On November 15, 2016, I wrote my first post after the presidential election. The headline was Trump Human Rights Erosion And Termination Watch (THREAT Watch). I was afraid of what this nation would become under a Trump administration. At the same time I hoped my fears would prove to be unfounded. I wanted to find, a year or so later, that I had been an alarmist.

Based on what is going on right now at the U.S./Mexico border, the Trump administration has gone beyond the threat of eroding and ending human rights in the country. It has moved into action. We are staring directly into the abyss.

Anyone who condones or rationalizes what the administration is doing at the border to infants, toddlers, boys and girls up to the age of 18, and to parents whose children are being torn away from them, is aiding and abetting the destruction of this country as we know it. I’m sorry, but if you claim that you can retain your sense of decency and not condemn what is being done to children and families in our name, you have already lost part of what makes you a decent human being. You share the guilt with the monsters who put this zero tolerance immigration policy into motion and the border guards who are implementing it.

I have to be honest and admit, as a citizen of this country, I share the guilt and shame as well, even though I condemn what is going on with every fiber of my being.

This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2018.

19 replies on “T.H.R.E.A.T. Watch: Border Edition”

  2. And the opposition to enforcing immigration laws continues in the media – always doing the work of their sponsors in the cheap labor industries.

  3. Sessions cited the Bible in defending the policy, arguing the recent criticisms were not “fair or logical and some are contrary to law.”

    “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order,” he said….”

    Sessions does NOT understand the nature of Christianity or our Constitution. He is using Religion to justify His (Trumps) Draconian and Inhumane/Barbaric Immigration Policy!!

    Christ has advised those like Donald Trump and his supporters: Mark 9:42: “If anyone causes one of these little ones–those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.”

    In fact, the 2nd Amendment of our Constitution allows armed Citizens to Overthrow a Government by Assassination if necessary; supported by two former Presidents and a Supreme Court Justice: Jefferson, Lincoln and Justice Story.

    “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it….” (Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address March 4, 1861)

    “….The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure….” ( Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, Paris, 13 Nov. 1787)

    “….The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers and will generally even if these are successful the first instance enable the people to resist and triumph over them…” ( Story, Joseph (1833) Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. Boston: Hilliard, Gray and Company. Cambridge: Brown, Shattuck, and Co. Volume III, page 746747, 1890.)

  4. It is truly horrific to think of what children and parents separated at the border must be going through, and hard to imagine what conditions in the facilities hurriedly assembled to care for the children must be.

    It has been hard to find good reports that dispassionately and accurately present what the changes in the flow of immigrants have been, what the laws are, what the enforcement policies of previous administrations have been, and what has changed in recent months. After reading a lot of reports that left major questions unanswered, I found these two that seemed to do a pretty good job covering what had been happening and what is happening now:
    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/us/politics/family-separation-trump.html?nl=top-stories&nlid=54372512ries&ref=cta
    https://tucson.com/news/local/questions-and-answers-here-s-what-s-going-on-with/article_1cf20cd7-c0c7-591d-9ff2-69b662b5801a.html

    Bottom line is the grid-lock in Congress needs to stop and our elected representatives need to do their jobs in formulating sane laws that address the conditions on the ground, both within the U.S. and on its borders, in such a way that the laws can actually be enforced without traumatizing children and creating humanitarian crises. And pressure for sane law and policy needs to continue beyond what happens with entering the country: those who work directly with refugees know that the system that deals with LEGAL immigrants in the U.S. is not appropriately structured or adequately funded.

    (It’s worth noting that there have also been heart-rending, crisis-level conditions in the Arizona foster care and CPS systems, but local clergy were never mobilized to send letters or propose the imposition of penalties on workers who enforce laws in those malfunctioning and underfunded systems. Nor were they mobilized to use their authority to address the malfunctioning and underfunding of the social safety nets whose neglect and deterioration causes increases in the number of cases the foster care and CPS systems are handling.)

