Families separated on the US border
The Trump administration is under fire for its harsh immigration policy: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the practice of separating children from parents caught crossing the border illegally and holding them in provisional camps while their parents are put in prison. The Democrats and certain sections of the Republican party as well as First Lady Melania Trump have also criticised the practice. Commentators join the chorus of complaints.
A form of child torture
Separating the children of illegal immigrants from their parents is not only inhuman but also violates the US constitution, The Independent writes in outrage:
“While their parents have not yet been convicted of any crime, though detained for illegal entry, their children are certainly innocent; all concerned are suffering from what the American constitution terms a cruel and unusual punishment. It is not too strong to regard it as a form of mental torture. Hundreds are held in converted WalMart stores or warehouses, and there has been whisperings that a city of tents is due to be set up in the Texan desert. It is ridiculous as well as cruel.”
Is Trump ashamed of his policy?
After coming under attack for his migration policy US President Trump has blamed the Democratic Party for its harsh measures, stating that current law dictates that families should be separated. Nonsense, De Volkskrant rails:
“Typical Trump: of course others are to blame. Even though there's not a single law that stipulates that children must be separated from their parents, and even though Trump has dared to do something that no president before him has attempted, and even though in his eyes it was necessary to deter asylum seekers, fortune seekers and other refugees, he doesn't dare take responsibility for his policy. ... Could it be that the widespread indignation has struck fear into his heart after all? ... Of course he's operating on a legal basis that was in place before he took office. ... Nevertheless this tactic is a new trick of Trump's which his predecessors Obama and Bush shied away from.”