Thread by @TomJawetz

BREAKING: Another Friday evening special, this time apparently calling for mass, prolonged detention of asylum seekers in military facilities. /1 thehill.com/homenews/admin…

Let's recap the president's #tantrump over the past few days to getting completely rolled by Congress in his amateurish request for money to build a "big, beautiful wall." /2

First: Trump is now calling up the National Guard, without any plan whatever, so he can look super tough even though there's--literally--nothing for them to do on the southwest border. /3

Second: Sessions is directing US Attorneys along the southwest border to accept every case of illegal entry referred to them for prosecution. Many more bona fide asylum seekers likely will be prosecuted and imprisoned as a result. /4

In addition to being expensive and burdensome to federal courts, the US Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Prisons, there's no evidence it will even deter people from coming--especially people fleeing persecution and violence.

On the flip side, it is maximally cruel. /5

Third: The president will be pushing legislation--probably throughout the Spring and Summer--to eliminate long-standing, bipartisan protections for children fleeing violence and trafficking and asylum seekers fleeing persecution.

Republicans will campaign on the issue. /6

Fourth: Tonight we learned the administration wants to massively expand the prolonged detention of mostly asylum seekers in military facilities.

This just weeks after Congress in the omnibus ordered the administration to REDUCE the number of people in immigration detention. /7

I want to discuss this as political, irresponsible, etc. Trump himself acknowledges that unauthorized border crossings are at a 46-year low.

Over the past six months, each Border Patrol agent has only apprehended ONE person about every SEVENTEEN days. /8

But it's really more than that. There is no one issue this administration cares about--from the top down--than demonizing immigrants to serve any number of cynical, nefarious, or just purely political purposes. /9

The attacks on immigrant and refugee communities are constant & unforgiving. Throughout this week, beginning with the Easter attack on #DACA recipients, and continuing to new, dangerous policies to detain and imprison asylum seekers and children, had been brutal. /10

Everything the administration is doing here demeans who we are and what we stand for as a country. The actions of the past week send a clear message to countries in Europe and elsewhere that they, too, can close their doors to refugees. /11

This administration can't possibly end a moment too soon. We need to fight back with every fiber of our being but even that isn't enough. We need to also use this time to build something better, more durable, so we do not find ourselves back here again in 5, 10, or 20 years. /12

And how could I forget that AG Sessions also imposed Immigration Judge case completion quotas also this week... /13