Children as Political Pawns

Jul 23, 2018

A federal judge has ordered the federal government to reunite children who were separated from their undocumented migrant parents when they entered the U.S. The July 26^th deadline for reuniting 2,900 older children is just a few days away. The July 10^th deadline for the younger children came and went. The Justice Department justified the government’s failure to meet this deadline. “Any children not being reunified by the July 10 deadline are not being reunified because of legitimate, logistical impediments that render timely compliance impossible or excusable, and so defendants are complying with the court’s order.”

Lies and more lies. Authorities separated families and took their documents that proved their relationships. On top of that, they took their kids away from them without so much as a receipt of some kind. Nothing.

Now the government expects the families to pay the $700 cost for DNA testing! Most don’t have it.

Many migrants were also told they could get their children back immediately, if they agree to be “voluntarily” deported. It isn’t voluntary when your children are being held hostage. It’s a threat. It’s blackmail.

The government’s stated solution to the barbarism of arresting and separating children from their parents is also barbaric. Reuniting families so they can all be in jail together! For seeking asylum in the U.S.!

The courts made up these deadlines for reunification to take the public eye off of what they are doing. They want to make us believe that they are on it, fixing the problem with these court orders.

The Justice Department’s ruling on the first deadline only confirms what most workers in this country already know about court orders. They are just pieces of paper. These children are real. Their families are real. And they are getting Zero Justice.