If separation of parents from children is considered, "punishment for illegal imigartion" than..

[Stuart G]

.that punishment is illegal....why???

Sixth Amendment to the Constitution:

The Sixth Amendment guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against you.

[shraby]

1. And in the 5th amendment:

....nor be deprived of life, LIBERTY, or property without due process of law;.....

[cyclonefence]

2. Am I correct?

I think I heard on NPR that the "crime" the parents are charged with is a misdemeanor. They haven't been *convicted* of any crime, yet their punishment is so out of the range of what would be imposed in a court of law to be incomprehensible.

[Stuart G]

4. If the crime is a "misdemeanor"...then what is going on..It seems to me,

that separating parents from children is a court ordered procedure. What court has ordered this as punishment?......What is being done is..."illegal" Going to the Supreme Court is the only solution..
....this is punishment.....without a trial/judge/ or law describing the punishment.

..............put the person who implemented this in jail.....

[cyclonefence]

6. It reminds me

of the riots after the assassination of MLK Jr. when various police departments were instructed to "shoot to kill" people whose crime was stealing a tv set. Judge, jury, executioner.

[LeftInTX]

5. I know...they are thrown in jail....are they even allowed to make bail?

How much is the bail? Are they giving a hearing the next day at the latest?

The punishment under this federal law is no more than six months of incarceration and up to $250 in civil penalties for each illegal entry. These acts of improper entry -- including the mythic "border jumping" -- are criminal acts associated with illegally immigrating to the United States.

I'm not a lawyer, but I assume bail would be about $250 or $25 out of pocket at max.

[Stuart G]

7. Even if it were twenty five dollars...the country would find a way to help those without $25.00

By country I mean the rest of us. If you can keep parents and their together for $25.00, then somehow the good people here in the U.S. would find a way to raise the money..

[Lindsay]

3. I was unable to find it when I checked more recently,

but when Trump first took office the White House web site featured the Bill of Rights. But instead of referring to the rights of people or persons, as we learned in school, their version referred to the rights of citizens.

Pretty sure that was no accident. (And if they'd thought then that they could have gotten away with defining the rights of white Christian Republican men, they'd have done it.)

[33taw]

8. They will say that it does not apply to non-citizens.

[Stuart G]

9. That is not for them to decide..it is for the courts...A parents rights to their children far

exceed the right of government to punish for some crap like.."illegal immigration" I am guessing that the courts would not take away children from parents as punishment, the courts would send the family back to where they came from......

........So Trump and company are acting as police, judge, jury and law...deciding by themselves that the punishment in this case...is taking children from parents...............................

Only a complete idiot would implement such a procedure as being ..."legal"

[drray23]

10. Of course it does.

That's what right wingers will say, but in truth the constitution is the law of the land. It applies to anybody on us soil. When it only applies to citizens it's explicitly spelled out like the qualifications to be a president or who can vote.

[33taw]

11. I agree. The Trump administration will not. They will argue that as non-citizens the

Bill of Rights does not apply to them. Hell, they don’t think it applies to us.

[33taw]

12. Please see today's rant. Due process for immigrants.