Trump Is Committing An Act of State Terror Against Migrant Families

[babylonsister]

Trump Is Committing An Act of State Terror Against Migrant Families
by David Atkins
July 7, 2018


Among the legendary comedy skits of British television is a 2006 Mitchell and Webb piece called “Are We The Baddies?” It features two Nazi SS officers who, preparing for a Russian assault, look at their own uniforms replete with skulls on the caps and wonder if they’re actually the bad guys in the historical narrative.

Americans with a sense of shame and self-awareness are now forced to ask themselves the same question in a far more serious context.

It has now become apparent that our federal government has perhaps irrevocably destroyed the families of hundreds of asylum seekers by ripping children from their parents, then destroying the records of which children belong to which parents, and losing track in many cases both of the parents and the children involved.

The children were kept in often horrific conditions–one child was apparently unbathed for 85 days and infested with lice, while others were bound to chairs naked in cold cells–as their parents were unceremoniously shipped away with no knowledge of where their children were or when, if ever, they would see them again. In some cases Trump administration cronies like Betsy Devos with conservative religious adoption businesses and organizations have been profiting by housing the stolen children. As the Trump administration, facing withering public condemnation and judicial demands, begins to comply with court orders to reunite the families, it’s not clear at this point that they’re capable of complying in many cases even if they wanted to.

Worse, these horrors are not born of incompetence or even mere callous insouciance. They are an intentional act of political terror by our government, perpetrated against some of the most vulnerable and desperate people in the world for purely racist reasons.

“Terror” is a strong word to use, and some might consider it a provocation. But I use it in the most profound and deliberate seriousness.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” Trump’s separation policy, supported for the worst reasons by his most openly prejudiced advisers including Stephen Miller, fits the bill precisely.

more...

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/07/07/trump-is-committing-an-act-of-state-terror-against-migrant-families/

[The Blue Flower]

1. Excellent enumeration of the crimes related to tearing families apart

When justice falls on this mob, it will fall hard.