is a 12 year old any less accountable for his or her actions? I see kids who are citizens all the time being rightfully punished for breaking the laws. Should non citizens not be held to the same standards? Life can be harsh sometimes. These illegal invaders, whether 12 or 22 need to be arrested and deported. They did not follow the rules. Simple as that. While they are being held in custody at a detention center they receive 3 meals a day, safe air conditioned housing, and medical care. All free of charge. All better than any of them have ever had in their life. In fact the live better than a lot of kids who are rightful citizens. How messed up is that? I have actually been boots on at several of these detention centers. The housing and food is comparable to what our military receives. I am tired of the lies being told by our Presidents enemies making it sound like the kids are being mistreated. It is simply not true
1
@Michael
Since when did it become OK for a President to call opponents vile names; be accused of rape & sexual assault; make fun of a disabled journalist; put down the media (except for FOX); put down our own intel depts; take children away from parents, some just toddlers; take away all programs to help people in this country; divide Americans daily as tho
He only works for his
Own base; make enemies with our allies while befriending dictators; and the list goes on.
These are the very things dictators do, Hitler being one of them. Not to mention supporting Russia and doing business while Prez and w foreign nations.
Finally, look up what conservatives said and did to President Barack Obama. There is NO RESPECT FOR TRUMP OR ANY OTHER CORRUPT PRESIDENT.
14
Migrant or illegal immigrant? The NYT needs to cease with the "undocumented" PC nonsense.
4
mi·grant: a worker who moves from place to place to do seasonal work.
Illegal Alien: a foreign national who is living without authorization in a country of which they are not a citizen.
Start calling them what they are, ILLEGAL ALIENS.
Alien: a foreigner, especially one who is not a naturalized citizen of the country where they are living.
6
@Phillip well spoke
@Phillip there is a third category: asylum seekers, many of which showed up at the border to seek asylum with their family and did not cross illegally into the US.
14
They’re children, children. Nobody should treat children badly, no matter where they came from.
4
From what I understand, the separation is meant in order to protect children from possible trafficking issues that they may have entered the country to begin with from a country that has high sex and drug trafficking as commonplace. How can we truly differentiate between real parents and traffickers? How can the process of trialing be sped up so those children that have parents can re-unite with them?
How do you safely handle the issue at large when children are involved? It seems like the authorities probably made decisions with these questions in mind and even more questions, weighing the possibilities of different scenarios and outcomes. They've determined "the best" initial decision to protect kids while sifting through the legal process and also trying to differentiate people's families fact from fiction.
Are all of these children and adult migrants at least entered into some sort of US database with fingerprinting for record keeping? Seems like maybe there should be laws put in place for if migrant children enter in illegally as a form of protection and way to eliminate these types of holdings or sent back with no covering?
Maybe background university students who are pursuing fields of educ, psych, counseling, etc could earn field experience and credits for going to work with the kids at these centers for emotional strength and educational support in the meantime.
2
Calling detention centers "shelters" is an oxymoron unless it somehow applies to escaping bad weather. The treatment of children and their families by the Trump administration is beyond shameful and, as many have pointed out, echoes what the Nazi regime did to those not deemed Aryan. The current policy is evil, inhumane, and crafted by heartless individuals who maintain loyalty to Trump. Most asylum seekers are penniless and can't afford to establish brothels as the president's grandfather did.
7
@Luise Levy to blame the president, who is new to washington is a shame, blame the crooked politicians that have been there for many years and have done nothing to fix the broken immigration. I imagine your hatred for a man trying his very best for this country and putting Americans first, says all it has to say to many people out there.
1
@carol the president deserves his share of blame for changing the system from a humane approach of foster placement, into an inhuman detention system.
2
@carol
You question blaming the president? That’s rich since the president is in charge. He works hard? How hard does he work while spending thousands upon thousands of $$ golfing every week at our expense? These aren’t your children or his children so what does it matter right ?
People supporting this president are blind. You all want to go back and blame? Forgetting the work Obama did - took us out of a near depression; saved the auto
Industry; saved the housing industry; gave us affordable healthcare (u don’t even realize what’s coming form us all the heskthcare- it isn’t going to be pretty).
God help us all.
1
Those that want these children should open up their homes and pay for the living expenses of these children. Do not tell what other tax payers should do while our own children are suffering more than these migrant children. You want to help them? Go to their country and help them then. The fact that these children are getting better care than most people in Urban areas while people call it child abuse boggles my mind. Another simple solution would be ILLEGAL immigrants should not come here ILLEGALLY. Its nice to be charitable and help those in needs but lets be realistic. This is a great security risk to allow those who don't follow border policies in. Do not defend criminals
8
@Brian You do know, do you not, that some of these children are requesting asylum? To make an asylum request is not a criminal act.
11
@Brian
Wow, Brian, your heart seems to be pretty small. Could that be the cause of your "own children suffering"? Good luck, buddy, I'll pray for you and them.
6
@andrea olmanson
Then do it legally at an embassy.
Thank you, Caitlin Dickerson, for explaining this inhumane treatment of children. Here's an ironic truth I just discovered:
in Spanish the word Tornillo (the town in the Texas desert where they are imprisoned) means "The Screw".
1
The Democrats want to cry foul at the government. They don't mention that the parents exposed their children to this situation. I would never dream of taking my children with me to commit a crime like sneaking into another country. I know, it's not a crime here, but if I'm doing it I'm sneaking into some other country and it is probably a crime there. Anyway, the results is the same as committing a crime. You and your helpless children are both put into custody because of your (or their) irresponsible parenting decision. Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know they're trying to escape their terrible home country. I don't buy that story any more. Good, strong people fight to make their country good if their country is bad. They don't run like cowards. They're here because they want an easier life in the good country that other people have built with hard work and sacrifice. And that's the truth. And that's why someone like Donald Trump got elected. Because a lot of us are sick of this uncontrolled invasion.
8
@Steve
How is life under your roof threatened by immigrants?
