Trump's War on Children

[_honorentheos]

Jersey Girl,

Generally speaking, were we to take away the forced separation policy of the Trump administration I don't think there is much in what you say with which I outright disagree. My issues come from having to frame the discussion through that decision, though. For example when you say -

SKS provides transition and emotional support. They fully understand the nature of what the children need and how to meet their needs. It would be akin to placing someone like me in the program. For example, someone like me is trained and educated to meet the social/emotional needs of children, how to guide behavior and provide curriculum that is intellectually stimulating with intentionality.

If that was in the context of children being processed with their parent or only referring to truly unaccompanied minors I'd be on board. But there is no way that this takes the place of a parent or mitigates the trauma of a child being removed from their parent or parents.

Or

People are rightly concerned about the well being of the children. Keep in mind, however, that a significant number of children have already been impacted by violence in their country of origin. If SKS is hooking them up with therapeutic solutions, it can only help.

If we were only talking about kids who had fled violence or were sent by adults in Central America to other adults in the US then again, I'd be nodding yes. But inserting forced separation changes that. We're causing trauma and then saying, "But we're providing help, too!"

And as I said previously, no one wants to see children separated from their parents for even a few days much less a month or so. If there were some way to facilitate visits between the adults and children while they are detained, that would be a plus. However, some of the adults are being jailed.

The Trump administration apparently does want to see children separated from their parents. Saying otherwise is a gross misrepresentation of what their policy actually means. Sessions has basically argued that a parent who brings a child with them should be treated as if they were a human trafficker smuggling a minor into the country. That's BS.

I do think you are trying to approach this fairly, but I don't think it's possible to do so without acknowledging that the Trump admin is deliberately attempting to circumvent laws regarding the way families and minors who arrive here without visas are to be treated. They have made it explicit where their priorities are, and that the consequences to the children involved is acceptable to them as collateral damage. They can't even step up and own that much, though, and insist that the negative consequences are the fault of Democrats. That's just wow to me.

[_Jersey Girl]

Hey honor I'm super busy since we're hosting tomorrow so a short reply. No fancy emphasis here.

All of my prior posts were intended to address the IMMEDIATE needs of children including the real fact that Trump through Sessions is playing cutthroat with the Democratic party in an attempt to manipulate them in favor of his policies which I see as the end game.

Since we are unable to change the immediate reality of that manipulation and it's impact on children, I chose to comment on providing for the well being of immigrant refugee children and how it is being facilitated. I (we) can't improve the conditions unless and until Trump and Sessions back down and that's not going to happen until there is so much pressure and stressed placed on them that they have to wiggle out of the game they're playing with children as their pawns.

My intention when discussing the plight of children (and in this case their exploitation) is almost never to reach a point of agreement with another poster, but to educate and increase awareness of the overall issues that children are being confronted with and in essence, act as their voice whenever I can. Be it on this board or in real life.

I might continue later. We'll see.

[_honorentheos]

Since we are unable to change the immediate reality of that manipulation and it's impact on children, I chose to comment on providing for the well being of immigrant refugee children and how it is being facilitated. I (we) can't improve the conditions unless and until Trump and Sessions back down and that's not going to happen until there is so much pressure and stressed placed on them that they have to wiggle out of the game they're playing with children as their pawns.

Again, I'm not sure why this doesn't translate into your being interested in turning up the pressure on Trump and Sessions rather than what appears to be appeasing language that waters down what they are actually doing.

If you agree that the Trump policy is doing harm to children, and appear to believe it will take public pressure to force them to change this policy, why isn't the obvious conclusion to be party to putting pressure on them to make that change?

[_Jersey Girl]

Here's a link to a quick video (CNN) of minor children playing outside a temporary shelter. This looks like a makeshift shelter that was raised in short order. The children in this video appear to be grouped by age and are under the supervision with folks in yellow t shirts (volunteers I assume) who are interacting and playing with them. The temp. shelter has weather/shade protection and A/C inside the living areas.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/201 ... man-ac.cnn


They say that 300 children came in at this point of entry in the span of two days. It's not bad for a temp. shelter for the age group that I see. There's no footage of young children available. I assume they are given outdoor time by group which would be appropriate.

