Trump administration preparing to shelter migrant children on military bases

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

National Security

Trump administration preparing to shelter migrant children on military bases

By Nick Miroff and Paul Sonne May 15 at 1:43 PM Email the author

[e-mail]; [e-mail]

The Trump administration is making preparations to warehouse migrant children on military bases, according to Defense Department communications, the latest sign the government is moving forward with plans to split up families who cross the border illegally.

According to an email notification sent to Pentagon staffers, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will make site visits at four military installations in Texas and Arkansas during the next two weeks to evaluate their suitability for child shelters.

The bases would be used to hold minors under age 18 who arrive at the border without an adult relative or after the government has separated them from their parents. HHS is the government agency responsible for providing minors with foster care until another adult relative can assume custody.

The email characterized the site visits as a preliminary assessment. "No decisions have been made at this time," it states.
....

Nick Miroff covers drug trafficking, border security and transnational crime on The Washington Post’s National Security desk. He was a Post foreign correspondent in Latin America from 2010 to 2017, and has been a staff writer since 2006. Follow @NickMiroff

https://twitter.com/NickMiroff

Paul Sonne covers the U.S. military and national security. He previously reported for the Wall Street Journal from Moscow, London and Washington. Follow @PaulSonne

https://twitter.com/PaulSonne

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-administration-preparing-to-shelter-migrant-children-on-military-bases/2018/05/15/f8103356-584e-11e8-b656-a5f8c2a9295d_story.html

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Popehat Retweeted by Popehat: https://twitter.com/Popehat

Trump admin is preparing to put migrant children in warehouses on military bases after separating them from their families.

Link to tweet

[Hekate]

1. Jesus Christ on a trailer hitch

This is terrifying

[Mountain Mule]

3. Unbelievable!

Just when I think tRump can't get any worse, he never fails to prove me wrong!

[left-of-center2012]

2. Why take kids away from their parents ?

I thought the GOP claimed to be the party of family values.

[lapfog_1]

10. Punishment and deterrent.

And if this doesn't work... put the kids in concentration camps and starve them!

[Kotya]

13. Devil's Advocate here...

...If the parents can't prove the kids are theirs, law enforcement will look at minors being smuggled across the border as a human trafficking issue.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. True that.

Thanks for writing. Welcome to DU.

[ripcord]

20. Also according to Sessions

The parents are going to be charged with illegal entry which is a misdemeanor so they will be held in jails where the kids can't be held.

[They_Live]

4. So they can get started early on their basic training?

I guess? Won't it cost more to care for them? And it's inhumane.

[BigmanPigman]

5. Once again I find myself saying,

"Could I hate him any more than I already do?". The answer is always YES!

[Vinca]

6. Taking kids from their parents. Does it get any lower than that?

[pazzyanne]

7. Okay, so they are looking for buildings for this misadventure.

I have news for these billionaires: it takes more than a building to care for these kids. Where are the caretakers going to come from? Will they put these children in barracks? Will the children get nurturing or do we just scare the living daylights out them. I hope the ACLU is all over this and the human rights violations it will create.

[pazzyanne]

8. Then there is a matter of constitutionality of separating families.

"The Trump administration is attempting to do the exact same thing (separating immigrant families), and it is also unconstitutional for similar reasons. First, our constitution does not allow the government to punish one person solely in an attempt to alter the behavior of someone else. Second, there is absolutely no evidence that separating families will deter more families from coming. I have worked with detained families for over three years and the vast majority of them are asylum seekers fleeing persecution in their home country.

Parents do not voluntarily take their children from their home, school, friends, and family, on a long and dangerous journey through crime-ridden countries, without very good reason. Even if parents hear that the U.S. government is separating families, for many parents the most important thing is that their children are safe. In fact, one of the reasons that parents travel with their children is to protect them on the journey. As one asylum seeker explained to me, ‘‘if you have a 50 percent chance of surviving if you leave your country but you will definitely be killed if you stay, the choice to make the journey is easy.’’

The Trump administration completely fails to grasp the danger that these families are facing in their countries. The administration also fails to understand that our asylum laws exist to protect people, and that they require that those seeking asylum have a chance to apply for protection.

Forcing a parent to give up their child into the custody of the Health and Human Services (HHS) is an illegal form of coercion intended to prevent both that family and future families from accessing their right to seek asylum."

Of course, tRump and his minion do not get this. Deplorable is too nice a word to describe these monsters.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. Where is this in the Constitution?

First, our constitution does not allow the government to punish one person solely in an attempt to alter the behavior of someone else.

The IRS does this all the time. Every spring, there are prominent arrests for tax evasion. The point is to remind people not to cheat on their taxes.

Similarly, knowing that other people have been arrested for committing homicide, speeding, and using heroin will most certainly cause me to have second thoughts about engaging in those activities.

Thanks for writing. Welcome to DU.

[pazzyanne]

19. Thanks for the welcome, mahatmakanejeeves.

The information I quoted in my post is from The Hill.

http://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/366797-separating-immigrant-families-is-unconstitutional

"In 2015 a federal district court in Washington D.C. ruled the no-bond policy unconstitutional, in part for lacking any evidentiary correlation to preventing new arrivals and because it unjustifiably denied the families their liberty in order to attempt to change the behaviors of other people."


That paragraph shows that the issue has been ruled on by a federal court judge. I hung my hat on that ruling. The article explains other court cases that uphold the premise that separating families is unconstitutional as well.

[Honeycombe8]

9. Well, that's one way to go, to stop immigration.

But I don't think I'd have it in me to do that. I don't know if I would be able to follow orders like that.

The Nazis did this - separated children from parents.

I can't imagine. The parents made the decision to come, but the poor kids are not guilty of anything and will be traumatized when they're taken from their parents and put in a strange place. I can't imagine. Is this America?

[FailureToCommunicate]

11. This was exactly the plot of Madam Secretary t

the other night! What to do with migrant kids. House them temporarily in closed bases near the border!

[WestMichRad]

12. ..."shelter" the children on military bases?

Isn't the correct verb "imprison"?

[Haggis for Breakfast]

17. Or how about . . .

The verb "intern ?" There is no mention in their "policy" of what they plan to do with these children once on a military base, or how long they will be staying there or how they will leave or whether or not their needs will be met or or or or or . . . . .

This is unconscionable. Our nation is becoming everything we have sanctioned other countries for doing. I am sickened by this and ashamed to be an American right now.

[rickford66]

14. KP duty.

[Corgigal]

18. No peds in the military, eh?

This is dangerous for the children and it's going to cost us millions in the end. Racism ain't cheap.

We have problems with male and female active duty contact, and we're going to throw unaccompanied minors in the mix. Sounds like old men thinking.