7
@Steve It's great that you come from a family that has always had the support of its government and that has never been desperate or needy. It's clear that none of your ancestors felt that they had to undertake a dangerous journey with young children in tow simply in order to protect their lives. It's also wonderful that you can't imagine anything like that ever happening to you or your family. You're clearly not from one of those families -- your family has always been on the right side of the law because the law has always served you well. But is that true for all Americans? Some of us come from different families. Some of us come from native american families who were forced to march on foot away from our lands. Some of us come from refugee families who came to this country fleeing war, genocide, torture, political repression or simple hunger. Some of us come from black families who left the American South in the middle of the night, stealing away from our lives as sharecroppers and the terror of the KKK to start new lives in northern cities. It's wonderful that your family has never broken a law, but the law has always been on your side, hasn't it? Not everyone has that experience. And those of us who know what it means to flee violence in the middle of the night don't see "aliens". We see our grandparents. I'm sorry you don't share our experience but it's our country too. We are real Americans, just like you.
14
@William
So we should have no borders, eh?
This a concentration camp for children. This is deliberate cruelty and abuse on the part of the government. The excuses should make the people uttering them ashamed.
16
@Dani Weber "simple" solution. Go through the necessary procedures and foster as many of these children as your own house/property will sustain and that you can afford to provide for. Otherwise, your words are empty and meaningless.
5
@Toby N.
Hey Toby,
How about letting the folks who love these kids sponsor them.
"The number of detained migrant children has spiked even though monthly border crossings have remained relatively unchanged, in part because harsh rhetoric and policies introduced by the Trump administration have made it harder to place children with sponsors."
Nah, that is too compassionate, reasonable, and generous for the monster in the White House.
1
Americans seem to have the attention span of hummingbirds. Or is it that every day brings yet another crisis/disgrace that quickly draws attention from whatever most recently preceded it ? Whatever ... unlike unpaid porn stars, unreliable fixers, and unethical judges, CHILDREN are being seriously harmed - yes, emotionally and who-knows-what-else! - and we seem to have dropped or lost this issue altogether. That late-July "deadline" for reunifying those 400+ kids has come and gone, and unceremoniously, too. Is there ANY chance this country can regain its conscience and its ethical standing ... and DO SOMETHING about reuniting those kids with their families?
8
@Ann MOST of the detained children came in by themselves, sent by their parents with coyotes. And they just keep coming. What do YOU suggest besides complaining about those you don't agree with? Trump has been urging congress, from day one, to fix this as only congress makes law. If every person concerned for these kids offered to take one until they can be re-united with some sort of family. These moralist platitude are trite and have become worn out. We cannot fix this without congress. These kids, even in the tents, are living, eating, and being treated far better than they were at home. Go get a kid. Sounds like you care.
1
This situation seems to be spiraling out of control. Regardless of where the blame lies for the children being in the US, it is now our country's responsibility to resolve each child's case asap.
Our country will get another big black eye if this situation continues or gets worse.
8
@paul johnson ok...so "simple" although temporary solution: YOU foster as many children as your personal budget and property can sustain.
2
@Toby N....You're a one hit wonder there Toby. Sing a new tune, maybe one with a little more empathy.
1
@Toby N. Keep in mind, Toby, that if you voted for Trump, you helped cause this problem. That makes you more responsible than me. What are YOU doing to help?
"The children wore belts etched in pen with phone numbers for their emergency contacts."
Do they sleep in these belts? So far, the children don't have numbers tattooed on their arms, but who knows what will happen to them next.
Isn't there anyone in the Department of Health and Human Service who understands the damage that is being done to these kids, and who will take the responsibility to find ways to care for them that are better than this? They are children, not herds of farm animals.
14
@dutchiris well then go for it. Foster as many children as you can personally afford to at your own home on your personal budget.
3
@dutchiris, You asked if anyone knows the damage being done to these children. Did you know that their parents put them in this situation by crossing illegally into the USA? Further, some came on their own, abandoning their families. Also, some were brought by people other than a relative which constitutes CHILD TRAFFICKING.
1
@Toby N. Your (repeated) suggestion is simple-minded. Fostering is not an option. If it were, there are plenty of good-hearted Americans who would volunteer. Plenty of them. You should make their acquaintance.
Those are some nice tents though.
Good People, there is no doubt trump has and still is committing crimes against humanity. His deprivation of basic human rights for asylum seekers is not only unconscionable but is contrary to the values of the Republic. The United States of America has been built by immigrants then and now. What is the rationale for hypocritical Christians, Evangelicals, men and women to support trump, an adulterer, amoralist, compulsive liar, criminal, misogynist, sexual harasser, predator, and traitor? Lowercase t for trump to show the maximum disrespect to the narcissist who only cares about trump.
8
@Daniel McNeet well then, go for it. I challenge you to personally foster as many of these children as your personal budget and property can afford.
2
@ Toby N. You're aware that all of us are subsidizing big corporations' and the elite 1%'s big tax breaks? With the current immigration and asylum laws, could your ancestors have arrived legally in the US? Trump's couldn't. His own 3rd wife didn't.
4
It seems like most people have no idea what they are outraged about. There's been a HUGE influx of children, and this is what they've had to do to adjust. They use this housing for the military, so why is it so bad for children?
Notice how the only person they quote said this happened late at night, not in the middle of the night?
For those wanting immigration reform, what is wrong with it and what needs to be fixed? The US takes in over 1 million new permanent immigrants a year. People do this legally every year and just because YOU can't get in, doesn't mean it's completely broken. Sure there's things in life that are unfair, but the US has a huge amount of legal immigrants
5
@J-Z
Military people get paid money to be in those camps. Not only are the kids not being paid like military members, but they have been forced there against their consent. That's the difference between a "camp" and a "concentration camp".
The children didn't choose to be born Mexican. They didn't choose to be born with more melanin in their skin than you are comfortable with. They are being imprisoned for non-violent choices that they did not make.
They should never be there in the first place. They didn't do anything wrong whatsoever. They didn't break a single law intentionally.
