The separation of parents and children at the US border isn't just cruel and inhumane – it's ridiculous

Donald Trump blames, predictably, a law passed by the Democrats for the phenomenon. Not for the first time, he hasn’t got his facts quite right: there is no such law

Monday 18 June 2018 20:04 BST
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While their parents have not yet been convicted of any crime, though detained for illegal entry, their children are certainly innocent
While their parents have not yet been convicted of any crime, though detained for illegal entry, their children are certainly innocent

The best estimate seems to be that 658 child migrants from Mexico to the United States have been separated from their parents and detained in the past two weeks or so. Reports suggest that the total number of minors who are in some form of care while their parents languish in prison may run into the low thousands.

Even at the most minimal estimate, and even if it were only the case of a single child, the policies now being pursued by the US government are tantamount to an abuse of human rights. While their parents have not yet been convicted of any crime, though detained for illegal entry, their children are certainly innocent; all concerned are suffering from what the American constitution terms a cruel and unusual punishment. It is not too strong to regard it as a form of mental torture. Hundreds are held in converted WalMart stores or warehouses, and there has been whisperings that a city of tents is due to be set up in the Texan desert. It is ridiculous as well as cruel.

So distasteful is it that has provoked a public reaction from Melania Trump, one of the most taciturn first ladies to inhabit the White House (indeed, one who sometimes seems to prefer invisibility to the media glare). Her spokesperson said on her behalf that Ms Trump “hates to see children separated from their families”. She was joined, in a highly unusual coalition, by Laura Bush, wife of former president George W Bush, who went so far as to write an article in The Washington Post eviscerating Mr Trump’s policy: “We need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”

Melania’s husband blames, predictably, a law passed by the Democrats for the phenomenon. Not for the first time, he hasn’t got his facts quite right: there is no such law. Mr Trump might be referring to a legal judgement, the “Flores case”, dating back to 1997, which set out how minors ought to be treated, including that they should not be separated from their parents if possible.

That rule has been in place since then, but hasn’t had any substantial detrimental effect until now. That is because Mr Trump and his attorney general, the bumbling Jeff Sessions, have implemented a “zero tolerance” policy towards migration. Part of this is to charge would-be migrants with the criminal offence of illegal entry on their first appearance before the authorities, and thus require them to he be held in a secure institution; prior to this year, first-offence migrants were generally charged with a misdemeanour, which did not require imprisonment.

Donald Trump blames Democrats for children being taken from families at Mexico border

Jeff Sessions, like the president, made a stab at defending the approach, but in his case by bizarrely quoting the Bible, specifically Romans 13, which reminds us that the government is ordained by god, and thus must be obeyed. Quite apart from the issue of the US being casually converted into a theocracy, it is an absurd misuse of scripture. Once again, Mr Sessions has made a fool of himself and the office he holds.

For once Mr Trump is offering a solution, though one that will take far too long for those children being penned up in 40-degree heat in Texas. He urges Republicans and Democrats in Congress to cooperate to reform immigration law. Fine, except that the extremism of his own position makes such consensus-building impossible, and the infamous wall or fence across the US-Mexico frontier is going to be built come what may, or so we are told.

Meantime, Mr Trump needs to mend his own policy before something even more tragic befalls some innocent child and their traumatised family. For the problem with the “zero tolerance” policy, and the hostile environment it creates, is that it assumes the migrants are making this journey because they freely opt to, and can be deterred.

In reality, many are fleeing violence and near-certain death in poor, corrupt and lawless parts of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. They will risk anything, including family separation, to find peace and a place where a future is viable. To their minds, they have nothing to lose. If Mr Trump understood that a little better, and didn’t believe that every migrant from the south was a criminal, he might be able to find himself a policy that worked and didn’t wantonly violate the human rights of children. He could start by asking Melania.

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