President Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly defended separating undocumented immigrants from their children as a necessary evil in the administration’s effort to increase border security, during an interview with National Public Radio last Thursday.
“The children will be taken care of — put into foster care or whatever,” Kelly said. “But the big point is they elected to come illegally into the United States and this is a technique that no one hopes will be used extensively or for very long.”
Kelly disputed the notion that such action was cruel. He said that in the efforts to enforce U.S. border laws, “a big name of the game is deterrence,” he explained and separating families “could be a tough deterrent.”
Last week, Attorney General Jeff Session echoed a similar sentiment and announced a zero tolerance policy for unlawful entry on our southwest border. “If you smuggle [undocumented] aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you, and that child may be separated from you as required by law.”
Children who are separated from their parents would be put under the supervision of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, Sessions said. The department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement releases children traveling alone to family and places them in shelters.
Many advocacy groups blasted the moves as cruel and heartless, especially in cases where the family is seeking asylum in the United States.
“Criminalizing and stigmatizing parents who are only trying to keep their children from harm and give them a safe upbringing will cause untold damage to thousands of traumatized families who have already given up everything to flee terrible circumstances in their home countries,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Americas director.
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