It's not just Democrats any more. Despite withering criticism from Christian conservatives, Republican congressional leaders and former First Lady Laura Bush, the Trump administration insists on continuing its policy of yanking children away from their parents when they cross the border illegally.
Harsh is too generous a word to describe President Donald Trump's family separation policy. Try abominable. Horrific. Monstrous. The practice more closely resembles actions by Nazi storm troopers or Islamic State fanatics than a modern developed nation that not long ago was a worldwide beacon for human rights. Trump has dragged America to a shameful new low.
The administration also blatantly lies about what it is doing and why. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen tweeted on Sunday: "We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period."
On May 7, Attorney General Jeff Sessions outlined an unequivocal "zero tolerance" policy toward illegal immigration: "If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you. And that child may be separated from you, as required by law." Last week he invoked the Bible to justify it.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told National Public Radio: "The children will be taken care of — put into foster care or whatever. But the big point is, they elected to come illegally into the United States and this is a technique that no one hopes will be used extensively or for very long."
Trump on Monday repeated the lie that family separation is required by law. It is not. Trump blamed the policy on Democrats in Congress who opposed immigration legislation that includes funding for his $25 billion border wall. In other words, if it takes ripping a child from her mother's arms to get that border wall, so be it.
Since Trump imposed his policy, nearly 2,000 families have been split apart and sent to separate prisons. Some parents have been deported without being allowed to take their children with them, inflicting unfathomable trauma on them.
Existing U.S. law does not require family separation. However, the United States is bound by human rights treaties not to impose penalties on those who present themselves at the border seeking asylum. This administration uses family separation specifically to punish migrants and deter other would-be border crossers, regardless of any claim to refugee status.
Even under the harshest interpretation of U.S. law, the misdemeanor offense of crossing the border without authorization is no more serious than running a red light. The last time we checked, they didn't take your children away for that.
The Constitution's Eighth Amendment forbids cruel and unusual punishment. It's now clear that neither the Constitution, religious values nor simple human decency will bring this administration to its senses.
REPRINTED FROM THE ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH
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