10
@Jerrod Hanley
The kids aren't being paid, but they are being given food, shelter, and medical care. Also, these people are arriving here voluntarily. If these were really "concentration camps" then they would be fleeing this country, not risking their lives to come here.
@J-Z You comment makes too much sense for the majority of NYT readers.
2
Cages and concentration camps for children! They will be scarred for life. Our country will be forever scarred too by this shameful part of our history.
There appears to be no accountability on the part of the companies who are running these "camps" or for the government which authorized them to do it in the first place.
While our attention is now on other ugly things going on in the news the children continue to suffer - and with no hope.
Beyond shameful.
10
Can you do a "Where are they now" about all the children who were separated from their parents during the Obama Administration? It happened. Don't pretend it didn't.
1
@John L. Barton
Obama was wrong. Trump is wrong. Don't pretend they both aren't.
2
@Jerrod Hanley Actually they both are right. Children are taken away from parents because they are associated with criminals who crossed the border illegally or did some other crime. To give immigrant children free housing with a A/C tent and free food is child abuse? Nah They live better than people in NYC.
Is this really happening in the United States of America?
12
@Claude Wallet
The U.S. population has DOUBLED just since the 1960s, most of that increase is due to 2nd and 3rd world immigration. Even a conservative estimate is that 120 million of the current 330 million are immigrant arrivals over that relatively short period of time, 2/3 of which remain non-English speaking, low income and non-tax paying but on various forms of welfare. Oh, and there is no free. Our fellow Americans who are low income and suffering for decades took the brunt of this madness that's moved into the middle class to also tear it apart.
2
No excuses to set up what are no better than Middle East refugees camps
We have devolved into a cruel, vindictive society led by a madman
8
Hopefully, by moving these illegal aliens closer to the border they will soon be reunited with their parents and deported as a family
4
The buck stops at Trump and his administration...and the controlling party of both houses of Congress right now. This should become a major issue, now.
These children did not ask for this, and were given no choice, first by their parent(s), and now by Trump since he is sanctioning his actions. Trump needs to do something now!!!
7
This is truly disheartening! Impressionable children (<13 - prepubescent) do not/ cannot form the requisite intent to travel 1000s of miles without significant prodding from their parents [and travel with an older sibling].
The children who were separated from their parents at the border presents a double-edged sword. Because an entire family/mother and her child/ren enters illegally should special circumstances apply?
Look at the percentages for those who return for their Immigration Court date hearing and weigh the costs v the benefits.
4
Shameful. I hope we never forget the "Christian charity" of the Republican party. Shameful. Aside from Bush's war of choice on Iraq, this needs to be documented in the history books as one of the U.S.'s darkest hours.
16
@Paula
Sheltering thousands of kids who arrived here without their parents is "one of the U.S.'s darkest hours."?
What would you prefer we do?
1
@Paula
You and all the Christians can pay for it.
Us agnostic taxpayers defer to you.
1
@John Rohan
The point is, they already were sheltered, in foster homes etc. where, to the best of their ability, the kids were being cared for. Now to be bused in the middle of the night hundreds of miles to some tent city on the edge of the desert, no doubt chain link fence all around the place, and their ID penned onto belts, and dumped there in large numbers, for a private company to manage and make a profit, paid with our tax dollars, this is essentially a marketplace prison camp for kids. The Republicans’ ideal. Don't rationalize this stuff as making sense or being good, especially if you are a Christian. In no way is this good. You Republicans want to go back to the Day, but before the Civil War, there weren't even any immigration laws: if you could get here, you were in. Sure, there were problems then too. Where do you think the terms "hooligan" and "shenanigans" come from: reaction to the rougher elements of Irish immigration in the 1850’s. Sure, we need to reform immigration law, but not like this.
1
Does anyone know who to sponsor one of these children? Must one be a relative?
6
Have we learned nothing from history? Native American children forced into "boarding schools", children of slaves ripped from their families, Japanese Internment camps, etc. I am appalled how these children are being treated. There is no humanity in how this is being handled. I would like to see the story expanded to include information on how to sponsor these children so people can take help.
14
@Dusty
These children aren't being "ripped" from their parents. They arrived unaccompanied. They also aren't US citizens. There is no comparison to the other episodes in history that you are referring to.
2
Let's ask the UN Commission on Human Rights, or the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to come into the US and review this internment of children in Texas.
It's appalling that the party that makes a huge outcry over the rights of the unborn -- see Roe vs. Wade and Judge Kavannah's words concern the 17-year-old immigrant child who sought an abortion -- imprisons children after they are born.
11
I’m assuming this is in addition to the ones still in custody from a few months ago. Keep on posting. It is a surety these kids will hang in limbo as most of their alternatives are either illegals or criminals or both. We need a better plan
2
Unlike many oily, sanctimonious East Coast liberals I actually live in a state directly and immediately affected in an adverse way by illegal immigration from Latin America.
Not all illegals are violent criminals - many of them are just thieves. Just a few weeks ago I was targeted by a member of a Salvadoran car purchase scam. One of the largest car theft rings in the world is run out of El Salvador. Thank goodness I figured out what was going on in time.
The perp was deported last year but he’s still working at a nearby car wash that is “under new owners”. None of the employees want to talk about the new owners.
Build the wall!
5
@White guy I also live in a state with many undocumented people from Latin America. They contribute to our society. They commit far less crimes than do white American citizens. I volunteer in a school where at least 90% of the students have parents who come from Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico. These children love this country. They are proud to be here. Their parents do the dirty work that most white Americans don't want to do.
I welcome these people. They are no more criminals than the white gangs of yesteryear. They come here because life in their countries has become impossible due to gang violence and governments that don't care. As for El Salvador it must be acknowledged that the worst of the gangs from El Salvador originated in Los Angeles during the time when the US was supporting the far right wing Salvadoran government. their military and their death squads. The people who began those gangs were refugees from the horror that the US helped to create in El Salvador and also in Guatemala.
