A NATIONAL SHAME

There has been public outrage over the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents as a way to discourage refugees from...
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There has been public outrage over the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents as a way to discourage refugees from coming to the US.

On June 26 U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw ruled that the Trump administration must reunify the children it had separated from migrant parents who had entered illegally and confronted border personnel asking for asylum. Most are refugees fleeing violence in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

The judge set as deadlines for reunification July 10th for those under five years of age, and July 26th for those between ages five and seventeen. As of Thursday, two days after the first deadline, the Trump administration said it had reunited only 57 of the 103 children under five years of age, claiming various reasons as to why it couldn’t reunite the rest. One excuse was that twelve parents had already been deported back to their country of origin. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) the government had misled some parents into believing they could only get their children back if they agreed to deportation. It is asking the court that the government be given one week to reunite the deported parents with their children, with the clock beginning as soon as the parents can get travel documents together for their children.

Regarding the July 26th deadline for the more than 2000 separated children, age five and older, the ACLU is asking that the government also be required to give a daily update as to its progress. The two sides will meet in court later today.

This is a composite photograph I created to put across the sense of darkness felt by these migrant children experiencing government imposed parental separation.
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