Trump immigrant family separation policy

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Another update:

he Trump administration is planning to shift more than $260 million to cover the rising cost and strain of housing thousands of undocumented immigrant children in their custody -- including millions of dollars from programs like cancer research and HIV/AIDS prevention.

The request comes as the program has been strained by record-high levels of children in custody, driven in large part by new policies that are holding kids longer and making it more difficult for them to be released to adults, such as family members.

It also comes amid news that the Department of Health and Human Services once again could not locate 1,500 children it had released over a three-month period.

There are more than 13,000 children currently in HHS custody, spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer told CNN. The number fluctuates daily, but that is higher than the record-setting 12,800 in custody last week.

Linky.

 

[quadraginta]

Another update:



Linky.

Not only do we lead the world in the number of adults incarcerated by the government, many for victimless crimes, I suspect we lead the world in the number of children taken from their families and put into concentration camps and cages for no good reason.

Let's all stand for the National Anthem. "Land of the free".

No kneeling, or you'll lose your job.

 

[kellyb]

Not only do we lead the world in the number of adults incarcerated by the government, many for victimless crimes, I suspect we lead the world in the number of children taken from their families and put into concentration camps and cages for no good reason.

There's no way I can think of that we don't.

 

[Aridas]

There's no way I can think of that we don't.

Is it worth pointing out that there are outright genocides occurring? I find it quite possible that we don't in light of that, though I wouldn't make a bet about it.

 

[kellyb]

Is it worth pointing out that there are outright genocides occurring? I find it quite possible that we don't in light of that, though I wouldn't make a bet about it.

Yeah, that's worth pointing out. Ugh.

 

[quadraginta]

Is it worth pointing out that there are outright genocides occurring? I find it quite possible that we don't in light of that, though I wouldn't make a bet about it.

If you're looking for a low bar to compare us to that's a pretty good place to start, but I'd like to think we could strive for something just a tiny bit higher than comparisons to brutal third world autocracies just to make us feel better about the way our government behaves.

You know, being the Leader of the Free World and all that.

 

[Aridas]

If you're looking for a low bar to compare us to that's a pretty good place to start, but I'd like to think we could strive for something just a tiny bit higher than comparisons to brutal third world autocracies just to make us feel better about the way our government behaves.

You know, being the Leader of the Free World and all that.

Oh, I quite think that we should be striving to be, quite frankly, incredible, and that we quite certainly have the power to do so. With that said, I was only making the point that we might well not, in fact, be the worst when it comes to the specific things noted, contrary to kellyb's thoughts at that time. I was not, in any way, actually trying to make anyone feel better about the way that our government have been behaving, though. That I felt it reasonable to invoke Genocide Watch in response is already a seriously bad sign, after all.

 

[Stacko]

FOIA requests reveal that was an actual family separation policy.

The biggest revelation in the documents is a memo dated April 23, in which top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials urged criminal prosecution of parents crossing the border with children—the policy that led to the crisis that continues today. The memo, first reported on by the Washington Post on April 26, but never previously published, provides evidence that Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen signed off on a policy of family separation despite her repeated claims denying that there was such a policy. The Post appears to have obtained a copy of the memo prior to its signature.

The memo states that DHS could “permissibly direct the separation of parents or legal guardians and minors held in immigration detention so that the parent or legal guardian can be prosecuted.” It outlines three options for implementing “zero tolerance,” the policy of increased prosecution of immigration violations. Of these, it recommends “Option 3,” referring for prosecution all adults crossing the border without authorization, “including those presenting with a family unit,” as the “most effective.”

The last page of the memo contains a signature approving Option 3, but the signature—almost certainly Nielsen’s, given that the memo is addressed to her—was blacked out by FOIA officers on privacy grounds. FOIA officials also appear to have redacted the date of the signature indicating approval.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

I hope someone in Nielsen's family asks her about this at Thanksgiving.

 

[kellyb]

FOIA requests reveal that was an actual family separation policy.

The last page of the memo contains a signature approving Option 3, but the signature—almost certainly Nielsen’s, given that the memo is addressed to her—was blacked out by FOIA officers on privacy grounds.

Is "privacy" the new word for "accountability avoidance"?

 

[Border Reiver]

FOIA requests reveal that was an actual family separation policy.

Since the signature at Option 3 is clearly meant to show that this was the selected option, on what basis is the signature redacted? This is clearly indicative of a decision made in that person's public capacity as an agent of the government and as such should be public information.

Here in Canada the Access to Information Act would not support such a redaction.

 

[Aridas]

Hundreds of Migrant Children Quietly Moved to a Tent Camp on the Texas Border

The roughly 100 shelters that have, until now, been the main location for housing detained migrant children are licensed and monitored by state child welfare authorities, who impose requirements on safety and education as well as staff hiring and training.

The tent city in Tornillo, on the other hand, is unregulated, except for guidelines created by the Department of Health and Human Services. For example, schooling is not required there, as it is in regular migrant children shelters.