10
This is why we need to turn back those that arrive at our borders without papers. Readers here are appalled, and rightly so - who wants kids to live in tent cities without their families, school, or love? But, as usual, the NYTimes ignores the obvious - it is not the fault of the US that these kids are here. It is the fault of their host countries, who enrich themselves by supporting traffickers. It is the fault of the parents who make a decision to cross illegally or send their kids with traffickers. It is the fault of the US for NOT turning the families and kids back. We cannot vet so many without papers. We cannot be the savior of all that live in a country they fear or do not like. We cannot. It is not the responsibility of the US to care for the world. Oddly, readers usually want the US out of other country's business.
7
These camps sound like concentration camps, that is why they are moving older children and teenagers. Trump's guard does not have to "care" for them as much. What are these teenagers doing all day! I will not be surprised if they are asked to make license plates, as inmates are required to do! How are the Democratic politicians letting these sick peoples in power get away with this. I know. Ecause DJT is a dictator. Instead of relocating to another city in the next two weeks, I wish I had the ability to relocate to Canada. Not my country!
11
Despicable.
Apparently, as a Republican nation, we learned nothing from the Japanese Internment Camps during WWII. SMH. Mystified.
16
Why in the middle of the night? Who moves kids under cover of darkness? No press, no press coverage so DHS can inform the public of the reason and plan? Out into the desert, away from prying civilian eyes. The press is our enemy, sez DearLeader, so it's OK.
The concentration camps are in Texas, natch. What do you want to bet they're being 'schooled' in Christian fundamentalist madrassas to re-educate them as little Ambassadors for Christ... OR, remember the 'Freedom Kids' who sang and danced at DearLeader's campaign stops? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT2oAYGkB3c
Fun fact: The manager of the Freedom Kids cancelled the balance of Trump campaign performances after trump refused to pay them as agreed... Just sayin' -
13
@deb, as was stated in the article, because kids would be less likely to try and run away in the dark and get lost. They’re trying to keep the kids safe, if only we’d give them a chance.
Oh, for their own sake and safety? So they don't get lost? Yes, and Jewish ghettos were only to protect them from the larger world, I guess. You know, to make sure they got enough to eat without being hassled by Aryans.
Betsy DeVos claims that Montana kids are routinely attacked by grizzlies, so arming all schools will protect students. Do you believe that too?
Ben Carlson claims that raising rents x 3 in poor neighborhoods will empower poor people to get better jobs, and they'll be happier. Do you believe the dumb stuff this administration tells you?
For your next article on this sickening subject, can you go inside the financial interests behind all of this?
Who's making money out of this scandal?
46
I wish they would deport these dependents to their home countries
4
In the dead of night. Our Cowardly President ad his GOP at their finest.
14
We must send thousands of Witnesses to Tornillo Texas to protest, to be present for the children, and to document the atrocity being perpetrated - they are led to the camp under cloak of darkness and the guise of care but we must expose the truth to the light of day.
12
This is outrageous regardless of any regulations or the fact that a "large chunk of those are criminal aliens." In addition to spending billiions on war weapons for our security, perhaps adding another government agency to "protect" us in space, we are not moving young kids or adults (up to 18, I gather?) to other locations for their attempt to enter this country. LIke cattle or sheep or Japanese or Jews, these figures are so large and add to the overall sense of incredulity: 13,000?
6
Yeah, these kids have no legal standing, they're not our problem, blah, blah, blah.
But, if it takes laws for America to behave with humanity, we are already beyond redemption.
Christ weeps.
16
@The F.A.D. Christ doesn't care or he would intervene, don't cha think?
2
This is terrorism. This is wrong! I'm begging the UN or some other nation to please step in and stop this great wickedness!!
16
Horrible and disgusting. This is Trump and the worthless GOP.
12
Trump is ever increasingly revealing himyti be a demented abuser of children and now a fetus, newborn, child and adult spreader of genetic deformities and cancer.
In any jurisdiction in the US his kidnapping and abuse of children would retirn a life sentence in prison. Increasing mercury exposure is a crime against the American people the act of a a madman channeling Putin and his new love Kim.
To those who stand with this and him, I pity you. There is a price to pay to stand by and support this sick and pathetic example of sub humanity masquerading as a human.
9
@Steven Gabaeff MD
Dr. Gabaeff--
You are a better man than I. I don't pity those who stand with Trump. I loathe them and cannot imagine that ever changing. They are marked by this despicable administration forever, as is the America I grew up in and loved.
9
I generate the same animus but favor a mental health paradigm to allow for empathy and the hope of the conciliation. On the other hand, the necessity to stop the these evil intentions is paramount. These cognitive and ethical deficiencies as a neurotic disorder, which one might diagnose, and might engender a desire to refrain from frank condemnation, is off set by the sociopathic impacts of this thinking that are enveloping us. Add in Trump’s seditious intent and actions, so clear now, moves us into realm of treason.
2
More evidence of international child abuse that should see the perpetrators charged, extradited to the Hague, tried, convicted and jailed for crimes against humanity.
8
What can we do for the children?
No school?
They are suffering and it is NOT fair to anyone to be treated so poorly. It reflects so badly on our nation. We are not this cruel, are we?
7
Aside from the sickness the fate of these kids triggers, imagine the impact a picture like that in the header will have on the image of the US around the world : Rows of children lined-up under the (texas) sun, in a camp. Sad reminiscences.
6
When Americans are back in full control of our government again in 2021 prosecuting those responsible for these crimes against humanity must be a top priority
10
If one takes the time to read and actually do some research by reading about South and Central America, this tragedy would if nothing else be not only expected but very sadly predictable.
The best way to handle this would be a form of The Marshall Plan. This has been a very long standing issue of multiple layers of multiple travesties. Read about the murders of Sisters Dorothy Strang and Dorothy Kazel and the others and the citizens of many of these countries. Read about. Blessed Óscar Romero. Read the writings of Leonardo Boff. Read Thornton Wilders “ In the Bridge of San Louis Rey.”
