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
Senior Advisor to the President Stephen Miller (R) walks behind U.S. President Donald Trump as he talks to reporters before they depart the White House June 8, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Cruel Separation of Families 'Rooted in the Racism' of Bannon, Miller, and Trump's Xenophobic Base
As thousands of children are separated from their parents and detained, "proud racist" and senior adviser Stephen Miller is "setting immigration policy and using children as poker chips"
Jun 18, 2018
Trump critics argued on Monday that the debate over President Donald Trump's policy of prosecuting asylum seekers and separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border should be centered on the driving force behind the practice--the racism and xenophobia of top Trump officials and those who constitute his political base.
On Sunday, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon appeared on ABC's "This Week," telling guest host Jonathan Karl that he "couldn't be prouder" of the president--while in Texas, lawmakers and immigrant rights advocates rallied at a processing center for refugee-seeking families who are being separated by Trump's "zero tolerance" policy.
Bannon dismissed the widespread concern over the thousands of children being kept in detention centers as one held by "elites."
"The morality is the law. They're--they're criminals when they come across. Okay? Illegally. And that's why they're getting separated," Bannon said of the immigrants who have traveled from Central American countries, often escaping political unrest and violence. "...Donald Trump is put in a terrible situation...because the permanent political class in this city has not wanted to address this."
"President Trump and his policy makers, having risen to power on the back of Trump's xenophobic campaign rhetoric, employ a darker and more morally flexible pragmatism. Implementing the border separation policy has always been part of their plan, it just took a little longer than people like Stephen Miller had hoped." --Chas Danner, New York
Meanwhile, Trump's senior policy adviser Stephen Miller spoke to the New York Times about the policy--one that he has fought to implement since the president was inaugurated.
"It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period," he told the Times.
Miller was also a chief architect of Trump's original ban on travelers from several majority-Muslim countries, calling it a necessary step aimed at "protecting the country."
In March, Dennis Carter at Rewire News urged the media to confront the truth about Miller's white supremacist beliefs masked as policies aimed at protecting Trump's base and those who fit the administration's definition of "real Americans":
Miller's influence--and extremism--is seen in Trump administration officials' flippant use of the term "globalist," a racist dog whistle term used to smear Jewish people as disloyal to a nation. ...Miller has long dismissed the idea that the United States should embrace membership of a global community, preferring instead who he calls the "real flesh-and-blood citizens who together create this body politic, this nation, this home, represented by that flag."
In recent days Trump has tweeted several times about the policy, outlining on Friday a list of anti-immigration demands that Congress must meet in order to end the forcible separation of families"--drawing comparisons to a ransom note as thousands of children are detained.
Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Monday defended the administration's decision to enforce its "zero tolerance" policy for immigrants it claims are breaking the law--despite the fact that seeking asylum is a legal right. She claimed the children who are taken to detention centers across Texas are "very well taken care of"--hours after altogether denying that her agency has a policy of separating families.
But as the president and his Cabinet respond to protests over the policy, top officials have yet to admit that the separation of families is deliberate.
"President Trump and his policy makers, having risen to power on the back of Trump's xenophobic campaign rhetoric, employ a darker and more morally flexible pragmatism," wrote Chas Danner at New York magazine on Saturday. "Implementing the border separation policy has always been part of their plan, it just took a little longer than people like Stephen Miller had hoped. ...Zero tolerance, especially toward immigrants, isn't just a policy proposal to this president and his allies--it is the ideology that animates the entire Trump phenomenon, and a defining characteristic of the world as they want it to be."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Trump critics argued on Monday that the debate over President Donald Trump's policy of prosecuting asylum seekers and separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border should be centered on the driving force behind the practice--the racism and xenophobia of top Trump officials and those who constitute his political base.
On Sunday, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon appeared on ABC's "This Week," telling guest host Jonathan Karl that he "couldn't be prouder" of the president--while in Texas, lawmakers and immigrant rights advocates rallied at a processing center for refugee-seeking families who are being separated by Trump's "zero tolerance" policy.
Bannon dismissed the widespread concern over the thousands of children being kept in detention centers as one held by "elites."
"The morality is the law. They're--they're criminals when they come across. Okay? Illegally. And that's why they're getting separated," Bannon said of the immigrants who have traveled from Central American countries, often escaping political unrest and violence. "...Donald Trump is put in a terrible situation...because the permanent political class in this city has not wanted to address this."
"President Trump and his policy makers, having risen to power on the back of Trump's xenophobic campaign rhetoric, employ a darker and more morally flexible pragmatism. Implementing the border separation policy has always been part of their plan, it just took a little longer than people like Stephen Miller had hoped." --Chas Danner, New York
Meanwhile, Trump's senior policy adviser Stephen Miller spoke to the New York Times about the policy--one that he has fought to implement since the president was inaugurated.
"It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period," he told the Times.
