In only 6 weeks, 2,000 children have been separated at the US border, triggering official request by @UN to the US government to stop. 1/
Donald Trump is using migrant children as hostages to force democrats to discuss border policy reform 2/
In Italy as well, interior minister @matteosalvinimi is closing ports to NGOs and their boats of rescued migrants to boost its political capital. Migrants as hostages in this case as well. 3/
Both cases reveal point made by law scholar Francois Crepeau on how our democracies are inadequate to deal with refugees and migrant issues for a simple structural reason: migrants don't vote. 4/
Main challenge for the future is to find global governance mechanisms that make sure migrants cannot be held hostages and used for bargaining in internal and foreign political game. 5/5
