There’s a red flag with the second, potentially manufactured, issue. Report on 1500 kids comes from Congress; it seems the government is trying to justify changes to ORR polices re: release of minors to adults. ORR hasn’t lost these kids.
People are rightfully fearful of following up with ORR, who has used sponsors’ info to refer to ICE. Parents have been placed in remocal proceedings following contact with ORR to get their kids out.
This admin may be looking to manufacture a crisis to justify toughening release procedures so that 1. Kids are not released or 2. Scrutiny leads to removal proceedings for parents. Either way, the goal is to instill fear.
Does the government’s responsibility towards minors in custody include making sure they’re released to safe places? Of course. But here, it’s being used as a weapon of terror, not a real concern for the best interests of these children.
#StopSeparatingChildren should be the goal. Trump admin is using a manufactured issue to make it harder for children to be released and get more info on sponsor parents so that they too are placed in removal proceedings.
Once detained - only in cases where the children came unaccompanied and only for the purpose of securing release to sponsors - children should be protected from abuse, not at hands of made-up “traffickers”, but actually by the people running facilities contracted by the ORR.
