Trump puts kids in cages because he wants his wall. How low can he go? The authoritarian shitshow continues ...

[Gumpendorf]

previous thread

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/3269815-The-slog-of-this-authoritarian-shitshow-is-grinding-us-all-down-My-inspiration-has-gone-into-hiding-with-Melania-Knock-yourselves-out-Trump-cont

I used to work with someone who campaigned for the ending of immigration detention of children in the UK.

The UK's currently down to 71 children in immigration detention in 2016, although it's been much higher in the past. (www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/immigration-detention-in-the-uk/)

When families with children are detained, there is no policy to separate them. In fact, what there's been arguing over is the whether the accommodation for families-with-their-children is suitable.

Eg. Government accused of scrapping pledge to end child detention in prison-style immigration removal centres
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/child-detention-immigration-centres-scrapped-broken-promise-tinsley-house-cedars-barnados-home-a7149981.html
Cedars was the UK’s first pre-departure accommodation specially designed for families being removed from the UK. Support there is provided by the children’s charity Barnardos and it features apartment-style accommodation for families and a welcoming appearance, resembling a suburban house.

The families and children living there will now be moved to a self-contained unit at Tinsley House removal centre – a secure detention centre surrounded bya chain-link fence, run by G4S that resembles a prison.

Lisa Nandy, a Labour MP, said the policy announcement effectively amounted to the scrapping of the Government’s pledge to end child detention. “On the last day of Parliament Ministers quietly abandoned the promise to end the immigration detention of children,” she said. “Totally indefensible.”

I'm not happy with the moving of families back to Tinsley House, but it's a million miles from the Trump policy of intentionally separating all children from their families and throwing them into warehouses unaccompanied. That's before we even get to the bit where the Trump admin doesn't have a mechanism for reuniting the children with their parents, and admits the babies it took may never go back to their parents.

x-posted. Thanks, I'll read that study now.

In the meanwhile, craxmum, I'd be interested in hearing what you think on the subject, as well as your links.

Yep, that report is about exactly the sort of shit I used to help friend work on. Border Agency can behave unspeakably.

If that's bad on the small scale, of individual cases, where children are not detained but are with another parent or in proper foster care, and obviously suffer from huge anxiety about the parent in detention, then imagine what damage this US policy of automatic mass separation and detention has done.

This is an interesting interview with James Comey, especially on Trump, impeachment and wakening America.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/21/james-comey-yes-the-rule-of-law-is-in-danger-in-america

, it is “entirely possible” that even if the facts against Trump are damning, he won’t be impeached or removed because Republicans control both houses of Congress.
^He sets out instead his alternative hope, which he acknowledges some might find odd. “I almost hope that the American people are not relieved of their obligation to go to the polls in 2020 and decide what the values of the American president should be.” He worries that impeachment would short-circuit a necessary process, and would at the same time “risk driving a division into our country that would be long lasting … If it’s outsourced [to Congress], it’ll feed a narrative that there was a coup by the deep state and blah, blah, blah.” Better that Americans get rid of Trump themselves, at the ballot box.
But will they? “I’m optimistic that, as the conversation continues in our country, which I’m trying to be part of for the next two and a half years, the sleeping giant will be awakened. I think of America as a bell curve. There’s wingnuts at either end and then the great lump in the middle is everybody else. And they’re busy and distracted and that giant, that lump, only awakens every so often in America. And I think the giant is stirring. I think the giant is stirred by images of children.”^

O'Donnell here, with Chris Hayes and the Flores Case lawyer, Peter Schey. Worth the time to view:

@PerkingFaintly
What can I add to what has been said before? I am horrified by the practice. I am an immigrant myself and had a minor blip with my Tier 2 visa renewal earlier this year (due to an admin error in the processing centre). Took a month and £3K to put right. Had a lapse of common sense moment and told about this to DC's health visitor (being very upset and stressed about it) - and was referred then without my knowledge to social services. Thus my investigations on this topic.

Crax I'm sorry that happened. It all stinks.

I'm totally with Comey (and I'm no fan), Gump. Impeachment would be a huge mistake, the risks are too great for it to be tested in this toxic political environment. The ballot box and criminal justice system should deliver the resolution of ejecting T. and his cohort, and then holding them all to account in the courts. That would be the real test of the resilience of American democracy and rule of law.

It's so strange because Duluth isn't "his" people at all. It's very granola. Dollars to donuts there were very few residents among the crowd.

How very scary, craxmum. Hope it's all sorted now.

Sadly, although that report horrifies me, nothing in it surprises me. I wish more people in the UK were paying attention to the behaviour of the Home Office and Border Agency. It's taken the campaign about the Windrush generation to get it onto most people's radar.

(Of course according to some people, friend is a snowflake, do-gooder, champagne-socialist for campaigning for fair, honest, professional treatment for people dealing with the BA. How very dare she...)

'Tensions Run High For Republicans As House Heads To Doomed Immigration Votes'

'A do-nothing Congress is about to do what it does best: nothing.'

