Family Separation Immigration references

[Dardedar]

Rebuttals to disinformation being spread about immigration and Family separation.

This was Trump's choice:
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"It is not a law. Separating children from parents at the border is a new Trump Administration policy. It was not policy under Obama. It was not policy under Bush. It was not a policy under Clinton. How bad is Trumper collective amnesia? There's news footage of Jeff Sessions announcing this new policy from like a month ago. There's stories where John Kelly talks about considering the policy. It requires 10 seconds of Googling to discover this." --Jon Favreau via Twitter

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"The President said earlier this month that: "we have to break up families ...the Democrats gave us that law. It's a horrible thing, we have to break up families."
But there is no law requiring the government to separate kids of undocumented migrants or asylum seekers from their parents -- least of all one passed by Democrats.
It is the Trump administration's own policy to refer every person caught crossing the border illegally for federal prosecution, with the result that children are separated from their parents because they cannot legally follow them into the federal prison system.
The law on that issue was a bipartisan initiative, approved by unanimous consent and signed by Republican President George W. Bush, as CNN's Jake Tapper and FactCheck. org have reported. It does not require parents and children to be separated at the border.
The law requires unaccompanied minors from nations other than Mexico or Canada to be sent to the care of the Office for Refugee Settlement or relatives in the US while removal proceedings take place."
""(Trump) throws out a lie -- it is an intentional lie, to get the media and commentators focused on something that isn't true and his base believes it," Leopold said."
The rest here:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/29/politics ... index.html

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"The family separations ― which numbered nearly 2,000 in the six weeks since Sessions officially enacted the policy ― result exclusively from a choice made by the Trump administration. Democrats have nothing to do with it. And without control of either house of Congress or the White House, their role in the policy is limited to publicly airing their opposition."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tr ... mg00000003

The facts about Trump’s policy of separating families at the border
"The Trump administration implemented this policy by choice and could end it by choice. No law or court ruling mandates family separations. In fact, during its first 15 months, the Trump administration released nearly 100,000 immigrants who were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border, a total that includes more than 37,500 unaccompanied minors and more than 61,000 family members.
Children continue to be released to their relatives or to shelters. But since the zero-tolerance policy took effect, parents as a rule are being prosecuted. Any conviction in those proceedings would be grounds for deportation.
We’ve published two fact-checks about family separations, but it turns out these Trumpian claims have a zombie quality and keep popping up in new ways.
In the latest iteration, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen tweeted and then said at a White House briefing that the administration does not have “a policy of separating families at the border.” This is Orwellian stuff."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fac ... 07250153ad

"Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen added her voice to the mix Sunday night, insisting in a tweet that “we do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period. ...
Last year, then-Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly openly discussed the possibility of splitting up families at the border as a way to deter would-be Central American asylum-seekers. And the officials who crafted the prosecution strategy did so with the express intent of splitting up families to deter others from crossing, according to The New Yorker’s Jonathan Blitzer."
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tr ... mg00000003

“It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period,” Miller claimed. “The message is that no one is exempt from immigration law.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/trump- ... -decision/

GOP Sen. Alexander on Trump family separation policy: “Well, the White House could change it in 5 minutes and they should. It’s a mistake. It's a change in policy by this administration.”

"Former US Immigration and Customs head, John Sandweg, told @NBC that some children who are separated from their parents at the border will be unable to ever locate their parents again."

Myth: The children have to be separated from their parents because the parents must be arrested and it would be cruel to put children in jail with their parents -
FALSE. First, in the case of economic migrants crossing the border illegally, criminal prosecution has not been the legal norm, and families have historically been kept together at all cost. Also, crossing the border without documentation is typically a misdemeanor not requiring arrest, but rather has been handled in a civil proceeding. Additionally, parents who have been detained have historically been detained with their children in ICE "family residential centers," again, for civil processing. The Trump administration's shift in policy is for political purposes only, not legal ones."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ceed-judge

