Trump uses children to extort money from the government
There is a lot of talking of human rights in Venezuela and the lack of these in the South American country, but nobody says anything on the issue of the separation of families on the borders of the United States, an act supported by the US government and several activist of civil and human rights organizations have debated against in Congress. Data offered by government officials revealed that last May about 2,000 children were separated from their families for a period of six weeks. Already the press uncovered a scandal about the separation of infants from their parents, when it was reported that 1500 children away from their parents could not be located by the Immigration Customs and Services (ICE).
Despite this humanitarian error committed by the immigration agency of the United States, this policy continues being carried out by the authorities without a single voice stopping it. Far from reducing the number of divided families this rather continues to grow with the increasing influx of immigrants to the border.
Many have been the reporters and close officials to the government that agree that this policy has been backed up by the current administration. Some agree that from the first week of Donald Trump's administration the order to split emigrants’ families was issued, a plan that seeks to decimate the migratory attempts of Latin Americans who try to get over the wall. Since then, the government has been steadily undermining protections for immigrant families and their children.
Donald Trump's strategy is very simple: try to lower the number of emigrants who request asylum to the United States. Keeping parents apart from their children forces those to desist from requesting political asylum while detention centers prevent children from acquiring legal status in the United States. According to the protocol of American laws, children cannot be detained with their parents because kids have not been presented with any criminal charges, despite their parents have. Texas and Arizona are two of the territories in which dozens of immigrants daily appear on charges of illegally entering the United States after traveling from Central America.
A Republican analyst believes that the government with this action is sending a clear and direct message to migrants: "if you cross the border with children, we will separate you from them". It is known that Latin Americans are very attached to their families and especially to their children; therefore, the government tries to decimate and psychologically discourage potential migrants.
From the psychological point of view, some experts have criticized the detention centers as inhuman because of the poor conditions to take care of these infants. Jennifer Podkul, policy director of Kids in Need of Defense, states that the government's strategy is "to cause harm to a traumatized child, separated from their parents, alone in a federal detention center, in order to achieve their general aim to discourage people from coming".
“Nobody likes families’ separation”, said Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president; however, the government has not made any statement to cancel this procedure.
To make matters worse, Donald Trump’ government has not hidden its rejection of emigrants nor its attempts to discourage by all means the entry of these to North American lands. In addition to coercive measures, it has also appealed to the use of force and the increase of patrol troops on the border.
The Donald Trump’s administration tries to excommunicate itself by "passing" all the sins to Democrats. Such self-defense comments have caused the wreath of the media and human rights activists, as Donald Trump's hostile policy against emigration is well known. His public speeches at the beginning of the campaign, the pressure crested on ICE for more repression, and the constant persecution of immigrants belie all kinds of defensive argument. Donald Trump and several of his coreligionists defend a hard position against emigration, in spite the humanitarian costs.
Jeff Sessions is one of the officials that supports the policy of "zero tolerance" not only in the legal scope but also the humanitarian one.
The issue of emigration remains a hot topic among lawmakers of both parties who have not yet found a viable solution to it. On one hand, some of them, like Senator Susan Collins, believe that new immigration laws and better proposals should be drafted where using children is not the answer; on the other hand, others are betting on employing infants as a shield.
Democrat Congressman Adam Schiff thinks the government is building the wall out of the pain and tears of migrants. "They are trying to extort Congress to approve a bill that corresponds with the government's wishes", he said. From her point of view, Kellyanne Conway denied such assertions and urged the Democrats to unite and try to correct these loopholes in order to obtain an immigration reform. Even the president himself twitted: "Democrats can find a solution to the families’ separation they have caused in the border working together with Republicans to create a new law, a change!"