How We Got to the Point of Separating Families Entering the U.S. Illegally
By Ira Mehlman | August 2018
The firestorm that erupted as a result of the Trump administration’s efforts to curb a surge of illegal immigration was decades in the making. The fuse that ultimately led to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement that, among other steps, children and adults illegally entering the United States would be detained separately, had been lit 25 years earlier. In the ensuing years, presidential administrations, Congress, and courts kept adding combustible material to the mix.
If there is one thing about what is currently going on along America’s border that everyone can agree upon, it is that no one wants to see children separated from their parents. While it is true that law enforcement often results in families being separated, the crisis that raged in May and June could have been avoided. It was a direct consequence of laws and policies that could have been fixed, but were not because those who claim to advocate for migrants wanted them to remain broken, and still do.
http://fairus.org/issue/illegal-immigration/how-we-got-point-separating-families-entering-us-illegally
