So how does a writer bring the reality of truly evil actions alive in the minds and hearts of Americans?
We seem to think of immigrant children as being something like puppies to be put here and there, but what Homeland Security is actually doing is what we saw earlier in those Central American states where children were seized and adopted out to the ruling people — or simply killed. Use a search engine for a phrase like “Guatemalan stolen children.” It was only in 2013 that the world was outraged by this.
What the USA is doing at the border is no different. Officials have “lost” and warehoused infants and toddlers, subteens — not kids who made their way north on their own. We can only hope they haven’t fallen into the hands of illegal adopters, traffickers, sex circles or killers. As it is, their purported guardians (jailors) don’t know how to handle terrified and defiant children, so they resort to threats and abuse.
The repercussions are enormous. Children are only in the process of becoming what they soon will be. Everything that happens is indelible. Without their parents they will always have a huge hole in their guts, a subversive suspicion of life, and some of them will combine their despair with revenge. That’s leaving the parents out of the equation.
What about the effect on US citizens who see this happening? The bitterness and rage are unmeasurable and will come down on the heads of those who are identifiable, though they may not be the same people as the guards and officers who are guilty. My Twitter feed — which is very limited, mostly Western Canda — includes more expressions of outrage every day.
From Twitter:
"There are many ways to describe the @realDonaldTrump policy of ripping children away from their parents at the border.
-It violates human rights laws.
-It is unAmerican.
-It would shock Jesus.
But I think the most appropriate way to describe it is this:-The policy is evil."
________
“My son was crying as I put him in the seat. I did not even have a chance to try to comfort my son, because the officers slammed the door shut as soon as he was in his seat. I was cry, too. I cry even now when I think about…"
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"Even if you’re not a parent, it isn’t hard to imagine the mind-bending horror of your child being ripped from your arms as she cries, screams, and begs the border guard to stop.
"Please please don’t do this Mr. President.
"THIS IS NOT WHO WE ARE."
_______
I predict that Trump will pretend he didn’t know, will orate about being shocked and horrified and will pretend he’s ending the practice heroically. Then he’ll claim that all those bad people doing this to children must be Democrats. One third of the nation will fall for this, because they always do.
But the parents of these children will neither forgive nor forget and neither will the children either. The seeds of rebellion on an international scale are being planted all along the border — far more deadly than denying them sanctuary. They have lived with death for a long time. They know it when they see it.
_______________
More from Twitter:
PBS has confirmed that some of these children have been released to HUMAN TRAFFICKERS by the US government.
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The retaliation for this will go on for a long time. These toddlers will be voters. Some of them will not have time for niceties like voting. Today’s Congressmen (and women) are assuming they’ll retired and safe. They shouldn’t count on it.
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HHS Official Says Agency Lost Track of Nearly 1,500 Unaccompanied
"A top official from the Department of Health and Human Services came under fire in a congressional hearing on Thursday over how the agency tracks unaccompanied minors after they are released to . . . "
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No threat of violence is going to touch anyone except the paranoid, and some of them need a million dollars of protection to feel safe. No money can comfort the soul-eating knowledge that they have emotionally eviscerated the innocent, tortured their mothers with fear and loss, unjustly penalized toddlers. It interests me to find out what child-raising practices in America produced adults like this, but I think I know.
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“A blistering report released this week alleges that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents neglected and abused more than 100 migrant children who were in their custody.
“The report, from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the University of Chicago Law School International Human Rights Clinic, is based on thousands of pages of records detailing accusations from 116 unaccompanied minors, many of whom were asylum-seekers, while in temporary detention centers.
“Migrant children long have reported varied mistreatment in CBP custody, including sexual, physical, and verbal abuse, and the deprivation of basic needs such as food, water, and emergency medical care,” the ACLU said in a summary of the report.
“Some children accused officers of punching or kicking them and running them over with vehicles. Others described being tased and verbally abused by officers.
“Children also described being deprived of edible food and water, held in freezing cells, touched inappropriately by officers and threatened with rape or death.
“The report accuses the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of violating federal law by not reporting the alleged abuses to the FBI.
“The ACLU obtained more than 30,000 pages of records for its report, all of which relate to alleged abuses taking place between 2009 and 2014, under the Obama administration.
“These records document a pattern of intimidation, harassment, physical abuse, refusal of medical services, and improper deportation,” the report said. “These failures have allowed a culture of impunity to flourish within CBP, subjecting immigrant children to conditions that are too often neglectful at best and sadistic at worst.”\
“This is not the first time DHS has faced scrutiny for alleged abuse.
“In 2014, DHS conducted an investigation into past allegations from the ACLU of abuse against unaccompanied minors, saying that they were “unable to substantiate any of the allegations. But, in its report, the ACLU states that past DHS investigations “indicate systemic failures to meaningfully investigate the allegations” and have failed to take action to address the complaints.”
It's not a wall that our border needs -- it's a heart. We are earning the contempt of countries that used to be our allies.
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