Separating Parents from Children is Wrong

I get that life is complex sometimes, and we all have to make decisions that can be incredibly difficult. But at the same time, I’d like to think almost everyone can recognize when something rises above the quandary to show itself as being strictly a question of right or wrong.

Much of what the Trump administration does somehow remains solidly at the quandary level. Some of this is because he or his spokespeople claim anything that paints what he does as bad is nothing more than Fake News. If it makes you look bad, say it’s a lie. It doesn’t matter how clear the evidence is that it’s true. Claim it isn’t, and stick to that claim regardless of what may come.

This approach works. It works because we live in a world where people will question anything. A world where people honestly believe the earth is still flat, and never mind the mountains of proof to the contrary. For many, belief has superseded verifiable fact. As a religious person, I can see where there are areas belief might win out. But there’s a big difference between belief and politics, or at least there should be. But the conservatives tied themselves tightly to a number of religious groups, and over time it appears to me like those ties have bled through, inserting Belief into politics to an unhealthy extent.

Of course, the vicious rhetoric around politics also makes it problematic. When DeNiro comes out and says “F*** Trump,” and everyone goes wild and says it’s great, that does nothing to actually solve problems. It further enflames both sides of the argument. When comedians and bystanders point out (correctly) that Fox News lambasted Obama when he proposed meeting with North Korea, but praised Trump when he decided to do it, they miss the natural other side of that coin. What liberals were all for Obama bringing peace to the world but now say Trump is terrible for sitting down with a dictator?

Remember the views you have now, and try to keep them straight, regardless of which party is in power. Because there are some things that transcend politics. Basic questions of right and wrong. There must be.

Trump meeting with Kim Jong Un and deescalating a situation that was looking worse every day is a good thing. Sure, both Trump and Kim are in large part to blame for how bad the situation had become, but it’s okay to celebrate the fact that we’re further away from nuclear weapons being used today than we were a few days ago.

But at the same time, we can’t let that cloud our view of other things that are happening in our country. Immigration issues that are huge, and seem to be flying under the radar for so many of us, judging by my Facebook feed and the relative little attention I see to it on national news sites.

Wonder what I’m talking about? Read this article and wonder no more.  Or read this one. Or read any of the other slew of articles out there on this topic.

The Trump administration has decided to take a “zero tolerance” policy on illegal immigration. If someone is caught entering the country illegally for whatever reason, they are prosecuted. If they have children with them, the children are taken away and put with a foster family or in a detention center. In large part, it appears this separation is being used as part of the deterrent. Don’t come here illegally, or else we’ll tear apart your family.

I can understand some of the thought process behind this. Taking a hard line on illegal immigration and protecting the border is exactly what Trump said he’d do when he ran for office, so he’s delivering on a campaign process. But the way this has been put into practice is brutal, and it needs to stop. Surely there’s a way officials can continue to enforce the law without needing to rip families apart. Detain illegal immigrant families in separate complexes if they must. Or make exceptions for children under a certain age.

But don’t think this is an isolated incident, either. Do some research into the tactics currently being used by ICE against immigrants in this country, illegal or otherwise.

Illegal immigrants have been dehumanized by many politicians. Their identities stripped away to the point that they can be handled however the government sees fit.

I understand some of them broke the law. But I don’t care if you broke the law or not. You still deserve to be treated like a person, not a playing piece. It’s when people stop being seen as human that real atrocities begin. And from where I’m standing, those atrocities have already started.

We should be deeply disturbed by this. We should demand that policies are changed. Instead, the articles I read on Fox News about it say essentially, “Obama did the same thing.” Okay. If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have done it then. I didn’t realize it was happening. I do now. Does my failure to know an evil is being done previously excuse the person committing it now?

This is beyond politics, and it has to stop.

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