To The Good Person Who Is Defending The Current Policies At Our Border
I want you to know this is not coming from a stranger. I know you. I grew up with you. You care deeply about your family and your church. You want to make sure that this nation stays safe for your own family and children. That’s what this is all about, your politics, your stances… It’s about protecting you and yours. You’d do anything to protect your kids… even for your neighbor’s kids.
For example, if your neighbor threw their child out into their garage with no supervision, with only frozen uncooked food, no blankets, no baths, no toothbrushes and you found out about it? Well, you’d call child protective services on them so fast their head would spin. I mean, you are a good person and my god, little Zachary plays T-ball with your son! He’s a sweet kid!
And I’m sure you’re aware that scenerio is fairly similar to what is happening to the children being ripped away from their parents and held, alone and scared without proper care at the border. Just this week the DOJ/Trump’s administration was arguing that tiny children should not be allowed to have even soap, toothbrushes, beds or blankets… maybe you even think that is really sad… after all, you have a heart.
But still, you know, you think…
These kids’ parents are to blame for bringing them here in the first place.
Let’s first suspend reality and pretend that people would drag their children on a long treacherous journey just for the hell of it. Let’s say that some of these people are terrible parents or even that some of these adults are not actually parents at all, but child traffickers… all of which would be horrible.
Even then what you are saying is “Well, someone else abused this kid, so that gives us an excuse to further abuse and traumatize them.”
If these children have been subjected to abuse they need even more care, not less. At least a bare minimum of care: with beds and blankets and proper food and hygiene (Although, love and affection are CRUCIAL to a child’s well being.)
If a man at your church beat his wife and kids and they came to your church, crying you would probably feel terrible for them. You might do as much as you could to give poor Barb a little money or essentials, you might offer some teddy bears to the kids. You are a good person, after all.
Here is what I know you would NOT do: you would not punch Barb’s 3 year old in the face and then shrug and say “Well, Bob did that to you first so don’t blame me, blame your shitty dad.” You wouldn’t snatch the 3 year old away from crying Barb and throw the kid in your garage to fend for themselves without soap and blankets. You would not occasionally throw undefrosted frozen food at the snot covered, unbathed three year old. You wouldn’t do that because it would make you a MONSTER. So why on earth would you be okay with your tax dollars supporting this kind of behavior? We can and should do better. At the very least we should do no harm.
Yeah, but their parents broke the law. When Americans break the law and go to jail they lose their kids too.
Setting aside that seeking asylum is actually legal and you do have to cross the border first in order to do so… and that many of the people who were separated from their children went straight to the check point and did everything they were supposed to do…
Even if they were and are breaking the law. You are totally correct that in those cases even Americans go to jail and are taken from their kids. Do you know what happens to those kids after? Well, a next of kin is found and they go to that person (and in many cases, these kids at the border DO have family members in the US.) If there is no next of kin, they go into foster care. What we don’t do is throw the INNOCENT children into cages to sleep on concrete floors without proper care or food or medicine or hygiene.
But Obama did it first!
I’m going to get into the nuance of this, but first I just need to stop this argument altogether: even if Obama did it every bit as horribly… it would still be awful and a moral outrage that would need to be solved. Remember that whole “Well, someone else abused this kid, so that gives us an excuse to further abuse and traumatize them.” That is what this excuse is AGAIN. So my answer would be “So what? Stop abusing kids.”
And because truth is important: Under the Obama administration there was not a widespread policy of separating kids from their parents. The photos you’ve seen were unaccompanied minors. The Obama administration did separate kids in cases of abuse or trafficking. Now, did they handle everything perfectly? No. Have I criticized the Obama administration in the past for things? Sure. Yes. But the comparison is an outright lie. You can read about it here:
or here
or here
Why Should Our Tax dollars pay to house and feed kids who aren’t American?
Y’all, hold onto your pocketbooks because these current detention centers/concentration camps cost us EVEN MORE than adequate food and housing would. They cost us…. $750 per kid, per DAY. Someone is making a MINT and you are paying for it.
We could give each of these kids their OWN room at the freaking RITZ with room service meals for LESS than this cost. I dunno about you, but my rent is not over $22,000 a month and three of us live in my house. This means we could adequately house these families together, and set them up to potentially be productive members of society while they await their citizenship hearings.
I’m not even saying we have to go so far as to put them in single family homes while they wait to find out if they will stay or leave, but I am saying IT WOULD COST US MILLIONS OF DOLLARS LESS. So if taxes are your worry… you are doing it wrong.
By the way, they aren’t actually concentration camps.
Actually, by definition. They are. They’re just not extermination camps. Also, if you are having to defend your stance by getting into the nuance of concentration camp definition… you are not arguing on the correct side.
So, what? We aren’t supposed to have any process and just let anyone in at any time?
THESE are the things we should be debating. Not child abuse. We can have big discussions about policy and immigration. That’s what being a Republican or a Democrat should be about: debating BEST way to make America the best it can be. It should be that we have shared ideals and differ on the APPROACH to those ideals. It should be that we all agree children should not be harmed.
We can decide if the families have the real and legal claims they are trying to make and, case by case, if they should be allowed entry to become productive citizens or not… but we don’t need to torture their children in the meantime. It’s not necessary. It’s not required. It’s not helpful. And it’s certainly not okay.
I’m sorry, I know I started this off by saying this was to the good people who defend this policy, but the truth is, you cannot defend this and still be good. You can’t stand up and say torturing small, scared children who are sick and hungry and sleeping on the floor crying for their mommy is okay, and then go to church and think your soul is unaffected. You cannot defend or condone child abuse and still be an okay human no matter what else you do. This is one of those moments that defines us.
It’s not too late. You still have a chance do some good. You can still work to save these children.
Here are some things you can do to actually help these kids, no matter what your politics are.
You can donate to RAICES.This Texas nonprofit has been working tirelessly to help families. https://actionnetwork.org/groups/raices-refugee-and-immigrant-center-for-education-and-legal-services
You can donate to the ACLU: they are raising money to “defend asylum-seeking parents forcibly separated from their children.” https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights
You can donate to Immigrant Families Together:A small network of mothers and allies who have been reuniting children with their parents and then providing them with support, necessities and legal aid while they await hearings. (I’ve personally done work with this org.)
https://immigrantfamiliestogether.com
It’s also INCREDIBLY important to keep putting pressure on your representatives to do everything in their power to stop this. You can DM Resistbot on Twitter with the word “RESIST” and it will find all your reps and their contact info. You can even compose your letter right there in the DM or get the number and call immediately. If you don’t use Twitter, you can also TEXT “Resist” to 50409 to do the same thing. Do it every day. Do it tirelessly until this nightmare ends.
See? And now you are helping the helpless and defending the defenseless. THAT makes you a good person.
