More Gratuitous Immigration Cruelty...

[Big RR]

They consider these people (including the children) sub-humans, who deserve to be treated worse than dogs in a kennel. (the more of them who die the better; fewer "mud people" to take up space that should belong to white people) they aren't just callously indifferent to the suffering being inflicted; they derive sadistic delight from it...

agreed Jim, even if conditions are better than where they came from (and that is doubtful), we should be better than that. Indeed, we used to be better than that before Trump. It's like giving a starving man half rations while we are throwing food away, and saying "Hey you're eating more no than where we came from". Paraphrasing Joseph Welch, Mr. Trump, "have you no sense of decency?" To which the answer is "Of course not, I have to make my point". the man is the poorest excuse for a human being I can think of.

[Lord Jim]

We're providing less humane treatment and living conditions for small children in our custody than we are for hard-core terrorists being held in Gitmo...(I don't believe the prisoners held in Gitmo are being denied mattresses, or tooth brushes, or clean clothes, or access to basic hygiene and medical care)

Every decent American...left, right or center...should feel outraged and deeply shamed by this...

we should be better than that

Indeed...

It's not about how these people were living before they go here; it's about how a civilized and moral country should be treating these people now that they are in our care. It's about our values, and what how we treat them says about us and our country...

[BoSoxGal]

Yes, and it says we are greedy capitalists who elected a monster and can’t find the balls to impeach him.

[Big RR]

I'm not sure true capitalists are against immigration of this kind; to their minds it leads to competition for jobs and lower wages/thus higher profits. Indeed, it may, in many cases, be preferable to relocating production facilities to third world countries to take advantage of the low wages there. It's Trump's base that cares, for a variety of reasons which include racism, xenophobia, and the need to blame someone for disappearing opportunities--its always easier to blame the "others" and Trump whips that feeling up to a fever pitch.

[Econoline]

[Econoline]

[Sue U]

Didn't know if this should go here or in Philosophy and Religion, but either way it's a worthwhile read. This how religion and the Bible remain relevant in the world.

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
@TheRaDR

This week Jews read the part of the Torah with the story of Balaam and Balak (Numbers 22 etc)

Here are some thoughts about what this text can teach us about the immigrants and refugees seeking safety here, now, today.

The Moabite king Balak saw the Israelites fleeing persecution, saw them in the midbar--the wilderness--the limnal place between danger and safety-- and he said, "they will lick us clean."
He used dehumanizing language--they are so numerous, he said, that they "hide the earth from view"-- in order to justify what he was going to do next.

Balak goes to the seer, the prophet Balaam and demands that he curse the people. Balak doesn't care what happens to them, he just wants them cursed, gone, no mater how they suffer.
But after a series of surprising events, Balaam doesn't curse the people Israel--he blesses them. And there's this moment in the middle of all this blessing when he turns to face the wilderness, this limbo, this howling void between danger and safety.

"As Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped....the spirit of God came upon him.... he said.... 'How fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel!'"

He looks up and he sees the Israelites.

He sees them camped in their tents. He probably sees families together, children and parents, maybe children playing, maybe groups of friends, maybe couples in love. He sees a people, vulnerable and frightened, yearning to breathe free. He sees them.

The seeing and the blessing are intertwined. When he opens his eyes & heart to behold the Israelites' beautiful, holy selves, created in the image of God, he is able to bless them. When we open our eyes to see the full humanity of others, we are able to bless them.

And when we bless--when we give over of ourselves to others, when we offer something holy and true to another--we also expand our capacity to see them. When we look to see, we can bless. When we bless, we can better see.

We know that the Bible stands on the side of liberation.

We know that the Bible stands on the side of the oppressed.

We know that the Bible stands for safety and hope for all. And we know that the Bible demands that we take risks in the pursuit of justice.

It's easy to look away when things in the news are hard. It's tempting to look away and to stay in our own comfort zones, worry about ourselves. But we have to make the choice to look, and to see--and to take actions that make of this world a blessing.

#CloseTheCamps

[Bicycle Bill]

-"BB"-

[Burning Petard]

"We're providing less humane treatment and living conditions for small children in our custody than we are for hard-core terrorists being held in Gitmo..."

Please note that the prisoners in Gitmo have never been convicted in a military or civil court of breaking any law, USA or International Rule of Warfare.

snailgagte.

[Big RR]

And the scary thing is that this has been the case regardless of what party occupies the White House or is the majority party in either house of congress. I remember when only the evil communists held political prisoners.

[Scooter]

Trump administration: HIV status used to justify family separation at border

As President Trump continues to praise his administration’s plan to beat the HIV epidemic by 2030, a top Trump administration official says an immigrant’s HIV status is enough to justify family separation at the border.

Brian Hastings, chief of Customs & Border Patrol, made the remarks during a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing Thursday under questioning from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).

When Raskin asked the official if a mother or father having HIV positive status “is alone enough to justify separation from their child” Hastings affirmed that was the case.

“It is because it’s a communicable disease under the guidance,” Hastings said.