Read about the Indegenious peoples and their history. Then one will have no need to ask how and why. Presente Jean Donovon.
5
If there is a justice in this world there will be cosmic revenge on the people responsible for this outrage. Why not just put the children in cattle cars without food or water? That would complete the picture.
5
The horrifying end result of this narrative is that it all but reinforces a Trump generality; that most immigrants are dangerous, criminals.
These poor children, without parents will suffer unknown mental anguish. What kind of adults will they become? The onus is on this administration. It sears my soul.
10
@Denise Did you not read the article, or are you impaired? These "poor children" were often sent in unaccompanied; what kind of parent does that to their child? I'll tell you - one that wants to follow them in because of this little wrinkle we now have in our policing policy. Does that "sear your soul", too? If so, toward whom, because the administration really isn't to blame for enforcing our nation's laws, is it?
2
Wow, we are back to the mid 1900's. This is an absolute travesty.
5
This report needs a spotlight on it 24/7. There is no way to determine the damage and abuse these children are suffering. This needs to full focus.
13
A country that treats women and children as we, the USA, now openly dishonor them will never be considered great. I don’t care how high the stock market is and how supposedly great the tax cuts are.
11
Please update this report with the names of the for-profit companies that are building and maintaining these tent cities. Our tax dollars are padding their corporate profits under the guise of national security, which is a sham. Bonus points if you can list the political donations and affiliations of these companies.
27
I sure hope the tent city the kids are moved to are private prisons. That way we save so much because for profit incarceration is only $700per day and our US Cabinet members need that extra income.
3
BCFS got the government contract -- literally hundreds of millions of tax payers dollars -- to run this tent city. For that money the American taxpayer should expect & monitor excellent care -- there should be schooling for the children, access to legal services, and responses to the press -- none of that exists now. This administration tells us that these children are "not us" and this administration is about to be overwhelmed by the costs of their no tolerance policy. What happens then?the children will have cutbacks in nutrition, medical services, beds and the shelters will be more like prisons than ever. Don't let that happen. This hard line on immigrants can not be sustained. Not morally, not financially, not ever. Never Again. BCFS CEO is Kevin Dinnen.
17
To all those who are horrified by children being kept in tents, how many of you are willing to open your homes to these children and be foster parents?
If you are truly appalled by how the children are being cared for - then step up and make a difference. Open your home and offer a bed to a child.
Otherwise, all you are doing is "pretending" to care. It's easy to criticize how the program is working, when others are shouldering the burden of responsibility and taking the fall for their perceived failures.
A lot of the outrage expressed is simply to make the poster feel morally superior, as if they are the good people in this scenario. Only good people actually do good things for others. They give of themselves unselfishly.
I, for one, have no idea how to house and safeguard children coming in to our country illegally or unaccompanied. What I do know, is that we have to stop influx of illegal immigrants in to our country.
8
@Valerie Nonsense. What a silly thing to say. I care about California wild fires but I’m certainly not qualified to fly to California and grab a hose. I care about reducing the population of unwanted pets, but I’m not patrolling the neighborhood with a scalpel. Yet, if I don’t offer to take Immigrant children into my home, I’m a hypocrite? My husband and I work 7 days a week. Neither of us are trained to handle traumatized teenagers. We don’t speak Spanish. Fostering immigrant kids would be THE MOST ineffective way we could help, and suggesting that these kids get placed into whatever random families that are willing to take them is reckless and callous. These aren’t stray cats. Foster parents undergo an extensive vetting process, which takes time and money better spent in addressing the real needs of these kids.
So, despite your ludicrous suggestion, I will continue to call my members of Congress, and to donate to non-profits who advocate for immigrants. And to work towards increasing voter registration voter turnout so we can work on actual policy change.
7
This will go down as a major atrocity in American history, along with slavery and the Japanese internment camps. Why is this not in every newspaper headline every day? Separated, deeply traumatized parents and children, documented abuse and neglect of children by those in charge, children and parents attempting and sometimes succeeding at suicide, detainees handcuffed and taken to jail when they turn 18.
Every minute that this continues is a tragedy of epic proportions.
What can we do? How can we help end this atrocity? Any ideas in response to my post are much appreciated.
58
Most of these minors travelled from Central America, through Mexico, with no identification. The adults accompanying them frequently also lacked identification and could not prove their relationship with the children they were abusing by smuggling them across a desert. Medical examination showed that in addition to the usual dehydration and malnutrition, many of these minors had been beaten or sexually assaulted and trafficking was suspected. I want to know why Mexican law enforcement failed to intercept and protect these children before they reached the American border. We need to work with Mexico to get these people the help they need rather than just warehousing them indefinately. These children are innocent parties who did not make that long dangerous journey of their own volition.
9
This is sickening. Just sickening. Tell me - wasn’t there a bible passage or two about treating strangers well, especially those traveling in a strange land?
35
@Amber
Are they being abused? They are provided with shelter, food, water, and medical care, until their parents can be found. That's exactly in accordance with the scriptures (not to mention, aren't we supposed to be a secular country anyway?)
It's Japan-gate all over again. When will idiots like Trump learn that people, especially the young, must never be treated in this way? No doubt, the answer is never, which is one more reason why a Democrat needs to be in the Oval Office as soon as possible.
26
I recall all the right wingers constantly circulating horror stories of clandestine "federal gubmint" detention camps being constructed by Obama.
Didn't Texas actually block Army Reserve training, claiming it was a stealth coup plan?
Well we got a right wing "gubmint" and we finally in reality have detention camps!
40
Bad public policy creates victims. "Big Government" is not the culprit. The people who have eschewed their compassion in the interest of "real reform" are. They create chaos and horror.
6
From Hoover towns to Trump's Tent City's, the Republicans have not made any progress in how they treat the poor, huddled masses yearning to be free.
20
AMERICA'S Federal Government under total rule by Republicans has become the government of Fraud, Waste, Abuse, Cruelty and Evil.
Our only option is to Vote each of these AMERICAN Monsters Out of Office...for eternity!
