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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Children kept in cages - Texas

237 replies

JerushaAbbott · 18/06/2018 04:31

This article in the Guardian today: Children in cages.

What can a non-US citizen do? I know there are undoubtedly worse atrocities happening somewhere in the world, but this article has shocked me.

When I was younger I was involved in anti-apartheid demos, CND, Greenham etc. Now I feel hopeless.

OP posts:
JerushaAbbott · 18/06/2018 04:35

My AIBU is this - am I being unreasonable to want to do something constructive to stop this?

OP posts:
CocoDeMoll · 18/06/2018 04:36

That’s so fucking disgusting. How can someone who enforces separating and traumatising children live with them self. Why is there not more outrage about this in the states?!

MrBloomsLeftVeg · 18/06/2018 04:40

There is massive outcry. Trump has been claiming it's a product of the Obama administration. There are various protests/fundraising for lawyers to reunite families/lobbying government. Look at the together rising charity

JerushaAbbott · 18/06/2018 04:48

That’s a great link - really helpful.

Together Rising

Here’s a link to some background in today’s Guardian: Guardian article

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Shadow666 · 18/06/2018 05:18

It awful. There was a story about a child being pulled away from its mother as they were being breastfed. It's inhumane and disgusting and blaming the Obama administration for this is an outright lie. This is absolutely down to the Trump administration and Jeff Sessions.

My advice is to keep sharing the story. Spread it on Facebook, spread it on Twitter. The more attention it gets, the more likely there will be an end to it.

SoaringSwallow · 18/06/2018 07:32

Trump has outright said it's the current democrats' fault too!! This should be classed as a crime against humanity and he should be in front of the International Criminal Court for it.

"Should"

And just as bad are the people "following orders". They should know it's no legal defense.

You can only do this to people and then go home to your own family, if you've dehumanised them. You cannot see them as people just like yourself.

JerushaAbbott · 18/06/2018 07:37

Lots of recent discussion and further links about this towards the end of the amazing long-running Trump thread: here.

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AvocadosBeforeMortgages · 18/06/2018 07:40

I saw the thread title and thought it was going to be a horrific case of parental child cruelty where they've kept their kids out of sight for years under the guise of home schooling and have actually been abusing and neglecting them for years.

Nope, it's a Trump and government approved immigration deterrent scheme.

It's disgusting.

postcardsfrom · 18/06/2018 08:15

The US has lost it’s heart, I truly believe that and i’ve married an American and have been going there regularly for 30 years. The lack of empathy I see is astounding to me. There are people who will defend this because they ‘need to get tough’ on ‘illegals’. Despite the school shootings every WEEK gun ownership is defended. The richest country in he world doesn’t provide adequate health care for its own people and many, many Americans think this is okay. Their police rarely face the consequence of shooting citizens, many Americans think that’s okay too. They’ve lost their heart and are in danger of losing their soul too.

Shadow666 · 18/06/2018 11:12

Trump has outright said it's the current democrats' fault too!!

Trump initially blamed it on the Obama administration. This is a lie.

He then blamed it on congress. This is also a lie.

This situation is 100% the result of policy created by his own administration and he could stop it now, if he wanted.

He doesn't want to though, so he and his administration will continue to lie. Because that is the kind of evil assholes they are.

Forget the propaganda video they released. This isn't about unaccompanied minors crossing the border, this is about the forced separation of children from their families. Many of these kids are under 5. It's wrong and it's inhumane. Don't believe any of the bullshit that they are throwing around to try and hide that fact.

BottleOfJameson · 18/06/2018 11:13

YANBU it's absolutely atrocious.

LakieLady · 18/06/2018 11:19

I don't know how any Trump voter can live with their conscience after seeing things like that.

postcardsfrom · 18/06/2018 11:23

The Trump supporting, conservative press are reporting it as - the kids are being kept in conditions better than millions of 'poor' American kids live in, that it's the parents fault anyway, that they aren't in 'cages' they're being well looked after and costing tax payer money and leading with stories about 'illegals' killing US citizens in hit and runs or committing robberies etc. as a detraction from the press.
Seriously - they have lost their humanity.

postcardsfrom · 18/06/2018 11:25

Headlines like the one below - which have sweet FA to do with the separation of families at all... this is a story about a hit and run in Michigan - which has what exactly to do with children being caged exactly in a different state??