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/house-republicans-immigration-votes-meadows-ryan_us_5b2ada2fe4b0321a01cd8de6

@jaketapper
'It’s not an accident that the US government is making it so difficult for journalists, lawmakers, lawyers and others to bring you images and firsthand accounts from these separated parents and children. They are hiding the truth from you because they fear your reaction.'
mobile.twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1009630409020276737

'Trump Fixed Nothing Today
By trading the policy of family separation for one of indefinite detention, the president has only deepened the legal and moral crisis.'

slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/trump-traded-family-separation-for-illegal-indefinite-detention-and-fixed-nothing.html?via=homepage_taps_top

Going back to earlier posts about "I don't understand" and "it doesn't make sense." If you recognise what the game is, it actually makes perfect sense.

What is Donald Trump's family-separation endgame?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-44461772

Polls and results from recent special-election and off-year state-level contests in Virginia and New Jersey offer evidence that Democratic voters are politically engaged and heading to the voting booths in large numbers. As Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz quipped in February, liberals would "crawl over broken glass" to vote in November.
To counteract this, Mr Trump is reportedly seeking "unexpected cultural flashpoints" to get his base equally enthusiastic about voting - particularly in the Trump-friendly states that are 2018's Senate battlegrounds.

And this piece from February, which is proving spot on:

Trump's real plan for 2018
www.axios.com/trump-plan-2018-culture-war-infrastructure-budget-471751f9-7548-4a8d-9c0e-33f509a4626e.html

So ignore the documents and blather today. Here's Trump's real plan for '18:

• A source close to the White House tells me that with an eye to getting Republicans excited about voting for Republicans in midterms, the president this year will be looking for "unexpected cultural flashpoints" — like the NFL and kneeling — that he can latch onto in person and on Twitter.
• The source said Trump "is going to be looking for opportunities to stir up the base, more than focusing on any particular legislation or issue."
• One of D.C.'s savviest Democrats had come to the same conclusion, without my even mentioning it.
• Matt Bennett, c0-founder of the centrist Democratic group Third Way, said: "His administration is cranking away on these Potemkin legislative efforts."
• "But what he's really interested in is storylines revolving around him — driving the conversation with whatever crosses his mind at that moment, and then comes out of his mouth or his fingers."

'The Real Story of Donald Trump Jr.'
www.gq.com/story/real-story-of-donald-trump-jr

'The publisher of National Enquirer has been subpoenaed for records related to its $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model for the right to her story that alleged she had an affair with President Trump.

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that the subpoena, filed by Manhattan federal prosecutors, is asking for information from the publisher, American Media Inc., about its 2016 payment to Karen McDougal. The subpoena is part of a larger probe into Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen.
Investigators are reviewing whether Cohen tried to suppress any potentially damaging information about Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. As part of the probe, investigators are looking into whether Cohen coordinated with American Media to pay McDougal for her story and then not publish her account, the Journal reported.'

thehill.com/homenews/393356-publisher-of-national-enquirer-gets-subpoenaed-in-michael-cohen-investigation

Sorry, I should have been more pro-active and less Eeyore in my posts about UK immigration detention.

The report craxmum cites comes from a charity called Bail for Immigration Detainees, which provides legal advice and representation to migrants detained in removal centres and prisons, and carries out research and policy advocacy to effect change.

They're a good place to find out more about what's going on in the UK, and like most charities appreciate suitable volunteers and donations.
www.biduk.org/pages/2-about-bid

Yes, Perking, so rash to think that the midterms will be the start of the end of T. I don't dismiss the possibility of a second term - yet. Actually makes me feel physically sick, that combined with a disastrous Brexit.

Apparently, immigration control is about controlling crime.

or is it?

2 charts show that crime has dropped as immigration rises in the US

www.businessinsider.com/immigration-declining-levels-of-crime-2018-6

But it's still worth keeping immigrants and refugees in detention centres.

Two important things to keep in mind about Scrotus' apparent change of 'heart'.

1-the children currently in custody are not covered by this EO. In other words, they are no plans (or procedures) to reunite them with their parents or release them to relatives under this EO

2- the privately run 'care centers detention camps where these children are being warehoused are paid approximately $700.00 per day per child to house these children. And many of them are owned or tied to Scrotus financial backers or those of his cronies. And they are all 100% for profit businesses.

3- many of these children will never be reunited with their parents. This means that at some point they will most likely be offered for adoption. Private adoptions are also a lucrative business, especially for lawyers. They're not supposed to be, there are laws against it, but they still are.

It's abhorrent. I hope this ends up in the Hague ICJ. I hope there are severe sanctions and repercussions against the US. I'd like to see countries refusing US citizens entry. I'm willing to suffer whatever I have to for the greater good of waking up Comey's 'sleeping giant'!!!

Heh heh. That's THREE things!

Trump will get a second term. There’s a huge huge number of US voters who are very happy with what he’s doing. In their eyes, he’s fixing immigration, putting American interests first and standing up to the world. Trump is doing exactly what they voted for. He’s making America great. I don’t think that. I think he’s an utter moron. But I’m British. He will get a second term. SAdly.

Papaya, I think you might be right- if he’s not in jail by then.

'GOP immigration push set to flop in embarrassment for Trump.'

'The president has shown he can scare Hill Republicans but frequently cannot get them to vote the way he wants.'

www.politico.com/story/2018/06/21/house-gop-immigration-trump-661214