24
This NYT soft-ball report on children's detention centers is a disgrace and an embarrassment. These centers are one of the closest thing to concentration camps and represents a white supremacist reality paid by we taxpayers.
All detention centers in the US of A sequestering adults and children are operated by FOR PROFIT companies. This is a growth industry where we manufacture prisoners instead of goods.
All these companies are contributors to the current administration and are secured contracts by their Representative Congressmen to incarcerate Latinos. This blood and bodies policy For Profit system must be brought to and end.
40
@ladps89txat is what I say, concentration campswwarinh belts with their contact emergency number on it. ( if we can believe that) Psychological and emotional torture and abuse. The keys that what they are doing has to do with immigration laws.
1
What does it, ( the tent city) look like, Manzanar or Treblinka?
6
The article should make this more clear, but the vast majority of these kids arrived UNACCOMPANIED, in other words, they crossed the border without their parents. And their numbers have increased fivefold! Seriously, so what should we do with them? Put them out on the streets?
6
@John Rohan It isn't that there is a huge increase in the number of unaccompanied minors, the issue is that the process for moving them from these temporary camps is stalled. One factor, those who might adopt them are not here legally, and are now afraid of being identified and deported. While creating a wall might stop some, that you can go around it will not stop many. We need to actually deal with the issues in a way that is both realistic and humane. The current policy is to use cruelty to deter. It isn't working and doesn't represent the values of most americans.
1
@John Rohan..Exaclty!!
@John Rohan, there is no real conversation going on, because republicans scream that DACA is a giveaway of some kind, not a solution, and that brown people pollute our purity.
When the trump administration resorts to internment camps and dead-of-night transfers to the desert; when the only word they use to describe these kids is 'future MS13 gang member' or rapist, etc, there is no meaningful conversation.
Seriously, what should we do with them? How about starting with our basic values of, oh, I don't know, NOT imprisoning them indefinitely? I know ya'll can't stand the sound of Spanish in your schools, but they COULD be welcomed as valuable human beings. Too much for you, I guess.
Putting them out on the street? Do you mean to tell me that America is unable to integrate immigrants at this stage? We just can't...we don't know what to do!! We trumped our exceptionalism, then push away any non-white person who would like to join the club. But you ignore the liberal voices among you who are waving solutions (none of which are pro-open borders; I challenge you to show me any influential Democrats who are)
When trump calls on you to sneer and hate, that siren song will lure you back....... back from serious talk and American generosity. Remember, fascism wins when the powerful can get us to hate each other.
1
This is outrageous. Arresting the people who offer to sponsor these kids in a home? How does that alleviate the situation? Oh, I forgot. Cruelty is part of the plan.
24
When I read this article and articles like it, I’m always reminded of how long slavery lasted in this country. How could so many decent people stand by and watch such a horror play out? This situation has so many parallels including the belief that this is somehow “legal” and of course that it’s being perpetrated on a group of powerless people. Unfortunately, just like slavery, it will have long-term effects. These children will grow up eventually and some of them will remember.
9
To repeat the previous comment: Do not let this story die! Please
keep updating us on the fate of these children. We need pictures of the facility and personal stories to inform the public. The midnight raids should terrify every one of us, so reminiscent as they are of what happened in Nazi Germany. A video of one of those would really help.
As with the Trump election, the disgraceful Supreme Court nomination proceedings have commanded so much publicity that other issues (like Russian interference with elections, even though there is an election coming up, and the disgraceful policies pursued in relation to immigrant children) have occupied less of the news. Do many people really know what happened to the children separated from their parents this past summer?
11
Please add to the next report on this subject an accounting of who is profiteering from this atrocious, unconscionable practice. Such inhumane treatment of children surely will produce adults who will be a far greater problem and threat to society.
15
Where are the so-called "Pro Life" people or the Catholic Bishops. Pence is quiet.
29
@GARY HOLLOWAY...…These children come with smugglers. What's your take?....Have them wondering on the streets?
Does this evoke memories of Japanese Internment Camps for anyone else? Aren't we better than this as a country? Taking children to "camps" with no schooling? I'm betting there aren't any smore's in these camps either. This is outrageous. I'm not saying we have to "throw open the doors" but diplomacy, kindness, and simple human decency require much more from us.
16
@Sandra Holmes those Japanese were American citizens, not illegal aliens. Democrat FDR did this.
2
These captive children are being subjected to nothing short of state sponsored terrorism. Why isn’t the UN condemning the Trump administration for these atrocious actions?
12
Trump is in the wrong time zone. He would have fit in much better in Germany in 1938, where they would have appreciated his morals, or lack of.
7
If it is the states (nation,etc) responsibiity to care for its citizens why are these children not sent to their home state?
Yes, no doubt difficult and thus the need to house and feed for short periods.
Why is this so difficult to do?
4
@Monty Brown
Because this, like other government responsibilities, is contracted out to for-profit companies. Think about the consequences of 'privatizing' America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
1
So as usual the NYT lies in their headline. This facility is in fact regulated, as the article indicates. What we need it a better faster process to process all illegals, and the legal ones as well. It should take no longer than a month to deport those that clearly have no legal basis to immigrate to the US. That does not include being abused by individuals in your home country, we have plenty of that here.
4
DHS has not shown itself to be a competent regulator. It literally lost children. I can only hope if YOUR children are in trouble, the EMS who arrives at the scene doesn’t say “looks like you don’t deserve my help” as he drives away.
11
@Amber.....They are lost because they change address constantly because they don't want to show up at Court!.....How hard is to grasp that concept!!?
@vulcanalex There is no such thing as an "illegal"
Still waiting on the media to call this what it is, a crime against humanity.
25
We have finally become all America staunchly stood against in other nations for the last hundred years. No doubt Trump, McConnell and Sanders will find some passage from the Bible that can twist to justify the atrocities & injustices they're inflicting on these children. We've finally become all we abhorred.
