From TNR, why tyrants dehumanize the powerless: Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric implies that migrants are less than human, invoking modern history's darkest moments; and the only images that can make people care about the plight of migrants are those of suffering children — that’s a problem. Family separation reveals the logic of Trumpism. “Stephen actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border”: The West Wing is fracturing over Trump’s callous migrant-family policy. Helaine Olen on why Trump has upped the ante on cruelty. Why Border Patrol agents obey immoral orders: Sean Illing interviews Bernardo Zacka, author of When the State Meets the Street Public Service and Moral Agency.
From Vox, Dara Lind on the executive order Trump claims will end family separation, explained; on why keeping families together in immigration detention might not be much of a solution; and on how the Trump administration is deliberately starting a legal fight over family detention. Rebekah Entralgo on 4 things you need to know about Trump’s new immigration order. Trump’s astonishing reversal is no solution. Donald Trump wants credit for ending a family-separation crisis he created. A legislative fix to Trump’s family separation policy is impossible. Jonathan Chait on why Trump’s family-separation policy failed. Trump ended family separation because dehumanizing infants is hard.
A system designed for abused and neglected kids now must handle thousands who have been forcibly separated from their parents. Immigrant children as young as 14 housed at a juvenile detention center in Virginia say they were beaten while handcuffed and locked up for long periods in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering in concrete cells. Separated migrant children are headed toward shelters that have a history of abuse and neglect. Yes, you can call the border centers “concentration camps”, but apply the history with care. Mistreating refugee children is, sadly, all too American. Worldwide refugee population hits all-time high, U.S. intake reaches all-time low. The Trump administration is bragging about treating refugees well — seriously.
In Trump’s America, the conversation turns ugly and angry, starting at the top. “A blowtorch to the tinder”: Stoking racial tensions is a feature of Trump’s presidency. Daniel Denvir on the roots of Trump’s immigration barbarity. Family separation shows what Trump has in common with Europe’s far Right.
