SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Members of a caravan of Central Americans who spent weeks traveling across Mexico walk from Mexico to the U.S. side of the border to ask authorities for asylum on April 29, 2018 in Tijuana, Baja California Norte, Mexico. (Photo: David McNew/Getty Images)
'Monstrous': GOP Using 'Functionally Kidnapped' Immigrant Children as Hostages to Advance Anti-Immigrant Agenda
By pushing for border wall funding and legal immigration cuts alongside limits to Trump's family separation policy, GOP is showing it is not really against separating immigrant children from their parents
Jun 15, 2018
In a political maneuver one commentator described as a "monstrous" attempt to "use functionally kidnapped children as literal hostages" to advance an extremist anti-immigrant agenda, House Republicans are circulating a legislative plan that would limit the Trump administration's family separation policy while simultaneously ramming through cuts to legal immigration and adding billions to fund the president's "ridiculous" border wall.
While the GOP proposal was described by the Washington Post as a "solution," the plan would continue the mass and unjust detention of asylum-seeking families while keeping parents and children together in prison facilities--a far-cry from the humane alternatives proposed by rights groups and progressive lawmakers.
As the Huffington Post's Elise Foley pointed out on Thursday, the Trump administration's decision to separate immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border is not required by existing law--as the White House continues to falsely insist, with frequent references to the Christian Bible--but is rather an explicit and unilateral policy change made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
"There is no law that requires families to be separated at the border. This is the administration's choice."
--Paula Reid, CBS News
"Family separations are due to the Trump administration's new zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, which necessitates locking up parents separately so they can be criminally prosecuted," Foley explains.
If House Republicans actually wanted to put a stop to the Trump administration's inhumane separation of immigrant families, they could both pressure Sessions to reverse his new policy or advance a standalone, one-sentence bill that ends the Justice Department's "zero tolerance" plan with no strings attached.
But, as Splinter's Clio Chang observed, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his GOP colleagues are refusing to do either, demonstrating clearly that they are "not against separating children from their parents."
In an exchange with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a raucous press briefing on Thursday, CBS News reporter Paula Reid--who covers legal affairs and the Trump Justice Department--called out Sanders' false claim that the Trump administration is merely following the law when it rips young children from their mothers' arms.
"There is no law that requires families to be separated at the border," Reid said. "This is the administration's choice."
Watch:
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. If you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
In a political maneuver one commentator described as a "monstrous" attempt to "use functionally kidnapped children as literal hostages" to advance an extremist anti-immigrant agenda, House Republicans are circulating a legislative plan that would limit the Trump administration's family separation policy while simultaneously ramming through cuts to legal immigration and adding billions to fund the president's "ridiculous" border wall.
While the GOP proposal was described by the Washington Post as a "solution," the plan would continue the mass and unjust detention of asylum-seeking families while keeping parents and children together in prison facilities--a far-cry from the humane alternatives proposed by rights groups and progressive lawmakers.
As the Huffington Post's Elise Foley pointed out on Thursday, the Trump administration's decision to separate immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border is not required by existing law--as the White House continues to falsely insist, with frequent references to the Christian Bible--but is rather an explicit and unilateral policy change made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
"There is no law that requires families to be separated at the border. This is the administration's choice."
--Paula Reid, CBS News
"Family separations are due to the Trump administration's new zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, which necessitates locking up parents separately so they can be criminally prosecuted," Foley explains.
If House Republicans actually wanted to put a stop to the Trump administration's inhumane separation of immigrant families, they could both pressure Sessions to reverse his new policy or advance a standalone, one-sentence bill that ends the Justice Department's "zero tolerance" plan with no strings attached.
But, as Splinter's Clio Chang observed, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his GOP colleagues are refusing to do either, demonstrating clearly that they are "not against separating children from their parents."
In an exchange with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a raucous press briefing on Thursday, CBS News reporter Paula Reid--who covers legal affairs and the Trump Justice Department--called out Sanders' false claim that the Trump administration is merely following the law when it rips young children from their mothers' arms.
"There is no law that requires families to be separated at the border," Reid said. "This is the administration's choice."
Watch:
In a political maneuver one commentator described as a "monstrous" attempt to "use functionally kidnapped children as literal hostages" to advance an extremist anti-immigrant agenda, House Republicans are circulating a legislative plan that would limit the Trump administration's family separation policy while simultaneously ramming through cuts to legal immigration and adding billions to fund the president's "ridiculous" border wall.
While the GOP proposal was described by the Washington Post as a "solution," the plan would continue the mass and unjust detention of asylum-seeking families while keeping parents and children together in prison facilities--a far-cry from the humane alternatives proposed by rights groups and progressive lawmakers.
As the Huffington Post's Elise Foley pointed out on Thursday, the Trump administration's decision to separate immigrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border is not required by existing law--as the White House continues to falsely insist, with frequent references to the Christian Bible--but is rather an explicit and unilateral policy change made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
"There is no law that requires families to be separated at the border. This is the administration's choice."
--Paula Reid, CBS News
"Family separations are due to the Trump administration's new zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, which necessitates locking up parents separately so they can be criminally prosecuted," Foley explains.
If House Republicans actually wanted to put a stop to the Trump administration's inhumane separation of immigrant families, they could both pressure Sessions to reverse his new policy or advance a standalone, one-sentence bill that ends the Justice Department's "zero tolerance" plan with no strings attached.
But, as Splinter's Clio Chang observed, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his GOP colleagues are refusing to do either, demonstrating clearly that they are "not against separating children from their parents."
In an exchange with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a raucous press briefing on Thursday, CBS News reporter Paula Reid--who covers legal affairs and the Trump Justice Department--called out Sanders' false claim that the Trump administration is merely following the law when it rips young children from their mothers' arms.
"There is no law that requires families to be separated at the border," Reid said. "This is the administration's choice."
Watch:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy