Does anyone know what family separations are really about?
There was a confrontation at the Republican National Convention between Donald Trump, Jr. and Jacob Soboroff.
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Jacob Soboroff: I know immigration is important to him.
Errol Morris documentary ‘Separated’NBC News Studios/Participant/Fourth Floor/Moxie Pictures./Getty
I covered the family separation crisis closely.
Will we continue to see policies like separating 5,000 children deliberately from their parents?
Don Jr.: You mean, during the Obama administration…?
Jacob Soboroff: You know they didnt so that, sir.
Don Jr.: Sure.
Jacob Soboroff: Will there be second family separation policy?
Obamas Director of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, explicitly rejected it.
So, who was responsible?
Who can be blamed?
They played their cards at first close to the chest.
Like most draconian policies, the final solution included, the actual policy was cloaked in euphemisms.
What did zero-tolerance mean?
Quite simply, 8 USC 1325 was invoked.
It addresses border crossings specifically, improper entry by an alien.
But it is a misdemeanor not a felony.
The policy was derogatorily referred to as catch and release does this term come from fishing?
Trump changed all of it.
Significantly, Sessions did not address families crossing the border they were lumped in with smugglers.
How could this be?
Part of it has to be the racist rhetoric of Trump and many of his administrators.
But wait one second.
Isnt this a country of immigrants?
Doesnt the Statue of Liberty stand at the entrance to New York harbor?
Those charged with carrying out these policies couldnt seem to keep the story straight either.
The law was the law and it needed no explanation even though these enforcement policies were new.
Immigrants were simply law breakers and when you prosecute anyone, you separate their families.
This does little, preciously little to explain what was actually going on.
Pragmatically speaking, these policies did little or nothing to discourage immigration.
People kept coming probably because the same conditions that had caused them to flee Central America hadnt changed.
The policies werent aimed at immigrants but at Trumps base.
It was an infernal combination of the disingenuous and self-deceived.
Were separations really about discouraging immigration or just a dog-whistle to Trumps immigrant-hating base?
Hey, look Dad, we can be racist, too.
He could have been right there.
But the underlying problem is race and using race to stir up anger and resentment.