18
The article states: "... about two dozen children were given just a few hours’ notice last week before they were loaded onto buses — any longer than that, according to one of the shelter workers, and the children may have panicked or tried to flee."
The administration is tormenting and inflicting great harm on these children. Of course they panic and attempt to flee. This is abominable treatment for these children, and it must be stopped. Arresting possible sponsors is also greatly multiplying the evil inherent in these policies.
39
Yet another manufactured problem from the great and powerful Oz in the White House.
6
Based on my extensive time among the poor in Honduras as a health care worker it is certain these kids are better off here even in these tents in Texas. The conditions of overpopulation, patriarchal violence, sexual assault, hunger and lack of perspective justify asylum for any woman or child (for the men not so much) from Honduras. Honduras is a failed state that will so remain for at least five more generations. The best thing we could do is take Honduras over and make it part of the USA
3
@as None of those conditions justify legal asylum, now if say the government was abusing them due to their race that might. No country does that except say Cuba or Venezuela.
4
@as
The Marshall plan turned Europe and Japan into a bastions of democracy and economic dynamism and it didn't take five generations.
Only 22 comments so far on this article reflects the lack of interest by NY times readers.
Where is the outrage?
11
@Gerard My outrage is focused on those parents in the US who abuse their children, some to the point of killing them. It is also focused on individuals especially children who can't even sit on their porches in say Chicago without danger of being killed. This is nothing, they are safe, air conditioned, and hopefully will be processed in due course, returned to their home country in many cases.
3
@vulcanalex Imprisonment of children whose only "crime" has been to have undocumented parents of certain nationality or ethnicity is unworthy of this nation. It is shameful. These "air conditioned camps" are essentially portable concentration camps. I can't fathom the psychological damage which will result from children subjected to this treatment, nor the really bad karma which is being inflicted by our government. Be hopeful that you, an American citizen, will not ever have your own children subjected to such treatment should you ever be arrested in some foreign nation. This is a horrible precedent on the part of the U.S.
1
@Gerard
I agree when I looked a t the # of comments my heart sank. How can anyone read this article and not be sickened by what this country is doing to these children.
Tell me again why these children are not with their parents? What a disturbing and coldly calculated mess our current president has made of this situation.
14
@Diana Some have their parents back in their home countries. Others have parents that are criminals. In the end the reason is that they illegally entered the US, that was their choice, not mine.
2
Trump official quoted “The number of families and unaccompanied alien children apprehended are a symptom of the larger problem, namely a broken immigration system,”
Theses unaccompanied children is a symptom of the break down of civil society in their home countries.
The US needs to partner with Central American governments to re-establish law and order.
3
@William King How about we pay attention to our citizens prior to meddling in foreign countries? We have massive issues related to our citizens, fix those before doing what you propose.
1
@vulcanalex “We” cannot pay attention to our own citizens and “we” cannot handle this dilemma of immigrants humanely because “we” have chosen to give tax breaks to corporations.
2
@vulcanalex that's false equivalence - believe it or not, the government can address more than one issue at a time
1
Let's remember who these children are. Many were sent, illegally, over the border in large groups by their parents over the last few years. They should have been, immediately, sent home, but instead we allowed them to be processed as refugees.
So before we rent our clothing and shout Mea Culpa, let's step back and look at the reality of the situation.
8
Meanwhile First Lady Malania starts her trip to Africa to focus on child well-being.
19
trump and his administration do not care about American citizens let alone immigrant children unless there is a profit to be made. Disgraceful but not a surprise from this grotesque abomination of a government. The only way to remove the cancer is to cut it out in November.
24
@DD. They are not immigrants
Do not let this story die! This is a shame & disgrace to us all! The people will have to demand that this be stopped & that congress handle it immediately! I do not know the answer-- but these Trump policies are stain on America!
54
Sickening. Yes, the capture of illegals creates a dilemma, a difficult logistical challenge, but to think that the “greatest nation in the history of the world”, so chock full of “God loving Christians”, can’t do better than this, is beyond comprehension.
40
First, they threw them onto the concrete floors of cages. Now, they are moving them in midnight buses to unsupervised, unregulated camps in the middle of the desert. Is there no end to these people's willingness to inflict cruelty on children?
63
@Akron Rick those things happened under Obama.
1
And it was disgusting under Obama too. Wrong is wrong.
2
@Akron Rick Actually, the cage picture/story happened under Obama, not Trump. And they are being moved at night because so many try to escape into the US from their current shelters and/or foster homes. Did you read the article? “The number of families and unaccompanied alien children apprehended are a symptom of the larger problem, namely a broken immigration system,” Ms. Stauffer said. “Their ages and the hazardous journey they take make unaccompanied alien children vulnerable to human trafficking, exploitation and abuse. That is why H.H.S. joins the president in calling on Congress to reform this broken system.”
The Flores Decision clearly states that children can only be incarcerated for 20 days. This was the Trump administration's first excuse for stealing children from their asylum seeking families- that they were unable to keep families together when holding adults for more than 20 days.
Who will be prosecuted for the repeated law breaking of this administration? Are we really willing to live in a country that is cruel and sadistic to children?
52
Beyond the confusion, fear and utter abandonment that will scar these children for the rest of their lives, this stain on America's history belongs solely to this administration and what the Republican party has devolved to buying into the fear sold by the man currently in the White House.
52
@LMR some will even commit suicide.
4
@LMR Living in tents, sadly, is more desirable that the alternatives for many of these kids. You decry the situation, but falsely blame the US instead of the parents and governments south of the border. It was the lax enforcement of our immigration laws under Obama that started this mess. How can any country care for 13,000 + kids in their country illegally?
Where are the attorney generals and those legally defending these kids? Not providing adequate schooling by certified teachers with certifications for their age groups is against the law. On the other hand, a certified teacher must report abuse or unsuitable learning environments to authorities. Perhaps that is why Trump and Sessions do not want real teachers helping these kids.
55
Why is there a shortage of sponsors for these children in the 14th most Christian state in the nation?
