by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Our nation is being managed (kinda, sorta, and certainly not "led") by a reality television personality who propels himself along by appealing to the anger and resentment of a substantial group of people who feel they were cheated in the great lottery of life. Sleazebag politicians, with Donald Trump chief among them, have convinced this massive social underclass that their lives would be infinitely better if not for racial minorities pushing themselves to the front and taking all of the good things in life. Indeed, they would have all likely become brain surgeons and rocket scientists but for the swarm of illegal immigrants who pushed across the southern border and stole all of those good jobs.
Never mind that Trump often fills menial positions at his luxury properties with immigrant labor - some of it "illegal" - because they work for less and are in no position to raise a fuss about things like pay, working conditions, and benefits.
There are votes to be gained from demonizing immigrants.
Here is a bit of reality. It came in the mail yesterday from "Doctors Without Borders," a charitable group which won the Nobel Peace Prize several years ago - and whose efforts I have long supported with a regular monthly donation - and you should, too. Jason Cone, the group's executive director, had this to say about "impossible choices":
Mr. Cone went on to explain that in 2018, a record 68.5 million people were fleeing their homes due to violence and instability.
Some of those people who are on the road fleeing violence and situations we cannot even begin to imagine, make their way to the southern border of the United States where they are literally confronted with fortress America. Since the very first day of the Trump administration, almost two long years ago, the administration has been focused on things like travel bans, building walls, demonizing certain groups of immigrants - those from "shithole" countries - and setting policies that would not only deter asylum seekers but would also bring great harm to blameless children in the process.
Two immigration stories were featured prominently in the news yesterday, though probably not on Fox. National Public Radio (NPR) said that almost 15,000 children are now held at nearly full shelters along our southern borders. For those who have never sat in a psychology classroom or worked with children on a professional basis, let me assure you that the warehousing of children, whether they are confined with their families or not, will impact them throughout their lives - and children confined in caged settings are suffering emotional trauma that is literally incalculable.
The other story involved one of those children being detained at the border by U.S. authorities. A seven-year-old girl died nearly two weeks ago from dehydration and hunger at an El Paso hospital after arriving at a Border Patrol facility in New Mexico. She was part of a group of 160 asylum seekers who had reported to the station the day before the girl died - and authorities at the facility did not recognize that she was in medical distress until the next day when she lost consciousness. Sadly and unbelievably, she was not the first child to die while in U.S. custody.
This morning Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas gave an interview on NPR in which he noted that not only was this information kept from the public, it was also not reported to Congress when Kevin K. McAleenan, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protections, provided testimony to the Senate on December 11th.
Our border officials are literally hiding under a cloak of secrecy as these atrocities continue to occur. They are not informing the public, and they are overtly trying to deceive Congress.
The wrong people are being locked up!
There is nothing "Christian" about making children suffer!
This is a stain on America that will never come clean, and we have the perverse bigotry of Donald John Trump to thank for much of it.
Citizen Journalist
Our nation is being managed (kinda, sorta, and certainly not "led") by a reality television personality who propels himself along by appealing to the anger and resentment of a substantial group of people who feel they were cheated in the great lottery of life. Sleazebag politicians, with Donald Trump chief among them, have convinced this massive social underclass that their lives would be infinitely better if not for racial minorities pushing themselves to the front and taking all of the good things in life. Indeed, they would have all likely become brain surgeons and rocket scientists but for the swarm of illegal immigrants who pushed across the southern border and stole all of those good jobs.
Never mind that Trump often fills menial positions at his luxury properties with immigrant labor - some of it "illegal" - because they work for less and are in no position to raise a fuss about things like pay, working conditions, and benefits.
There are votes to be gained from demonizing immigrants.
Here is a bit of reality. It came in the mail yesterday from "Doctors Without Borders," a charitable group which won the Nobel Peace Prize several years ago - and whose efforts I have long supported with a regular monthly donation - and you should, too. Jason Cone, the group's executive director, had this to say about "impossible choices":
"In southern Mexico, I met a nine-year-old boy who had fled Honduras alone. The threat of violence was so great, he told our counselors, that his parents thought he would have a better chance of survival on the road. And then in El Salvador, I met parent who told me how they feared their children would be forcibly recruited into or killed by gangs."
Mr. Cone went on to explain that in 2018, a record 68.5 million people were fleeing their homes due to violence and instability.
Some of those people who are on the road fleeing violence and situations we cannot even begin to imagine, make their way to the southern border of the United States where they are literally confronted with fortress America. Since the very first day of the Trump administration, almost two long years ago, the administration has been focused on things like travel bans, building walls, demonizing certain groups of immigrants - those from "shithole" countries - and setting policies that would not only deter asylum seekers but would also bring great harm to blameless children in the process.
Two immigration stories were featured prominently in the news yesterday, though probably not on Fox. National Public Radio (NPR) said that almost 15,000 children are now held at nearly full shelters along our southern borders. For those who have never sat in a psychology classroom or worked with children on a professional basis, let me assure you that the warehousing of children, whether they are confined with their families or not, will impact them throughout their lives - and children confined in caged settings are suffering emotional trauma that is literally incalculable.
The other story involved one of those children being detained at the border by U.S. authorities. A seven-year-old girl died nearly two weeks ago from dehydration and hunger at an El Paso hospital after arriving at a Border Patrol facility in New Mexico. She was part of a group of 160 asylum seekers who had reported to the station the day before the girl died - and authorities at the facility did not recognize that she was in medical distress until the next day when she lost consciousness. Sadly and unbelievably, she was not the first child to die while in U.S. custody.
This morning Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas gave an interview on NPR in which he noted that not only was this information kept from the public, it was also not reported to Congress when Kevin K. McAleenan, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protections, provided testimony to the Senate on December 11th.
Our border officials are literally hiding under a cloak of secrecy as these atrocities continue to occur. They are not informing the public, and they are overtly trying to deceive Congress.
The wrong people are being locked up!
There is nothing "Christian" about making children suffer!
This is a stain on America that will never come clean, and we have the perverse bigotry of Donald John Trump to thank for much of it.
1 comment:
The wrongful deaths of these children illuminate the need for the next Congress to amend the Death In Custody Reporting Act, known as DCRA and codified at 34 U.S.C. §60105.
Currently the law requires deaths of detainees to be reported by " any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands." This needs to be expanded to include private prisons operating for any American jurisdiction state or federal; also to include prisons or detention centers run by any agency or arm of the federal government.
Those in custody are supposed to be treated humanely, 42 U.S.C. §200dd:
(1) In general
No individual in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
(2) Cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment defined
In this section, the term “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment” means cruel, unusual, and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as defined in the United States Reservations, Declarations and Understandings to the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment done at New York, December 10, 1984.
(3) Compliance
The President shall take action to ensure compliance with this section, including through the establishment of administrative rules and procedures.
Obviously the rule of law is being ignored in these dark days of the Republic.
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