This #SaturdayMorning I'm asking what any human with an ounce of compassion is asking.
#WhereAreTheChildren
Here's what we know so far about the 1,475 migrant children who are reportedly "lost" in custody over the last year by HHS.
(THREAD)
#WhereAreTheChildren
Here's what we know so far about the 1,475 migrant children who are reportedly "lost" in custody over the last year by HHS.
(THREAD)
(2) These are the children of migrants who went to the border unaccompanied in the last year, many seeking asylum. They were placed in sponsor homes by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Since 2013, 180,000 children have crossed the border unaccompanied.
Since 2013, 180,000 children have crossed the border unaccompanied.
(3) In 2016, an AP investigation found that more than two dozen of these children had been sent to homes where they were sexually assaulted, starved, and forced to work.
Unlike foster homes, these sponsors didn't go through background checks or have regular home visits.
Unlike foster homes, these sponsors didn't go through background checks or have regular home visits.
(4) This gross negligence ensured some of these children fell into the hands of traffickers. It's important to note that we learned of this nearly two years ago and HHS promised at that time that reforms to the process would be made.
That hasn't happened.
That hasn't happened.
(5) Now that Sessions has ordered border patrol to separate children from their parents as a matter of protocol, this has become a crisis situation.
Without a system in place that prevents further abuses, it's likely we are condemning some of these children to be trafficked.
Without a system in place that prevents further abuses, it's likely we are condemning some of these children to be trafficked.
(6) Trump, who has referred to children crossing the border as "not so innocent," is now ratcheting up the hateful, dehumanizing rhetoric & painting a false narrative of migrant families.
Formerly, these were teens seeking asylum from violence in places like Honduras & Guatemala
Formerly, these were teens seeking asylum from violence in places like Honduras & Guatemala
(7) Now we're talking about ripping 18-month-old babies from the arms of their parents & placing them in government custody. The same government that has already lost 1,475 children in the last year.
ICE has been holding kids in juvenile detention centers. Sometimes for months.
ICE has been holding kids in juvenile detention centers. Sometimes for months.
(8) The new plan? To house them on military bases in a warehouse environment sounds horrifyingly inhumane when you realize we're talking about infants and toddlers. Who will care for these children?
In the first 13 days of the program, we've taken 658 children from their parents
In the first 13 days of the program, we've taken 658 children from their parents
(9) #WhereAreTheChildren ?
At this point it looks like they are now lost in a growing prison for profit system. We appear to have begun incarcerating migrant children, holding kids in some terrible political game to punish parents seeking a better life.
At this point it looks like they are now lost in a growing prison for profit system. We appear to have begun incarcerating migrant children, holding kids in some terrible political game to punish parents seeking a better life.
(10) Because Session has promised a 100% prosecution rate for illegally crossing the border, courts will struggle with a massive influx of immigration cases. Increased delays will cause longer detentions & separations for kids.
This is a violation of international guidelines.
This is a violation of international guidelines.
(11) The UN adopted and ratified specific protocols for the detention of refugees and asylum seekers in 1951 that generally prohibit detaining these people and certainly from the conditions that families are now exposed to.
And under US law, even non-citizens have due process.
And under US law, even non-citizens have due process.
(12) This is more than a mounting human rights crisis. This administration appears to be acting with intent to persecute asylum seekers by punishing children.
We seem perilously close to massive juvenile detention centers that look suspiciously like internment camps for children
We seem perilously close to massive juvenile detention centers that look suspiciously like internment camps for children
(13) That should ring every alarm bell we have. The Holocaust, Japanese internment camps. Have we not learned this lesson?
"The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference."
#WhereAreTheChildren
"The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference."
#WhereAreTheChildren