'Family Separation: Illegal Alien from Mexico Charged with Killing 14-Year-Old Boy Riding His Bike'

Shadow666 · 18/06/2018 11:27

Trump initially blamed it on the Obama administration. This is a lie.

Actually, I'm sorry, he blamed it on a Democrat law not Obama law. No one has any idea what law he is talking about. It's a lie. There is no law saying that children have to be separated from their parents.

MotherWol · 18/06/2018 12:05

This Getty Images story is heartbreaking. The violence in Honduras is terrifying - wouldn't you do anything you could to get your children out of the country with one of the highest murder rates in the world? You have to be in the country in order to claim asylum, only people are arriving and being arrested and separated from their children.

Is there anything we can do to help? Are there charities who can offer legal representation for children and families, or supplies?

UpstartCrow · 18/06/2018 12:08

How bad does this have to get? They are handing children to child traffickers and it barely makes a ripple.

Ohsuchaperfectday · 18/06/2018 12:19

Wow. Shock

What concerns me is types of personalty that maybe drawn to this work.. Telling 5 year old s to settle down whilst playing in a fucking cage. I'd be very concerned about sexual abuse and general abuse esp if people are struggling to get in

Charolais · 18/06/2018 18:27

I don't know how any Trump voter can live with their conscience after seeing things like that

I’m a Trump voter so maybe I can answer your question.

Trump voters love America and the constitution. America is a nation of laws and NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW. Trump voters are also not as gullible as people who believe everything they read in The Guardian.

I came into the U.S. as a legal immigrant from the U.K. and to accomplish that I had to prove I could support myself, was healthy and had no criminal past. I even had to carry my chest X-rays on the plane with me.

The Obama administration, just like the Trump administrations is doing, followed the law.

Here are some links.
www.snopes.com/fact-check/toddler-cage-photo/

video.foxnews.com/v/5790967281001/?#sp=show-clips

www.snopes.com/fact-check/is-trump-putting-children-tent-cities/

There is much more if anyone cares to do some research. But where were you in 2014 when this was happening? I’ll tell you; it was because the Guardian was protecting Obama and not reporting it. It’s open season on Trump though.

I live in an rural agricultural area of the western U.S. and since I moved to this part of the country in the 80’s the rise in the Hispanic population has gone through the roof.

Out here in the west tiny little one horse farming towns have > tripled in size with the demographics now being 85% Hispanic or more. Because of illegal immigration these once peaceful farming towns now have drive-by shootings, police chases, gang related murders and gang initiation murders. People have been shot while walking along quiet little rural roads for wearing the wrong colors. The illegal immigrants are bring their violent culture with them - the same violence you cry over them having to flee!

I must add that many of the immigrants, the legal ones, have started business and are thriving. The businesses are not just taco stands either. They are owning or running agricultural related businesses.

The problem is the undocumented illegals, the people who want to expand their violent criminal enterprises across the U.S.

Some skilled British people I know have tried to emigrate to the U.S. and have found it to be impossible. It was not at all easy for me to emigrate here, and even though I had an American husband and a U.S. born child I was informed by immigration officials that did not give me the automatic right to live here. Being a U.S. citizen is not the RIGHT of everyone in the world.

When I have to go into these small towns I mentioned above, I know all those Hispanic people did not go through the process that I did to be here.

I also know in the U.K. if parents break the law and are arrested the children are separated from them. I also know that in the U.K. those same children might even be taken away from the parents forever by forced adoption.

Trump voters do not want the U.S. to end up like Europe.

sleepingdragons · 18/06/2018 18:31

Trump voters do not want the U.S. to end up like Europe.

Europe doesn't want to end up like the US, believe me.

We look at what your country is becoming with absolute horror.

Maelstrop · 18/06/2018 18:46

Wonder if he’s got divorce Melania for publicly speaking out against this?

Kursk · 18/06/2018 19:02

Charolais

A very good post. We also moved from the UK to the US legally. DH had to go through the visa process it took 18 months and $2500 to do. He subsequently became a US citizen, and I am proud of him for that.

Every time it comes up in conversation that DH became a US citizen, the first thing Americans say to him is thank you.

We are not Trump supporters (Libertarian) but I also feel strongly that illigal immigration should be controlled somehow.

MixedHerbs · 18/06/2018 19:07

No one is above the law.

Crack me up.

Kursk · 18/06/2018 19:11

MixedHerbs

No one is above the law in accordance to the constitution. It was one of DH’s citizenship questions

Failingat40 · 18/06/2018 19:12

@Charolais 🙌🏼