Raskin mentioned reports of kids being separated from their parents on the basis of their parents HIV status, then asked why should HIV be considered a communicable disease when “it’s not communicable by contact.”

Hastings simply replied, “That’s the guidance that we follow.”

The Maryland Democrat asked whether that policy is from CBP’s legal counsel or another source, but Hastings said he isn’t certain.

“I’m not sure if that came from legal counsel,” Hastings said. “I believe that is defined as a communicable disease.”

When Raskin asked Hastings whether he had a list of communicable diseases, the CBP said he didn’t immediately have that information.

But the next exchange was key in the discrepancy in the way CBP handles immigration who have HIV.

Raskin pointed out the flu is communicable and asked “would we separate parents from their kids if a mom or dad had the flu?”

“We’re not, sir,” Hastings replied.

The Trump administration has been widely criticized for separating families at the border, which is seen as the result of its “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. Many observers have said the policy amounts to human rights violations in the United States.

Amid the height of criticism last year, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to maintain custody of detained families together over the course of immigration proceedings, although the policy in some cases, such as HIV-based separations, seems to continue.

It’s unclear what guidance on HIV the CBP chief is referencing. The Obama administration in 2010 ended the administrative HIV travel ban into the United States through administrative action after Congress repealed the statutory HIV travel ban during the George W. Bush administration.

When the ban was finally lifted, the Centers for Disease Control removed HIV from its list of communicable diseases.

Aaron Morris, executive director of Immigration Equality, said the policy makes no sense because HIV “has not been considered a communicable disease of public health significance since 2010.”

“We are appalled to learn that the U.S. government is again stigmatizing immigrants living with HIV,” Morris added. “Separating children from their parents because they are HIV-positive deeply misunderstands basic public health and will irreparably harm families and children.”

Hastings’ testimony directly contradicts congressional testimony last week from acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, who said HIV status alone wasn’t a determining factor for family separation.

“The simple fact of being HIV positive does not sound like that would meet the standard,” McAleenan said. “There could be other complications medically that would have required a temporary separation.”

Similar to Hastings, McAleenan made the remarks under questioning from Raskin, who said he’s seen evidence suggesting three sisters were taken from their father in November 2018 allegedly because he was HIV positive.

“Again, you’re referencing a number of specific cases that I do not have in front of me,” McAleenan said. “I’m not sure if that was the only factor involved in that decision.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is touting its plan to beat the HIV epidemic by 2030 with a concentrated efforts into localities within the United States where the rate of new infection remain high.

The Washington Blade has placed a request in with CBP asking whether the policy of family separation based on HIV status is administrative or statutory and how many separations have occurred as a result of this policy.

Jennifer Kates, senior vice president of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said the Trump administration policy makes no sense on either a scientific or legal basis.

“If HIV is being treated as a communicable disease for the purposes of separating families at the border, that would be at odds with longstanding policy and science.”

[Scooter]

The new SS:

Immigration Officials Snatch 9-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Heading To School, Hold Her For 2 Days

A 9-year-old American citizen on her way to school was apprehended by U.S. immigration officials and detained for some 32 hours before she was released back to her family. Federal officials said later that the girl, who was carrying a U.S. passport card with her, gave “inconsistent information.”

“I was scared. I didn’t have my mom or my brother. I was completely by myself,” Julia Isabel Amparo Medina told NBC-7 TV in San Diego.

Medina, her 14-year-old brother and two friends were being driven to school by the friends’ mom from their home in Tijuana to San Ysidro last Monday. Thousands of people travel through the Tijuana-San Ysidro crossing daily for school or work.

When traffic slowed to a crawl, the mom told the children to walk across the border so they wouldn’t be late. An official detained Medina, saying she didn’t look like the photo on her passport card.

They finally released her Tuesday evening about 32 hours later. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that the girl, whom they confirmed is an American citizen, “provided inconsistent information during her inspection,” (go figure, a 9 year old interrogated without her parents present couldn't provide a consistent narrative) which they didn’t elaborate. She was taken into custody so officers could “perform due diligence in confirming her identity and citizenship,” according to the statement.

Officials had no explanation for why the process took 32 hours or why the 9-year-old was in custody the entire time.

Medina’s brother, who is also a U.S. citizen, said officials initially accused him of human trafficking and demanded he sign a paper saying that his sister was really his cousin.

“He was told that he would be taken to jail and they were going to charge him for human trafficking and sex trafficking,” Julia’s mom, Thelma Galaxia, told NBC.

[Joe Guy]

That'll teach those brown-skinned demorat-supported illegal Mexicans what's gonna happen when they try to cross our southern border. Right liberty?

[Bicycle Bill]

The fact that these immigrants/refugees/border crashers/whatever you wanna call 'em can see how this administration treats its own citizens (which are the people who actually have the right to be here) yet they still try to come to this country tells me all I need to know about what they're leaving behind.

-"BB"-

[Scooter]

[Econoline]

[Scooter]

Terrible things are happening outside...poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find their parents have disappeared.

-- Anne Frank (January 13, 1943)

[BoSoxGal]

[Scooter]

[Scooter]