Do like I did: conduct a computer search using this line: “How many children were separated from accompanying adults and detained during the Obama Administration?” You’ll be shocked as I was to find almost universal statements that such did not happen under the past Administration. And each story stating this quickly jumped on the recent travesty of approximately 3000 children separated from adults upon illegal U.S. entry under THIS Administration.
So how did the Obama Administration handle the problem?
Mainstream Media still does not believe American citizens are capable of or will take the time to do a little research — even on such a controversial issue. But this American citizen did.
It seems that conveniently, the Obama Department of Homeland Security either did not keep accurate records of such separations or those records are buried somewhere far away from the light of certain exposure if discovered. Remember this: Obama himself bragged about the huge number of deportations his Immigration officials initiated on his watch — far more than have occurred in the first year of the Trump Administration. Knowing that begs a question: “Were all of those deportees adults that brought no children?” And even a second question: “How could the Obama Administration under such circumstances — and there surely was a vast number of juvenile children with their parents and other adults — not deal with children caught-up in those detentions?”
Rather than just take for granted that all members of the Obama Administration were Mother Teresa models whose driving purpose was to keep every illegal child with their illegal parent(s), I decided to do a little digging. What I discovered was a little different than the perspective left by the Obama folks when they cleaned out their office.
The “Rest of the Story”
“The Obama administration’s strategy was to expedite deportations of refugee children oftentimes without a lawyer, and jail refugee mothers with children as a deterrent,” said Matthew Kolken, an immigration lawyer whose clients include children seeking political asylum. “Yes, Trump’s zero-tolerance policy is concerning, but it isn’t a huge departure from what we saw under Obama, as 52 percent of all federal criminal prosecutions were for immigration-related crimes when he left office.”
In late May, the American Civil Liberties Union announced that it had obtained thousands of government documents that showed evidence of “the pervasive abuse and neglect of unaccompanied immigrant children detained by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection” during the Obama presidency, from 2009 through 2014.
“These documents provide a glimpse into a federal immigration enforcement system marked by brutality and lawlessness,” Mitra Ebadolahi, ACLU Border Litigation Project staff attorney, said in a report about the abuses. “All human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their immigration status — and children, in particular, deserve special protection.”
“Like so much else in immigration, this administration has taken weapons that Obama’s folks loaded and left on the table on the way out and then they picked these weapons up and started firing, and that’s what’s happened here,” Free said. “The previous administration created and stood up this infrastructure and refused to demand accountability from the people that were responsible for running it, and now you have its predictable consequence in the hands of this administration.”
Human Rights Watch documented inhumane conditions at various family detention facilities. “Women and children must frequently go without showering while in these cells, regardless of the length of time they are held,” the report said. “In some cases, holding cells lack toilet paper or do not provide sanitary pads or tampons for women and girls who are menstruating.”
Charles Kuck, a past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told Fox News the outcry over the treatment of children arriving at the border is, in some respect, mind-boggling. “This is not new,” Kuck said. “What is new is how we’re handling it publicly.”
A major reason for the outcry, Kuck said, is the knee-jerk tendency to lash out at this president’s actions and put them in disproportionate perspective. “Everyone in [immigration law] was screaming from the rooftops about Obama” detaining families, Kuck said. “Obama said they had to enforce the law so that conservatives in Congress will fix the law.”
Obama administration officials also argued they had to implement tough enforcement for the sake of providing a deterrent. They considered separating children from parents as they weighed how to deal with the Central American surge, but decided against it, The New York Times reported.
“It was the practice of the Obama administration to abuse refugee children, and refugee mothers with children,” Kolken said. “I don’t really care which type of abuse or abuser people find more abhorrent, because it is all abuse, and it is all abhorrent.”
Immigration authorities say detention is necessary because many people who are released pending an immigration hearing never show up to court. Many advocates for more lenient policies have pushed for alternatives — such as ankle monitors — to detention for asylum seekers and others who are not deemed a danger to the public.
“It’s exponentially worse when the children are taken away,” Kuck said, adding that the real solution is congressional action to fix immigration. “The pressure is on Congress. But one side wants to return them, and the other side deems that unacceptable.”
