Thread. -- A couple of predictions, which I really, really hope are wrong.
(1) Some kids are going to get very sick. They might die. Even with good medical care, some of them will already have medical conditions. Their parents know about them. ICE does not.
(1) Some kids are going to get very sick. They might die. Even with good medical care, some of them will already have medical conditions. Their parents know about them. ICE does not.
2/ Their parents would know what to look for, what their medical history is like, etc. Whoever is looking after them now will not. Even leaving aside the heat, crowding, etc., they would be at risk even given good medical care. Which I would not bet on their getting.
3/ The same holds for psychiatric care. These kids are traumatized, and I would not bet on their getting good, humane, competent psychiatric care.
4/ Another prediction: some of these kids will never be reunited with their parents. By all accounts, this policy was ramped up quickly. The record-keeping needed to keep track of which child belongs with which parent is probably not adequate.
5/ Besides, any system of record-keeping would have to involve both ICE and HHS (which is responsible for keeping the kids), and two separate departments means more than double the chaos.
And, of course, some kids are too young to know their parents' names.
And, of course, some kids are too young to know their parents' names.
6/ I predict that the administrative ties between some children and their parents will be broken, and those children may never be able to find their parents.
7/ I also predict that there will be cases of cruelty, abuse, and neglect. It would be hard to run detention camps for so many kids impeccably, especially since, again, they seem to be ramping this up very fast.
8/ So there will not be time to carefully select the most caring, sensitive, and qualified people, even if the Trump administration were, contrary to all indications, willing to pay for them.
9/ I don't think I'm willing to predict this -- the rest of what I've said seems to me likely, and this is just one of the awful things that might happen.
But really, it might.
But really, it might.
10/ Even if, by some miracle which the kids deserve but we do not, none of these things happened, this will still go down as a monstrous episode in our history.
But I'm betting that they do.
We need to stop this NOW.
But I'm betting that they do.
We need to stop this NOW.
