I suppose it goes back to how you define concentration camp.Do you consider an orphanage a concentration camp? A Children’s hospital? If you define any place where UACs are housed in groups as a concentration camp, then I am not sure how it can be avoided. I don’t think that you can even minimally screen 45,000 kids each year without sometimes resorting to group housing.
An important issue here is that these kids are not in those facilities because they are considered a threat to the US, but because they are considered under threat .
“On Sunday, a Salinas patrol officer was checking out a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of Walmart on North Main Street…Four men from cities across the Salinas Valley were arrested in a human trafficking bust, and eight teenage girls were rescued”
“Authorities became aware of the truck overnight after a Wal-Mart employee, who was approached by someone who had been in the truck asking for water, notified police…Inside the semitrailer, authorities found eight dead people, as well as 20 other people who were in “extremely critical condition or very serious condition” and an additional eight suffering lesser injuries like heatstroke and dehydration”
Cool, so you agree that those stories are a good justification for separating every kid that walks into Walmart from their family, until they prove they’re not human traffickers?
And all those kids can be put in the totally-not-textbook-examples-of-concentration-camps camps?
No, it illustrates that people, especially law enforcement, should look for the signs of human trafficking. CBP agents are required to ask kids caught crossing the border basic questions to screen for possible human trafficking.
If a kid stumbles into a Walmart, filthy and dehydrated, begging for water, It might not be unreasonable to ask some basic questions. Not just at the border.
I understand that part of “resisting” is opposing all actions of the current administration, but I am really not hearing alternatives. Some questions:
Do you think that kids found crossing the border alone, or in the custody of people who are not their guardians, should be separated from those adults and questioned?
Should some sort of check be conducted on those wishing to take custody of the kids found crossing unaccompanied, or should they just hand the kids over to whoever claims them? Or just give them $20 and a bus ticket?
If questioning of the kids and the adults crossing with them indicates a likelihood that the kid is being trafficked for nefarious purposes, what should the authorities do?
If no suitable relatives are found, what should HHS do with kids while waiting for foster home placement?
How about kids with medical or emotional issues?
There are people who have to actually come up with answers to those questions, and many more. And they have to actually put them into practice. Last November, there were over 7,000 UACs who showed up at the southern border. That was a 24% increase over 2016. That is a lot of kids to place in safe homes.
Just opposing everything is not a real solution, nor is criticizing the good-faith efforts of the people who actually have to solve the problem.
The zero-tolerance separation thing was a terrible idea, and public outcry reversed the policy. If you feel just as strongly about keeping kids in temporary facilities like Torillo during unexpected surges in crossings, suggest a better idea. You can explain your suggestion to HHS at - (202)401-9246 or UACProgram@acf.hhs.gov
Or, apply to be a sponsor. If they had 1600 more approved sponsors, the camp would not have been kept open.
None of what’s happening in the region destabilized by the US justifies children being put into concentration camps.
That is bullshit. Have you heard how Trump talks about immigrants from south of Texas? Stop pretending that what’s happening isn’t. They are putting children concentration camps. This needs to stop.
Your definition was “A concentration camp is a means to concentrate a particular group away into a particular area,…”
That sounds like your issue with the camp is either the location or the number of residents. Tornillo is 40 minutes from El Paso/Juarez, so it is not exactly Kolyma.
But I have to guess what your solution is, since “This need to stop” is not a detailed alternative.
I suppose you can ignore the problem, or just pretend that thousands of unaccompanied kids are not showing up each month. But the people working at the border with CBP and HSS do not have the option of just pretending it is not happening.
Whether Trump is Hitler or not also has no bearing on the fact that those people still have to deal with kids showing up daily. Whether all the problems in Guatemala are Eisenhower’s fault is also irrelevant to the daily task of dealing with UACs.
Residents implies that these kids are there by choice. They are not.
I didn’t say that… but people who study that period in global history have expressed concern.
This is anti-democratic, anti-human rights, anti-children, anti-decency. I’m sorry that you can’t see that our government is making choices that are hurting your fellow human beings.
They are minors. Once they are transferred to the custody of family or sponsors, then that person can make decisions about where they sleep and what they get to do. Most children in the developed world have some adult who sets rules and boundaries for them.
I did not mean to imply that you personally claimed Trump is Hitler. I apologize if I gave that impression. It is a claim that gets tossed around pretty frequently these days.
Both my parents earned advanced degrees in military history. I studied military Archaeology, although I did not get my PhD. I know what your credentials are, so I hoped you might propose some solutions or alternatives. I have read the policies that apply to UACs entering the country, and some of the published case studies. It is a complex issue, requiring a complex solution. Part of that planned solution is to have available temporary facilities on standby in case of unexpected surges of border crossings. They are modeled not on prisons, but on military bases, where the technology and logistics of quickly building comfortable living facilities has been perfected over time.
People here are angry about this, but are not suggesting workable alternatives.
Have you tried not being a fucking asshole to children?
Have you tried not systemically kidnapping children?
Have you tried not being a fascist?
I suggest you try it soon.
Because right now, evil has been crowned in Washington and I don’t have time for prevaricating dicks like you. You’re either with the resistance or with the fascists.