Myth: This is the only way to deter undocumented immigration -
FALSE. Annual trends show that arrests for undocumented entry are at a 46 year low, and undocumented crossings dropped in 2007, with a net loss (more people leaving than arriving). Deportations have increased steadily though (spiking in 1996 and more recently), because several laws that were passed since 1996 have made it legally more difficult to gain legal status for people already here, and thus increased their deportations (I address this later under the myth that it's the Democrats' fault). What we mostly have now are people crossing the border illegally because they've already been hired by a US company, or because they are seeking political asylum. Economic migrants come to this country because our country has kept the demand going. But again, many of these people impacted by Trump's "zero tolerance" policy appear to be political asylum-seekers."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ceed-judge

Myth: The Democrats caused this, "it's their law."
FALSE. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats caused this, the Trump administration did (although the Republicans could fix this today, and have refused). I believe what this myth refers to is the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which were both passed under Clinton in 1996. These laws essentially made unauthorized entry into the US a crime (typically a misdemeanor for first-time offenders), but under both Republicans and Democrats, these cases were handled through civil deportation proceedings, not a criminal proceeding, which did not require separation. And again, even in cases where detainment was required, families were always kept together in family residential centers, unless the parents were deemed unfit (as mentioned above). Thus, Trump's assertion that he hates this policy but has no choice but to separate the parents from their children, because the Democrats "gave us this law" is false and nothing more than propaganda designed to compel negotiation on bad policy."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ceed-judge

Judge Calls Trump's Border Separations of Children `Brutal'
"The Trump administration failed to kill a legal challenge to its practice of separating undocumented parents and children who seek to enter the U.S. to flee persecution at home, with a judge handing an early victory to civil rights activists who say the policy is unconstitutional and cruel.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego on Wednesday denied a motion to dismiss the suit, in which the American Civil Liberties Union argues that splitting up families at the border violates their due process rights. ...
“These allegations sufficiently describe government conduct that arbitrarily tears at the sacred bond between parent and child," the judge wrote. The conduct, if true, “is brutal, offensive, and fails to comport with traditional notions of fair play and decency."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ceed-judge
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No, they're not a bunch of fake families:
"...less than 1 percent of families apprehended at the border aren't genuine families"
"In the first five months of this fiscal year, more than 31,000 families were apprehended at the border...91 of them were fraudulent. That is less than 1 percent."
https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2018 ... der/220483

No, Obama didn't do it too:
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"...former President Barack Obama's domestic policy director, Cecilia Muñoz, stated unequivocally that separating children from their parents was not a policy the Obama administration followed.
"The Obama administration did not do that, no. We did not separate children from their parents," Muñoz said. "This is a new decision, a policy decision put in place by the attorney general," which Muñoz said "puts us in league with the most brutal regimes in the world's history."
https://www.npr.org/2018/05/29/61521121 ... their-pare

"The Obama administration detained families together. ...beginning in 2014, the Obama administration “put hundreds of families in immigration detention” together. However, a federal court ruled that the administration could not keep the families detained for so long without justifying why they were being detained. Many families therefore were released while their immigration or asylum cases worked through the court system. Conservatives derisively called this practice a “catch and release” program. While the Obama administration did have “scattered cases of family separation,” Trump’s routine family separation “has formalized into policy what is just a cruel and inhumane practice.”
https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2 ... der/220468

"President Obama did not separate families. What happened during his administration was a huge surge of unaccompanied minors.
...they were older, and their parents sent them. We are taking away toddlers and babies now. From parents. Also, the minors were placed with approved next of kin during the Obama administration. The huge difference is that they came alone, it was not a policy for children to be separated from their family." --GV

(Under Obama, the Associated Press notes, parents were removed from their children if they were arrested on other charges or had an outstanding warrant. But the number of cases was “minuscule” compared to the number under Trump.)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-take-c ... soc_trk=fb