66
@Lee. We are busy working to support our kids, American kids
I remember when I as a kid and I learned about countries doing these sorts of things. Detaining people, putting them in camps, moving them under the cover of darkness. And now? What are my children learning reading the newspaper? This is us. We do this now.
And yes it is true that I don’t care that they are immigrants, even undocumented immigrants - there is just a level of decency, of human respect, of graciousness that I thought we stood for.
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...” I always thought that is who we are.
143
@Jeff Loehr
A lot of us thought that the US was better than it turns out to actually be. We were taken in by the flag waving and unquestioning patriotism that is part of living in almost any country.
Now the Trump administration has laid this country's ugliness out in full view for all to see, and it is not a pretty picture.
83
@Jeff Loehr. Not migrants or immigrants, illegal aliens breaking our laws
@Jeff Loehr
They aren't arriving legally. They are also kids who didn't arrive with parents. So exactly what should we do with them? We can't just set them free and tell them to get jobs like the immigrants that arrived at Ellis Island.
I hope that when the indictments are handed down, the Dept of Human Services spokeswoman, Evelyn Stauffer, will be among those charged with crimes against humanity.
107
@RichPFromDC
Stephen Miller should also be charged with crimes against humanity.
20
Alex Azar, HHS Secretary, and Scott Lloyd, ORR Director, should be at the very top of the list.
1
What's so difficult about connecting the kids to their parents and sending them back? They're going to be deported in any case so why the wait?
38
@There The parents refuse to leave; would rather wait in hopes of convincing a court that they are refugees. And, they have told their kids where to go if/when they 'escape' the home or shelter they were assigned. That's why this is happening at night.
Instead of shouting, "Have you no sense of decency?" at the Democrats during the hearings, why aren't the Republicans shouting at Trump about this abuse of power? Why are they not putting a stop to this right now? Call your senators, call every last one of them and let them know that We the People are voting come November.
This is the National disgrace.
156
I'm a parent, and if my child was relocated, without my knowledge to a “camp” in Tornillo, Texas I would be concerned. So I did some research.
Dallas News, Claire Ballor & Robert T. Garrett
“More children die from abuse in Texas than in any other state”
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2018/02/10/children-die-abuse-texa...
“Texas reported more child fatalities than any other state in 2016, a sobering distinction it is has held since 2012, according to the report.”…
“Lawyers for the state's 10,700 children in long-term care responded to Paxton in a brief, saying that children are harmed every day because of "deliberate indifference" by the state. They said that the state had refused to correct structural flaws, such as shortages of caseworkers or child care licensing investigators and inspectors…".
The New York Review, Gail Collins
"How Texas Inflicts Bad Textbooks on Us"
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/06/21/how-texas-inflicts-bad-textb...
“What happens in Texas doesn’t stay in Texas when it comes to textbooks”
“No matter where you live, if your children go to public schools, the textbooks they use were very possibly written under Texas influence. If they graduated with a reflexive suspicion of the concept of separation of church and state and an unexpected interest in the contributions of the National Rifle Association to American history, you know who to blame.”
Tornillo tent city, largely unregulated and deep, in the heart, of Texas.
82
@interested party
and yet you're talking about state agencies in regards to children and this is a federal agency
How do you not get that? There's literally no connection
@J-Z
Literally? If the feds were in Texas attempting to do something the state disapproved of the state would be up in arms in a heartbeat.
Literally.
1
This? THIS? In the land of the free and home of the brave! This is not right -- and I don't care if it is legal!
118
It is not legal. Period.
1
There is no excuse for this treatment. By calling 'politicization' the administration is trying to blame the democrats. The crime is not immigration it is our response to it.
79
Reading this article makes me feel ashamed to be an American. May God protect these children and their families...
116
All the science that shows this abuse and trauma will have tragic long-term consequences is being ignored to mollify the GOP base. That our country is willing to use children as pawns in its immigration game shows our lack of humanity, exposed for the world to see. America can no longer act outraged when other countries act in abhorrent or inhumane ways. This is a profoundly sad moment in our history.
163
@e w The GOP ignores science whenever it shows anything they find inconvenient. Why is this surprising or different. They are leading the dumbing down of America instead of using science to advance our nation.
5
@e w The US did not create this problem, nor did it create 'pawns' out of these innocent kids (at least those too young to control their entrance to the US). It is the parents and the traffickers that created this debacle. Frankly, Obama should NEVER have invited the 'kids to come.' But, he did as he decided that he would create his own vision of immigration laws, fully knowing that the parents would have to come later as it's despicable to separate families. When I look at the mess going on in the world today I am broken-hearted.
Entry into the United States without authorization is a crime. The past procedure was to catch these people, give them a future hearing date, and then release them. Into the United States. And most never came back for a hearing. These people are now being detained. By entering the country with their children, their situation is no different than anyone who commits a crime accompanied by their children where immediate detainment is required.
When a US Citizen commits a crime with their children present, they are detained and separated from their children. The children are not sent to jail with the parent, except in very rare and unusual conditions. Children are usually turned over to relatives. But if you are entering the country illegally, there may be no relatives to take them.
And in cases of unaccompanied children, what are you supposed to do with them? Send them back to where they came from? To be cared for by whom?
Everyone agrees, I believe, that immigration reform is needed. But the desire to deny the President any victories has, as it has in many areas, put politics above the business of addressing the need for reforms. I am tired of politics as usual. We should put the business of the nation first. Stalemate is not a legitimate public policy goal.
24
@RM. I would think we could all agree that these children are indeed being sent to jail - or perhaps a more realistic way to think of it would be as an incubator where children who were already willing to risk death to come here are being stripped of their humanity and made to hate this land of the free... it will be so refreshing when we can start fighting terrorism we motivated all on our own rather than just looking to outside regimes to radicalize young people. Well done!
28
@RM,
Seeking asylum is not a crime. No one is illegal on stolen land.
4
@RM. Some of the parents who were separated from their children believed that they would qualify for asylum, so they should not have been treated like criminals.
28