Bullet Points
- Why no incessant drumbeats of war against President Obama by the Media for his Administration’s detaining young children separated from parents?
- Why then does this same Media cry daily against Trump and all Conservatives for not caring about children, the jailing of children, and the travesty of not allowing everyone from any other country into the U.S.?
- Why has there been NO mention of the conditions in which those illegal children were kept under Obama — including being held in cages?
- Does the fact that NO members of Congress introduced legislation to fix those problems for those children and their parents fall at the feet of the Obama White House or members of Congress for responsibility?
- Why hasn’t Congress taken action to resolve this issue — under Clinton, Bush, or Obama, and now Trump?
Summary
It’s obvious that this president hasn’t and will not get any breaks from the Mainstream Media. When all three of the major TV networks have been rated as providing bad “Trump” news 90+ percent of the time, Americans are forced to dig for truthful news about our government on their own. Know what: that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
More and more I am finding Americans who while watching and listening to “attack tv and radio,” realize that the stories the Media is dishing out do not parallel what these Americans are seeing in their own lives: lower taxes, lower unemployment, pay increases, new companies with new jobs, and respect from foreign governments unseen for at least 8 years. What has changed?
Quite a bit under this President. And Americans understand that the policies and attitudes that were emitted from the Obama White House have been vacated by this President and replaced with good reports of good things for the U.S., and through the U.S., good things for other countries, too.
Barack Obama before he really got started with his promise to “initiate fundamental change to this country” was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. That was a symbolic gesture at best but was based on NO substantive accomplishments by Mr. Obama. And “accomplishments” went downhill for him after that prize award. Immigration issues were a thorn in his flesh — even if the Mainstream Media pretty much gave him a pass. But “Truth will out.” And it did. The “could do no wrong” leader discovered that governing a nation — THIS nation — could not be accomplished successfully by simply being cool and suave while giving “good” speeches.
Americans now have a benchmark to use in Obama — Trump accomplishment measurements. In many categories, President Trump has already accomplished far more than did O in 2 terms. But let’s not judge this President’s success or failure in office just yet: let’s wait a few years. Why? You’ve heard and seen Democrat pundits reward Obama for ALL of the economic success in the last 18 months. Of course, they do so in error. But let’s wait a while to see if Trump can achieve even more of his promises from his 2016 campaign.
Regarding illegal immigration: something definitive and comprehensive MUST be done. Immigration laws are antiquated, unbending, and unacceptable. Americans want the illegal immigration problem addressed and resolved. Most Americans agree that “illegal” means “illegal!” And people who do illegal things break the law. Americans expect all who break laws to receive whatever penalties accompany each law broken. Until those laws are changed, Americans expect U.S. immigration laws to be enforced. Without enforcement of laws, what purpose does having laws at all serve?
How to fix illegal immigration? There are two ways that will work separately, or preferably together. These two are the only viable options that could fairly and comprehensively solve the problem:
- Congressional revision of current immigration laws with a comprehensive replacement or revisions. No one but Congress can possibly make that happen. AND THAT’S WHAT THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO DO! Why hasn’t that already happened? Partisan Party Politics.
- Close U.S. borders completely: allow NO illegals into the country. This too is a tough one — but if implemented could be effective. “If” all illegals who are contemplating coming into the U.S. illegally knew that they would not be allowed in period unless completing one of the legal ways to emigrate to the U.S., they would stop attempting to break-through our borders. This would save millions of dollars these illegals are forced to pay smugglers AND save illegals’ lives. Many are lost from the grueling conditions that prevail when human traffickers and smugglers transport them through deserts in 100+ degree temperatures to cross the U.S. border illegally.
What Honduran mother would send a child with a human trafficker to attempt an illegal crossing of the U.S. border knowing that being stopped short before gaining illegal entry or immediately taken back across that border when discovered was going to happen EVERY TIME? They wouldn’t.
Part of the legislative “fix” cries for a major streamlining of the process that is antiquated and ineffective.
Congress needs to act, and act now. U.S. Presidents can only apply a temporary fix with an Executive Order. And we’ve seen this President struggle to enact such successfully because of certain court action taken by immigration specialists.
It takes Congress.
Congress MUST act, and act NOW! Children’s lives are at stake.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
