John Kelly, Trump, and ICE have adopted the plot of Sophie’s Choice as policy. The most outrageous of all the Trump outrages. What can lawyers do to stop it? Seek injunctions and constitutional torts claims ASAP. Thanks, @chrislhayes for in-depth coverage. msnbc.com/all-in/watch/t…
2/ The 14th Amendment applies to all *persons*, not just citizens: “No State shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” And it applies to feds, too
3/ The 5th Amendment also applies to “persons,” not just citizens: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” And the 8th A. states: “cruel and unusual punishments [shall not be] inflicted.”
4/ Why cruel and unusual “punishment”? It should be Kelly has framed this policy as a deterrent to human beings entering the country. Some of them are seeking asylum legally. All are human beings, not animals. If it looks like a punishment, if it sounds like a punishment...
5/ And the Kelly/ICE Sophie’s Choice policy is actual detention and a condition of that detention. This is a relatively clear violation of the 8th Amendment. It’s also a violation of due process and the fundamental rights under equal protection.
6/ I meant to write above that “It should be self-evident” that Kelly and ICE are violating the 8th A. with cruel and unusual punishment. Lawyers should get an injunction the shut down the Sophie’s Choice policy. I wrote this last summer on this policy: shugerblog.com/2017/08/01/the…
7/ John Kelly as DHS Sec. talked about adopting this evil policy *as a deterrent* in March '17, just after his confirmation: "Yes I'm considering (separating children from parents), in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network." cnn.com/2017/03/06/pol…
8/ America has been forcibly separating parents from children for most of our history, and as a racist policy, as @marthasjones_ shows powerfully w/visuals of slave auctions. I'd add that mass incarceration continues our shameful tradition. medium.com/series/separat…
This isn't just Trump policy. It was earlier gross incompetence, too. PBS is reporting that the feds lost track of kids and released them to human traffickers in 2014-2016. Monstrous scandal. But a formal policy is evil.
Give credit (and donations!) to the @ACLU. They filed suit against ICE in March to end this evil policy. npr.org/sections/thetw…
9/ “Whether or not the Trump administration wants to call this a 'policy,' it certainly is engaged in a widespread practice of tearing children away from their parents. A national class-action lawsuit is appropriate because this is a national practice," Lee Gelernt @ACLU said...
10/ Now these parents should sue for damages and to get their kids back. Bivens allows damages for constitutional violations. But money obviously is not the remedy. The feds must commit massive resources to reunify these families. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bivens_v.…
11/ I just saw Trump’s tweet blaming the Democrats for this policy. This is evil propaganda gaslighting. This is policy is Trump’s, Kelly’s, and DHS Sec. Nielsen’s. Links will follow.
12/ May 16: DHS Sec. Nielsen defends this separation policy: denverpost.com/2018/05/16/kir…
13/ May 15: Trump administration plans to increase family separations at border: politico.com/story/2018/05/…
14/ As noted before, John Kelly announced this family separation policy explicitly as a punitive deterrent in March 2017: amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/03/06…
15/ This is an appropriate meme. Thanks, @christinesharp
