It would seem to me that when they planned to take children
away from their parents they would have also asked, “What happens when they
need to be returned? What happens when
we deport the parents, shouldn’t the kids also go with them?”
But, according to an article on ABC on line:
[Asked if deported parents
would see their kids again, officials from the Department of Homeland Security
and U.S. Health and Human Services told reporters they are under "no
obligation to bring people who have no lawful status in this country back into
this country for reunification."] (1)
Department of Homeland Security feels no obligation to reunite
the children with their parents. If the
parents were being deported, they should have found the children of those
parents and deported all of them together.
Now, Homeland Security thinks that they have no obligation
to reunite them. (I know I keep repeating it, but it needs to be repeated: No obligation to reunite.)
In any policing action, and this is a policing action, once
the accused is arrested or detained, the arresting agency takes responsibility for
the safety, health and wellbeing of the detained. In this case, both the parents and the
children are being detained. The rules
of arrest should apply to both the parents and the children.
[It doesn’t matter whether you are a police officer transporting
a prisoner from a street arrest scene, a police officer picking up a prisoner
for court, a police officer transporting a sick inmate, a detective taking a
prisoner out of lock up to a remote site for an interview, or an airport police
officer holding a person for transport, you are now responsible for that
prisoner’s “care and wellbeing.”] (2)
What, I ask, could be more important to the wellbeing of an
individual then their children when detained?
And, it follows, what could be more important to the children who are separated
from their families then the wellbeing of being reunified with their families?
The excuse of having no obligation is a cop out.
What is to happen to these children? Are they to languish in detention forever? Will they be placed in a home with a family that wants to adopt them?
What is to happen to these children? Are they to languish in detention forever? Will they be placed in a home with a family that wants to adopt them?
Family adoptions by care givers in the United States, so
says the Supreme Court by not reviewing a case of family reunification, is
okay. (3) (How can an Immigrant Mother Loose Her Child in Court?)
This is kidnapping. (Kid,
being the operative word here, and not in jest).
This is also cultural conversion because the
Department of Homeland Security thinks the children staying in the United
States and being sent, in some cases, to a Christian organization, to watch over
them is better then their home country, home culture and their parents. (4)
Here is what needs to change:
- If families are separated from their children, for any reason, the detaining agency must make plans to reunite the families. This is to be applied no matter what happens to the parents.
- Separation at the borders must stop. While there is an executive order that says that families are not to be separated, I believe it is still happening and needs to stop.
- ICE needs to be reorganized, not abolished.
- The legal concept that you have no (or limited) rights at the border, as a citizen, as a legal resident, an immigrant, tourist or any other label, needs to be changed. While ICE does have the responsibility to render an opinion on the status of the individual, they are merely police. They are not to be the final judgement of an individual’s right to enter the country. Only a federal court can make that judgement.
The current administration is overreaching its authority on
border security. Since ICE and the
Department of Homeland security can stop, question and arrest anyone within 100
miles of the United States border, this overreaching is providing an authoritarian
control over millions of peoples lives and breaking families up.
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