June 15 Open Thread: Hey, Media, There’s a Humanitarian Crisis on U.S. Border

Filed in National by on June 15, 2018

Despite Trump’s best efforts to create a distraction — Your Leader averted the nuclear disaster that he ginned up in the first place! — people, meaning the media, are starting to pay attention to the cruel practice of taking children at border stations from their families, even if those families are seeking asylum rather than trying to sneak into the country.

Just as an example, Stephen Colbert broke format on his show last night to deliver a joke-free plea on the subject — common practice now for Jimmy Kimmel, but rare for Colbert, who seemed most offended by Sessions’ use of a Biblical quote not to justify the cruelty but to establish the government’s authority (barbering the Bible is invariably how “Christian” authoritarians justify their authority, since religion is, at root, authoritarianism). But that was just Colbert’s door-opener.

The CBS host cited a report from The Independent stating that public defenders have claimed immigration officials are misleading families, telling them that children were being taken away for baths, in order to separate them. “Now clearly no decent human being could defend that. So Jeff Sessions did,” Colbert said.

The crowd audibly gasped at the mention of the concentration-camp-like ruse of a bath.

Sad as it is that the public now pays attention to an issue only when comedians do, such attention does play into the belief in some quarters that public outrage is growing and, with elections on the horizon, Republicans in Congress are only tepidly defending the administration, while Trump tries to blame the mess on Democrats, which makes no sense on its face because Republicans control Congress.

In short, Mr. Vanella is right — this is an issue on which citizen participation could tip the scales.

Meanwhile, as most of the media focuses on bad signs for Democrats in November, turnout for party primaries tells a different story — one in which GOP turnout is down sharply, which is what creates a wave election. It’s also why polls are likely to err toward Republicans if they base their likely voters on recent past turnout patterns.

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  1. portland | June 17, 2018
  1. Mike Dinsmore says:

    “…officials are misleading families, telling them that children were being taken away for baths…”

    This sounds a lot like the Vel’ d’Hiv roundups in France.

  2. Liz Allen says:

    They took a 4month old baby AS mother was breast feeding? If the evangelicals and Trump asswipes continue to support this regime, we can fully understand how Hitler came to power in the first place.

    I checked the Bible yesterday, there is nothing that states its ok to rip babies from mothers. Jesus would be calling them out as devil worshipers.

  3. Liz Allen says:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/06/14/recidivism-watch-trump-administration-again-blames-others-for-its-

    Fyi: Analysts say Trump is losing this argument, but when will they get the nuts and guts to do something about it…pukes and dems. There is a pay phone in the Walmart Bldg, for “kids to call if they are sexually abused”, but can only speak to parents twice a wk for 10 min. Most don’t even know where their parents are. Most in prison waiting trial, so what happens to these babies when this vile, immoral, political junkies sentence them to prison? How much is all this costing us?

  4. Liberal Elite says:

    This is truly horrible.

    This simply cannot be the best way to control immigration.

    We’ve seen this in my own family.
    My sister was separated from her son for several months in China.
    It prevented her from coming home, and lead to significant angst and cost.
    It’s a terrible thing to do.

    We cannot be that evil. We just can’t.

  5. Liz Allen says:

    In short, Mr. Vanella is right — this is an issue on which citizen participation could tip the scales.

    If NOT on this issue, WHEN? Where are the cities filled with protestors, demanding town halls with our “representatives”. Where the hell are their voices? We have to be the Voice of the Voiceless. Any human being who can oppose this issue, call the white coats.

  6. Liz Allen says:

    https://www.thenation.com/article/rep-pramila-jayapal-hear-children-screaming-next-room/ Best coverage I’ve seen yet. These unhinged GOP politicans must be held accountable. If Trump can normalize this (in our country) (in our name) when do they decide “they don’t like your politics and take your kids”?

  7. Dan says:

    Well, at least there’s a new direction for the ever-expanding correctional-industrial complex…prison buses for babies! They don’t even try to hide it anymore, this is a press release:

    https://www.geogroup.com/News-Detail/NewsID/428

    (Note the date, by the way; this predates the Trump presidency.)

  8. RSE says:

    Trump claims that his administration is following laws created by the Democrats when it comes to detaining immigrant children. No surprise that the Democrats are blaming Trump.

    Some claim that the Democrats in Congress don’t want to act on this issue because they want to use it as a platform for the upcoming midterms.

    The Washington Post Fact Checker (Analysis):

    “We’ve fact-checked many claims about the border, and it’s clear that the latest spin from both sides deserves a turn under the microscope. However, since this is a roundup of multiple claims, we won’t be giving Pinocchio ratings.”

    ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

    The Washington Post on the current spin that Trump is putting kids in cages:

    Does the U.S. keep immigrant children in cages?
    Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said hundreds of immigrant children are locked up in cages in Texas….. We investigated……..(3 Pinocchios)

  9. Alby says:

    It’s not about the cages. It’s about separating children from families.

    The Washington Post did not “investigate.” That would involve actually visiting the sites, which its reporters did not do.

    The Democrats do not have control of Congress. They can change anything they want to change. They don’t want to change it, they just want to blame Democrats. Just like you.

    From a WaPo fact check:

    “Laying this on Democrats does not track with reality. The TVPRA was signed by Bush, and the Flores settlement is a court-approved agreement, not a law. Nothing required the Trump administration to separate children from their families until Sessions’s zero-tolerance policy made it a practical necessity.”

    The problem for the GOP is that the public knows which party is composed of chancre-covered pricks, and it ain’t the Demcorats.

  10. RSE says:

    Yeah, well the public also knows who the douche-swaglers are who keep putting memes of “kids in cages”(from the Obama era) all over the internet, and it ain’t the Republicans.

  11. Liz Allen says:

    This is not about democrats. Obama never did this outrageous attack on kids. This is about Sessions (that little bigoted rat) and Trump whose created these policies from thin air. Not since Japanese internment, or ripping native american ki ds from their parents…Sessions using Paul to make his sick policy has nothing to do with reality. Bishop Barber stated that “its a lie, misuse of text, the rest of that text calls for loving your neighbor”, this is slave owner mentality.

  12. Alby says:

    @RSE: No, the public doesn’t know or care. Only people like you, who follow politics like a team sport and read the GOP fan newsletter, do. And there aren’t enough of you to matter.

  13. Liberal Elite says:

    Putting young kids in sunbathed tents in southern Texas in June and July…. a recipe for disaster.

    Will they try to hide the deaths?

  14. Liz Allen says:

    We now know Border Patrol, Homeland Security and ICE do not have a database that can accurately determine mother and child, once separated. The intake system is over run, almost 50 kids being kidnapped, arrested, and imprisoned without a parent, or advocate. We will never know how many are already lost. Border patrol estimates the number will double or triple in the next few weeks…This is Trump and Sessions policy, is NOT lawful, nor has Congress voted on such policy. Its being done in our name, and we simply cannot do nothing, permitting this ungodly, immoral, unamerican regime making this practice normalized.

  15. Liz Allen says:

    So now we know NJ has a “holding place for children. We need to know if Delaware has one, and where it is.