K I'm outta here for now.

[_honorentheos]

President Donald Trump suggested Saturday that he is using his administration's separation of families at the US border as a negotiating tool to get Democrats to cave on his immigration demands, which include funding for a border wall, curbing legal immigration into the US, and tightening the rules for border enforcement.

Trump again falsely blamed Democrats for his administration's actions, and said they could put a stop to the family separations by working with Republicans in Congress. Nearly 2,000 immigrant children were separated from parents over a period of about six weeks in April and May, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

"Democrats can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change!" Trump wrote in a tweet.

Yeah. The President believes the well being of children is a bargaining chip to be played.

[_Jersey Girl]

Cam and others.

Here's an article with pics of the inside of the converted Walmart. It says that 90% of the children they have there crossed alone, 10% were separated from families. This and other shelters are 95% full.

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/14/62008561 ... rant-youth

[_Jersey Girl]

Again, I'm not sure why this doesn't translate into your being interested in turning up the pressure on Trump and Sessions rather than what appears to be appeasing language that waters down what they are actually doing.

Where did I say that I wasn't interested?

If you agree that the Trump policy is doing harm to children, and appear to believe it will take public pressure to force them to change this policy, why isn't the obvious conclusion to be party to putting pressure on them to make that change?

I have no idea where you are getting the assumption that I wouldn't be interested in putting pressure on them.

What I did say and tried to make crystal clear that my comments on this thread prioritized meeting immediate needs of the children.

Was that not clear?

[_honorentheos]

Was that not clear?

It still isn't because you keep making points about the facilities being A-Ok without acknowledging how outright wrong the admin's actions are. You could correct that fairly easily by saying, "Yeah, the Trump administration is hurting kids by separating them from their families." Too easy.

At least your latest source in your post above gets it.

The Trump administration wants to end the "catch and release" of migrants illegally entering the country. Instead of being released until their immigration court date, migrants are being detained, and the government has been separating families while parents are prosecuted.

…

House Republicans plan to vote next week on a pair of immigration bills, including one that would end the Trump administration's practice of separating children from their parents at the Southwest border.

"We don't want kids to be separated from their parents," said House Speaker Paul Ryan, as quoted by the Associated Press.

Another Republican, Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, tweeted, "I am asking the White House to keep families together as much as we can."

"This is barbaric. This is not what America is. But this is the policy of the Trump administration," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said.

The separation of families also has come under criticism from the Southern Baptist Convention and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics.

[_Jersey Girl]

Was that not clear?

It still isn't because you keep making points about the facilities being A-Ok without acknowledging how outright wrong the admin's actions are. You could correct that fairly easily by saying, "Yeah, the Trump administration is hurting kids by separating them from their families." Too easy.

Holy damned crap, honor. I have only so much time to post on this board. I composed a post earlier that detailed the stress points placed on children and scrapped it because I needed to be on my way.

I've already indicated that the children are being exploited when I wrote: " I (we) can't improve the conditions unless and until Trump and Sessions back down and that's not going to happen until there is so much pressure and stressed placed on them that they have to wiggle out of the game they're playing with children as their pawns. "

[_Jersey Girl]

In the post that was scrapped, I discussed the stress placed on children, where and how it's placed, the fact that children under enormous emotional and psychological stress are at risk for developing personality disorders because when children are forced into such conditions, almost every one of them will begin to shut down.

I don't have time to write an effing book here with every post.

I understand full well how children are being harmed by these situations and how they are being used and exploited by the administration and some very likely being exploited by the very adults with whom they crossed. I further understand that this isn't going to change any time soon unless and until Trump's feet are massively held to the fire and he caves, and Sessions caves in turn with him.

And good luck getting that done because the only recourse we have is to blast our reps with letters of concern and our vote.