Mark Greenberg, who oversaw the care of migrant children under President Barack Obama, helped to craft the emergency shelter guidelines. He said the agency tried “to the greatest extent possible” to ensure that conditions in facilities like the one at Tornillo would mirror those in regular shelters, “but there are some ways in which that’s difficult or impossible to do.”

Several shelter workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being fired, described what they said has become standard practice for moving the children: In order to avoid escape attempts, the moves are carried out late at night because children will be less likely to try to run away. For the same reason, children are generally given little advance warning that they will be moved.

<snip>

Some staff members cried when they learned of the move, the shelter worker said, fearing what was in store for the children who had been in their care. Others tried to protest. But managers explained that tough choices had to be made to deal with the overflowing population.

The system for sheltering migrant children came under strain this summer, when the already large numbers were boosted by more than 2,500 young border crossers who were separated from their parents under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy. But those children were only a fraction of the total number who are currently detained.

A momentary glimpse again at one of the larger related problems at hand that the family separation policy and the Trump Administration's immigrantion policy in general has exacerbated.

 

[kellyb]

Hundreds of Migrant Children Quietly Moved to a Tent Camp on the Texas Border



A momentary glimpse again at one of the larger related problems at hand that the family separation policy and the Trump Administration's immigrantion policy in general has exacerbated.

Gawd, what an evil people some Americans are.

 

[Belz...]

"Others tried to protest. But managers explained that tough choices had to be made to deal with the overflowing population."

Gee, what does that remind me of?

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Key takeaways from the Inspector General review of Trump’s Family Separation Policy

 

[Aridas]

Inspectors found nooses hanging in cells at an ICE detention facility

Also...

A disabled detainee asked to be placed in administrative segregation but instead was placed in disciplinary segregation and "inappropriately held" there for nine days, according to the report. ICE uses "disciplinary segregation" to describe the practice more commonly known as solitary confinement.
"Based on our file review," the report says, "in those 9 days, the detainee never left his wheelchair to sleep in a bed or brush his teeth ... We also observed medical staff just looking in his cell and stamping his medical visitation sheet rather than evaluating the detainee, as required by ICE standards."
After inspectors raised the issue with a medical health services administrator, the detainee was moved to medical for observation, according to the report.

Also...

Another detainee interviewed by inspectors said he'd been waiting more than two years for cavities to be filled and had multiple teeth fall out in the meantime.
"Our detainee interviews and review of medical records revealed that detainees are placed on wait lists for months and, sometimes, years to receive basic dental care, resulting in tooth loss and unnecessary extractions in some cases," the report says.
A review of records found that no detainees had received fillings in the last four years.
"When we asked one of the dentists why fillings were not performed, he said he barely has time to do cleanings and screening, so as a result he does not do fillings," the report says.

Bolded letter switched with the space now after it, under the assumption that it was a typo.

And of course...

"ICE has ignored the ACLU's repeated complaints about abuse and neglect at Adelanto," Michael Kaufman, an attorney for the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, said in a statement. "The OIG's disturbing report (reveals) that GEO and ICE officials continue to disregard immigration detainees' well-being, often with tragic consequences."
This isn't the first time that the inspector general has warned of problems in ICE detention.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

... and people wonder why some call for ICE to be abolished?

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

https://twitter.com/SeanLavery/status/1050495062889680896

Here is a contract, designed for children, with an option to forfeit their rights, that 5-year-old asylum seeker Helen practiced spelling her name on. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news...-border-and-convinced-to-sign-away-her-rights …

https://twitter.com/SeanLavery/status/1050528172985516032

Meanwhile, Helen's mother and grandmother were desperately searching for her, but she was placed in foster care soon after signing this form, having been misclassified as an unaccompanied minor.

https://twitter.com/SeanLavery/status/1050580854391656449

A lot of people making the great point that the form would be hard for Helen to read because she's five. Additionally it would be hard to read because she's from Honduras and this form is in English.

Document and article embedded in tweets.

 

[Belz...]

https://twitter.com/SeanLavery/status/1050495062889680896

https://twitter.com/SeanLavery/status/1050528172985516032

https://twitter.com/SeanLavery/status/1050580854391656449

Document and article embedded in tweets.

Reminds me of actual banana republics and autocratic regimes.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

https://twitter.com/SeanLavery/status/1050495062889680896

https://twitter.com/SeanLavery/status/1050528172985516032

https://twitter.com/SeanLavery/status/1050580854391656449

Document and article embedded in tweets.

This is where my mind just boggles. What kind of judge would accept a form signed by a five year old, without representation, in a language she doesn't speak? What kind of lawyer would get a five year old to sign it, and sit there while she practiced writing her name? There's too many people involved here for them all to be racist dickbags. Some of them, probably most of them, are otherwise basically good people who still sleep well at night thinking they're doing a basically good thing in denying basic human rights to these children. We're well into the "banality of evil" phase.