You can toss any notion that Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly would be any sort of voice of reason within the Trump administration out the window.
When the transition team announced the former general’s nomination late last year, immigration advocates saw a glimmer of hope, noting that Kelly seemed to recognize that it was violence, and not entirely economic factors, that drove Central American women and children to make the dangerous journey to the U.S. Oftentimes these women and young girls are sexually abused in their home countries, and boys are faced with either forced gang recruitment or retaliation that results in the torture and deaths of their families. It’s why once these women and children do reach the U.S./Mexico border, they immediately surrender themselves to immigration agents. These families aren’t looking for handouts—they’re trying to stay alive.
But in a move that reeks of the white nationalist stylings of Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, Kelly confirmed to CNN that the Trump administration is considering separating mothers and children fleeing violence and death once they arrive at our border as a sick lesson to others:
Speaking to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer late Monday afternoon, Kelly confirmed the gist of a recent Reuters report, saying that he is “considering exactly that” as a way to deter people from Central America from traveling up through Mexico with the goal of entering the U.S.
“If you get some young kids who manage to sneak into the United States with their parents, are Department of Homeland Security personnel going to separate the children from their moms and dads?” Blitzer asked.
“We have tremendous experience in dealing with unaccompanied minors,” Kelly responded. “We turn them over to HHS, and they do a very, very good job of either putting them in kind of foster care or linking them up with parents or family members in the United States.”
He continued: “Yes, I am considering, in order to deter more movement along this terribly dangerous network, I am considering exactly that. They will be well cared for as we deal with their parents.”
Only in Donald Trump’s world could “well cared for” actually mean ripping a child from their mother’s arms.
According to Huffington Post, 54,000 children and their parents were apprehended at the border between October 2016 and January 2017. If the Trump administration’s plan had already been in effect during that time, that would have meant 54,000 children separated from their parents, put into a foster system or placed with distant relatives they’ve possibly never met, and torn from the last connection to any sort of life they had. Thousands will be traumatized for years to come.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, issued a swift condemnation of the administration’s plan. “Bottom line: separating mothers and children is wrong,” he said. “That type of thing is where we depart from border security and get into violating human rights.”