The evolving events and information that have been the focus of countless news outlets regarding the separation of parents and their children at the U.S.-Mexico border have revealed polarizing and unsettling sides to opinionated people all over the internet — from average nobodies to notable names in power.
Sifting through directionless tweets from the president, continuous news updates from endless sources and definitively differing views between unsympathetic naysayers trumpeting fake news claims and talk show hosts lambasting the heartlessness of how terribly these events have unfolded — it can be difficult to separate the facts from the bullshit.
However, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to feel compassion; to be a decent, empathetic human being who looks beyond politics and sees others for who they are and how they are being treated.
To be a person who feels for fellow human beings who are suffering — indescribably — and being forcefully separated from their own children should not be an exhaustive effort.
Proudly donning a tinfoil hat and mindlessly spouting conspiracy theories on Facebook merely detracts from the firestorm of human rights violations that have taken place since this entire mess began.
It gives room for a debate that shouldn’t exist to begin with — whether these people actually deserve the disgusting treatment they’ve been given.
The Time magazine cover that features the now widely recognized young migrant girl who is crying and looking up at an unfazed Trump, with the words “Welcome to America” beside them in white says it all.
Those who are fleeing their country out of fear in hopes of finding a better life and a safer place for their children — who are seeking asylum to escape the dangers of their home countries — should not all be labelled and cast aside as ruthless criminals who are undeserving of concern, care or basic rights.
I will not pretend to be an expert about American immigration laws or imply that I know what’s best in terms of the legality issues that surround people attempting to enter the U.S. illegally or otherwise.
But, I’m not about to stay quiet when children have been put in cages, a 10-year-old girl with Down Syndrome was taken away from her family to be held in a detention centre and, despite the efforts to end most family separations at the border, thousands of children have still not been reunited with their parents and are suffering from abuse while their fate remains uncertain.
On June 15 Trump stated, “I hate the children being taken away. The Democrats have to change their law. That’s their law.”
Reading legitimate information surrounding the blame that Trump has unsurprisingly cast towards the Democrats about this policy comes up with one conclusion — his claims are false.
In April, the Trump administration began to persecute as many border-crossing people as possible. The “zero-tolerance policy” applies to all adults, regardless of whether or not they have children with them when they attempt to cross the border.
As the Justice Department is unable to prosecute children along with their parents, the outcome has been a rise in parent-child separations.
This policy was implemented and ended by choice.
People who baselessly point fingers at Obama for utilizing this policy to begin with, have not looked critically at the overall situation.
There are legal loopholes that Trump has jumped through and the role that the Trump Administration has played in separating these families over the past few months is a large one.
The detailed and thorough article that the Washington Post published entitled, “The facts about Trump’s policy of separating families at the border,” is a credible example that deconstructs several commonly believed misconceptions.
The Time magazine cover that features the now widely recognized young migrant girl who is crying and looking up at an unfazed Trump, with the words “Welcome to America” beside them in white says it all.
The simple, yet poignant message rings true and has become a reality that is hard to shake.
It is a reflection of a failing government that has allowed these atrocities to occur and people, no matter who you are, should feel outraged by it.
Instead of disbelieving what appeared to be the very genuine reaction of news anchor Rachel Maddow and criticizing her for showing outward compassion and heartbroken disbelief over the disturbing information that she had to read on-air — maybe cast those critical stones towards Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, whose response when he appeared on Fox News was a cruel, “Womp womp.”
The incomparable Julie Andrews said it best in a social media post she shared last week , “Can they surmount the emotional trauma of this horrific experience? If not, I fear they may one day roam in our midst, having become the personification of the problems that these misguided efforts claim to address.”