No, the Democrats didn't cause this problem:
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"The president implied that children were being separated from their parents at the border because of a law enacted by Democrats.
Actually, the policy in question was enacted by his own administration.
On May 7, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a speech that "If you're smuggling a child, then we're going to prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you, probably, as required by law. If you don't want your child separated, then don't bring them across the border illegally. It's not our fault that somebody does that."
Sessions announced the policy in Scottsdale, Ariz.
...many families attempting to enter the U.S. are seeking asylum from gangs and criminal activities in their home countries, and as such are not breaking the law. The U.S. is obligated to accept asylum-seekers under U.S. and international law if they can show a "credible fear" of persecution or torture."
https://www.npr.org/2018/05/29/61521121 ... their-pare

"More than 600 United Methodist clergy and church members want to bring formal church charges against Attorney General Jeff Sessions for the Justice Department’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which has resulted in separating families who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
The letter, signed by 639 United Methodist clergy and laity members, said the child abuse charge was for “[separating] thousands of young children from their parents [and] holding thousands of children in mass incarceration facilities.” Over the course of a six-week period, nearly 2,000 minors—roughly 45 a day—were separated from their parents."
http://www.newsweek.com/united-methodis ... ren-984006?

Taking Migrant Children From Parents Is Illegal
"GENEVA — The Trump administration’s practice of separating children from migrant families entering the United States violates their rights and international law, the United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday, urging an immediate halt to the practice."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/worl ... ilies.html

Applying for asylum is NOT illegal
"The administration has characterized its policy as being about illegal immigration, though many of the detained migrants — including those in families that are split apart — enter at official border crossings and request asylum, which is not an illegal entry."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/worl ... ilies.html


--The number of migrant children held without their parents by the US government has surged 21% since last month to 10,773 children, the Washington Post reported.
--The uptick comes after the Trump administration imposed a new "zero tolerance" policy to prosecute migrants who cross the US border illegally.
--The policy means that migrant parents who cross the border with their children are forcibly separated while they await criminal prosecution.
The Trump administration's new "zero tolerance" policy toward migrants who cross the US border illegally has driven up the number of migrant children held in government custody without their parents, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The US Health and Human Services Department said it was holding 10,773 migrant children in custody as of Tuesday — up 21% from the 8,886 it was holding a month earlier.
The surge comes in the wake of the Trump administration's new tactic to criminally prosecute every person who crosses into the US illegally, which requires them to be separated from any children they brought with them while they're detained."
http://www.businessinsider.com/children ... medium=aol

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci called on President Donald Trump Monday to halt his administration's policy that leads to family separations at the border.
You can’t simultaneously argue that family separation isn’t happening, that it’s being used as a deterrent, that the Bible justifies it and that it’s @TheDemocrats fault. @POTUS is not being served well by his advisors on this issue.
"It's an atrocious policy," Scaramucci told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day." "It's inhumane. It's offensive to the average American."
""Keep families together during the detention period and fast-track the cases, as was protocol previously. Holding kids hostage as deterrent is inhumane and doesn’t work long-term."

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Article 9 of the UN Convention on children's rights. Trump administration just pulled out.
Article 9
1. States Parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine, in accordance with applicable law and procedures, that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. Such determination may be necessary in a particular case such as one involving abuse or neglect of the child by the parents, or one where the parents are living separately and a decision must be made as to the child's place of residence."
https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalin ... s/crc.aspx

[Dardedar]

They just finished a presser where Trump lied at least 50 times and all those around him kissed his bottom and read fawning talking points full of distortions.
Lindsey Graham claimed 80% aren't showing up for their trials.
Reality:
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"In June 2017, the administration ended the Family Case Management Program, which allowed families to be placed into a program, together, that connected them with a case manager and legal orientation that ensured they understood how to apply for asylum and attend immigration court proceedings.
The program had a 99.6 percent appearance rate at immigration court hearings for those enrolled in the program. It’s not only a more humane alternative to family prisons; it’s far less costly for taxpayers.
Despite that success, the administration chose to end this program only a few months after it was first reported that Kelly — then-Secretary of Homeland Security — was considering family separation as a deterrent strategy."
https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-ri ... separation