    Do we believe, based on what we’ve seen for the last decade or more, that the U.S. Congress is capable of working together to achieve consensus and address the immigration problems in a responsible way? If not, what are the obstacles to Congress being able to do that? (No, it’s not just “not enough Democrats.” A large part of it is members of the two opposing parties in a two party system BOTH being too influenced by funders rather than by constituents and never being able to work together to achieve sane compromises.)

    Impeaching Trump seems to be the desired “solution” mentioned in a lot of the commentary on the current border crisis. Which, as usual, ignores the fact that Trump is an effect as well as cause of intractable problems; one troublesome symptom, not the disease. Choosing to enforce faulty laws on the books is not an impeachable offense, and even if other reasons are found to remove Trump from office, removing him will not solve our longstanding inability to formulate sane immigration law and policy.

  5. Almost everyone would (and should) agree that separation of families is not desired.

    So, what is the solution?

  6. Donald Trump’s Immigration Policy and it’s Implementation is, in general, similar to Nazi Germany’s Murderous Genocidal Policies and it’s Implementation. The Policy, Sequestration and Murder of those considered undesirable, was set by Hitler and Implemented, without question, by those in Subordinate Positions. For Trump, He has Set His Immigration Policy, Sequestration of Children of Parents that he Considers Undesirable. His Immigration Policy is being implemented by “Homeland Security”!

    Trump is Destroying the vary fabric and underpinning of our Social System. He can only be Stopped if he is Removed for Office Forthwith!!!

  9. Sarah Sanders responded to Former First lady Laura Bush’s OpEd piece regarding immigration policy.

    “And, frankly, this law was actually signed into effect in 2008 under her husbands leadership, not under this administration, she added. Were not the ones responsible for creating this problem; weve inherited it. But were actually the first administration stepping up and trying to fix it.

    If Bush and Obama enforced this law, why would the former fist ladies oppose Trump?

    Is anybody going to ask or have we all become sheeple?

  10. I suppose I could explain that Trump is just enforcing a law that has been on the books for years. Or that it was Obama who created the loophole that put these kids in the spot that they’re in. I could go on and on, but why bother? All I’ll have to show for it is 40 dislikes and a few snide remarks from the usual stooges. Probably 95% of them up until 8 P.M. election day would have laughed like Hell if I said that Trump can win this thing. Who’s laughing now?

  11. How did the United States of America go from speak softly and carry a big stick to shout loudly and be a big dick?

    There are two essential components of any law: the letter of the law what the law says exactly, and the spirit of the law how the law is applied in reality. When you attempt to stick only to the letter of the law the equally important concept of justice is removed. Laws without justice do not serve a free society, they only serve those who would shackle our freedom.

    One last bit of legal advice for those who are executing these actions, I was just following orders is a fools defense.

  13. “Who’s laughing now?”

    I am. At you.

    You are so confident in your false information about everything that you never add anything substantial to any conversation. It is pathetic, but you constantly do it and that actually makes it funny.

    I sincerely hope some of what you seem to believe is just you being a trickster. It’s disheartening to believe anyone, including you, could support a policy such as this being enforced and separating families. But who knows? Maybe you’re okay with it because the families are brown.

  16. Yes. Rachel Maddow cried last night when she heard what Obama had done. But the truth is she only cried while she blamed Trump for doing it. Crocodile tears my lady! Crock for short.

  17. Trump just signed an Executive Order ending the Obama policy of separating illegal parents from illegal minors.

    What a great President he is turning out to be.

  18. No, he didn’t. He just signed a mealy-mouthed mishmash that is full of loopholes and ambiguities and does not really change anything, but it does continue to sow confusion over this issue, including the oft-repeated lie (here and by Tchump himself) that the Democrats are to blame for something that his administration is solely responsible for.

    The actions of Tchump and his rancid collection of racists and fascists in this matter (and many others) are indefensible on any level. If you’re defending them, time to take a deep breath and a hard look in the mirror.

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