The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media
“More than two years since migrant families were torn apart at the US-Mexico border, disturbing details of what occurred behind the scenes continue to spill into public view — again putting into focus the policy that came to define the Trump administration’s immigration legacy and cement its approach to immigrants.
“In 2018, the Trump Administration announced the so-called ‘zero tolerance’ policy, in which the Justice Department initiated criminal prosecutions of every adult illegally crossing the border. . . . The ‘zero tolerance’ policy has come to encapsulate the lengths the Trump administration is willing to go to in order to deter migrants from coming to the U.S. . . .
“Trump campaigned on cracking down on immigration to the U.S. pledging to build miles of border barriers and overhaul the legal immigration system. Combined, those promises have amounted to a series of policy changes designed to keep many immigrants out of the U.S.
“Since the administration backtracked its ‘zero tolerance’ policy, migrants have faced insurmountable challenges to claim asylum, have been required to stay in Mexico. . . .
The U.S. has for years relied on deterrence policies to dissuade migrants from coming to the country, but it often fails to take into account the driving factors behind migration, like economic disparity or violence and persecution. . . .” — Family Separation and the Trump administration’s immigration legacy, Priscilla Alverez, CNN, 10/7/20 [Link]
Fact Check of Quote Above: This piece repeats the propaganda line, so tirelessly promoted by illegal alien advocates, that the border enforcement policies of the Trump Administration “rip apart” migrant families. It is a perfect example of a propagandist trying to manipulate emotion to prevent rational understanding of a problem. This charge promotes the notion that malice and indifference to suffering account for the administration’s policy.
In reality here are legitimate reasons for separation of adults and children caught trying to slip onto the U.S. In many instances the adults and children, posing as a family, are not related. Quite often the adults are professional smugglers and other non-relatives. The latter will sometimes persuade parents to loan their children for a border crossing. Under existing procedures an adult with a minor relative is often more likely than a single adult to gain U.S. residence.
The purpose of the separation is to examine claimed relationships and protect the children from strangers with criminal backgrounds who might harm them, as well as unfit parents. Separation may also prevent transmission of disease.
Keeping functional families apart is supposed to be temporary. Unfortunately, at times, the high volume of cases has caused it to last longer than intended.
The misleading charge of pulling families apart helps to divert attention from some key and relevant issues. One is why do we have a policy which gives illegal aliens incentive to bring children with them? Another is to question the notion put forward by illegal alien advocates that there is something noble about adults, parents or not, who drag children with them as they seek to slip into our country. Surely they deserve blame for exposing the children to innumerable dangers along the way.
The administration’s policy of cracking down on asylum claims was justified. Most of the asylum claims are bogus. If the people from Central America were true asylum seekers, they could have applied for it in Mexico. The fact that they were willing to cross great expanses of that country to get to the U.S. is reason enough to believe that bettering their economic circumstances was their aim rather than freedom from persecution.
The author of the article seems disturbed by the administration’s policy of deterring illegal immigration. That is the law, and we can’t change it to accommodate the tens of millions abroad who are unhappy with their homelands. Illegal alien advocates ignore this sheer practicality. They would rather emote than think.