Lately, a controversy has sparked in the US about the government’s changes in immigration law that according to oppositions, is cruel and inhumane. The issue not only heated a tweet war between Donald Trump and his rivals but also caused some members of the Republican unsatisfied as well.
What the law is about?
In April, the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, released a “zero-tolerance” policy, which increases the punishment for illegal crossing. It states that anyone who is caught passing the border illegally will be prosecuted and jailed. Though it is to serve the prevention of illegal immigrants, whose presence harm American jobs and security, it raises an argument on humanitarian due to the consequence of thousands of children are being separated from their parents at the border. After their parents are caught, the children, who cannot be put in federal jail, will be taken care of by the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
What happened to the children?
It is estimated that about 2000 children have been separated from their parents just after the recent months after the law was in force. It is said by some attorneys that a plan to reunite the families is not available, which leaves the future of those children still remain unknown. Attorneys in Texas said they had been given a phone number to help parents locate their children, but it was actually the number for an immigration enforcement tip line.
Although press is limited as journalists are not allowed to interview the immigrants, the reporters who visited the border camp has provided pictures in which children are kept in cages and have to sleep on the floor with poor condition, which turns into a tremendous criticism wave toward the policy. A viral photo, taken by photographer John Moore, picturing a crying two-year old girl next to her mother and a border officer, soon became the symbol of the objection movement.
Not only the photos, various videos, pictures and audios recorded at the border camp were released, causing anger among the US public. An audio was recorded inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention facility and was published by ProPublica is one of those. Throughout the audio, there is the crying sound of a Spanish-speaking child repeatedly calling for her father.
“I don’t want them to stop my father,” she cries. “I don’t want them to deport him.”
In the middle of the cry, there is also voice of a border officer saying:
“Well, we have an orchestra here,” he joked in Spanish. “What we’re missing is a conductor.”
The division among the US government
After the images of the Office of Refugee Resettlement were brought to the public, resentment arose across the public and the politicians. “I challenge anyone in the Trump Administration to listen to this audio and defend the child separation policy,” tweeted Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
Four former ladies of the White House, including Rosalynn Carthe ter, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, criticized the policy. Every Democrat senator has gathered signature to stop the family separation at the border. Not only Trump’s rival, some Republicans also show disagreement with how the government treat the immigrants. They all regard the policy as being cruel and inhumane, which goes against the country’s principle.
“We are a better country than one that tears families apart, turns a blind eye to women fleeing domestic violence and treats frightened children as a negotiating tool,” said Hillary Clinton.
“I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart,” stated former lady Lara Bush.
However, despite the objection hurricane, Donald Trump and his administrations still remain persistently defend their “zero-tolerance” policy. In the White House remark, Trump has stated clearly his huge ambition to stop completely the wave of illegal immigrants in the southern borders in his statement: “The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility,” accompanied with a tweet war between him and the Democrats.
Trump’s administration drastically try to defend the law by either blame the Democrats or say that the incidents happening is being overly exaggerated by the media.
Trump harshly criticized the former law which disallowed the government to hold families for months without explanation. Therefore, most caught immigrants were released while they waited for their cases to be heard in court. The result is that most people would not show up at their court, which was called a “catch and release” program by Donald Trump.
“Democrats are the problem,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!”
Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy denied that the children are kept in cages by saying that the place they are kept is not really cages.
“You do see that they have those thermal blankets, you do see some fencing, but keep in mind — some have referred to them as ‘cages,’ but, keep in mind, this is a great, big warehouse facility where they built walls out of chain link fences,” Doocy said.
The immigration has really caused the law makers headaches not only in the US but in many countries in the world, in which they have to make a choice between national benefits or moral issues. This time things are even getting more intense with huge division among the US political elites and the public. Now it all depends on the discussion and negotiation between the politicians to find the optimal solution for the problem.
Reference:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/19/families-border-separations-trump-immigration-policy
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