Thread by @JerylBier

1/ Something weird about this report...
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U.S. has world's highest rate of detained kids; should be 'last resort,' says U.N.
nbcnews.com/news/latino/u-… via @nbcnews

2/ "The United States detains an average of 60 out of every 100,000 children in its justice system or immigration-related custody..."

Using this rate, and based on 74,200,000 children under 18 in the US (aecf.org/resources/the-…), that comes to only 44,520.

3/ According to Pew, border agents picked up 54,000 unaccompanied children in 2018 (pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019…). Obviously there are fluctuations throughout the year, but it seems the US rate of detention is solely based on the fact people are sending kids to the US by themselves.

4/ Obviously it takes time to process these children (we can't just release them on their own just so we can say we aren't "detaining" them). I am also not discounting that the Trump admin has botched the situation with its separation policy.

5/ But it's not like the Obama admin resolved the problem of how to not detain children that are sent to the US on their own. Sure, we could let them fend for themselves like other countries most likely do, but we wouldn't do that.

6/ It seems to me this "rate of detention" has been cherry-picked by some in the media (and politicians) to fulfill the "what does the US do wrong" requirement that seems to come with the release of reports like these.
omnibook.com/view/e0623280-…

7/ One reason for my skepticism is this list below that shows rate of institutionalization of children throughout the world. This comes from the same UN report. Note that the US is in the *lowest* category.

8/ I have not even come close to examining this whole report, but I would just caution those looking to fault the US to delve more deeply before just repeated the "the US has the worst rate of child detention" line.

9/ Certainly we are not perfect (and as I have said, the Trump admin had terrible judgment with the child separation policy), but I am not sure the US is really the apparent monster that reports seem to suggest.

If I am wrong, feel free to comment below.
/End