Miller was also a chief architect of Trump's original ban on travelers from several majority-Muslim countries, calling it a necessary step aimed at "protecting the country."
In March, Dennis Carter at Rewire News urged the media to confront the truth about Miller's white supremacist beliefs masked as policies aimed at protecting Trump's base and those who fit the administration's definition of "real Americans":
Miller's influence--and extremism--is seen in Trump administration officials' flippant use of the term "globalist," a racist dog whistle term used to smear Jewish people as disloyal to a nation. ...Miller has long dismissed the idea that the United States should embrace membership of a global community, preferring instead who he calls the "real flesh-and-blood citizens who together create this body politic, this nation, this home, represented by that flag."
In recent days Trump has tweeted several times about the policy, outlining on Friday a list of anti-immigration demands that Congress must meet in order to end the forcible separation of families"--drawing comparisons to a ransom note as thousands of children are detained.
Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Monday defended the administration's decision to enforce its "zero tolerance" policy for immigrants it claims are breaking the law--despite the fact that seeking asylum is a legal right. She claimed the children who are taken to detention centers across Texas are "very well taken care of"--hours after altogether denying that her agency has a policy of separating families.
But as the president and his Cabinet respond to protests over the policy, top officials have yet to admit that the separation of families is deliberate.
"President Trump and his policy makers, having risen to power on the back of Trump's xenophobic campaign rhetoric, employ a darker and more morally flexible pragmatism," wrote Chas Danner at New York magazine on Saturday. "Implementing the border separation policy has always been part of their plan, it just took a little longer than people like Stephen Miller had hoped. ...Zero tolerance, especially toward immigrants, isn't just a policy proposal to this president and his allies--it is the ideology that animates the entire Trump phenomenon, and a defining characteristic of the world as they want it to be."
Trump critics argued on Monday that the debate over President Donald Trump's policy of prosecuting asylum seekers and separating children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border should be centered on the driving force behind the practice--the racism and xenophobia of top Trump officials and those who constitute his political base.
On Sunday, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon appeared on ABC's "This Week," telling guest host Jonathan Karl that he "couldn't be prouder" of the president--while in Texas, lawmakers and immigrant rights advocates rallied at a processing center for refugee-seeking families who are being separated by Trump's "zero tolerance" policy.
Bannon dismissed the widespread concern over the thousands of children being kept in detention centers as one held by "elites."
"The morality is the law. They're--they're criminals when they come across. Okay? Illegally. And that's why they're getting separated," Bannon said of the immigrants who have traveled from Central American countries, often escaping political unrest and violence. "...Donald Trump is put in a terrible situation...because the permanent political class in this city has not wanted to address this."
"President Trump and his policy makers, having risen to power on the back of Trump's xenophobic campaign rhetoric, employ a darker and more morally flexible pragmatism. Implementing the border separation policy has always been part of their plan, it just took a little longer than people like Stephen Miller had hoped." --Chas Danner, New York
Meanwhile, Trump's senior policy adviser Stephen Miller spoke to the New York Times about the policy--one that he has fought to implement since the president was inaugurated.
"It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period," he told the Times.
Miller was also a chief architect of Trump's original ban on travelers from several majority-Muslim countries, calling it a necessary step aimed at "protecting the country."
In March, Dennis Carter at Rewire News urged the media to confront the truth about Miller's white supremacist beliefs masked as policies aimed at protecting Trump's base and those who fit the administration's definition of "real Americans":
Miller's influence--and extremism--is seen in Trump administration officials' flippant use of the term "globalist," a racist dog whistle term used to smear Jewish people as disloyal to a nation. ...Miller has long dismissed the idea that the United States should embrace membership of a global community, preferring instead who he calls the "real flesh-and-blood citizens who together create this body politic, this nation, this home, represented by that flag."
In recent days Trump has tweeted several times about the policy, outlining on Friday a list of anti-immigration demands that Congress must meet in order to end the forcible separation of families"--drawing comparisons to a ransom note as thousands of children are detained.
Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Monday defended the administration's decision to enforce its "zero tolerance" policy for immigrants it claims are breaking the law--despite the fact that seeking asylum is a legal right. She claimed the children who are taken to detention centers across Texas are "very well taken care of"--hours after altogether denying that her agency has a policy of separating families.
But as the president and his Cabinet respond to protests over the policy, top officials have yet to admit that the separation of families is deliberate.
"President Trump and his policy makers, having risen to power on the back of Trump's xenophobic campaign rhetoric, employ a darker and more morally flexible pragmatism," wrote Chas Danner at New York magazine on Saturday. "Implementing the border separation policy has always been part of their plan, it just took a little longer than people like Stephen Miller had hoped. ...Zero tolerance, especially toward immigrants, isn't just a policy proposal to this president and his allies--it is the ideology that animates the entire Trump phenomenon, and a defining characteristic of the world as they want it to be."
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.