What kind of nation loses track of nearly 1,500 migrant children, many “fleeing drug cartels, gang violence and domestic abuse,” under its care? This one.
It’s been nearly one month since the New York Times initially reported that officials from the Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) admitted to members of Congress that they have no idea what happened to kids they placed with U.S. sponsors.
One month later, we still have no idea where they are, and we’re not any closer to finding answers.
Instead, what the federal government has done is to double-down on its cruelty by making the forced separation of migrant kids and parents who have crossed the U.S./Mexico border without authorization, official U.S. policy. Children, undoubtedly traumatized by being ripped from the arms of their immigrant parents, could now be locked up, like livestock or property, in what are essentially internment camps.
This collective failure comes as Donald Trump also claimed that Central American kids seeking asylum “look so innocent. They’re not innocent.” Never mind that just hours before, he said, in front of a pro-life crowd, that “every child is a precious gift from God.” What he really meant is, “every white child.”
This is the shame of our nation, and it’s happening right before our very eyes, and with our tax dollars.
What about the missing kids? The government doesn’t know, or seem to care, because stricter guidelines protecting them have been overdue by a year. DHS and HHS had agreed to them after officials released eight kids to sponsors “who forced the minors to work on an egg farm.” In other words, forced child labor. Where is “extreme vetting” when you need it?
The abusers are also in our midst, hiding in the open behind law enforcement badges. According to thousands of internal government documents dating back to 2009, migrant kids have suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of border agents, with other kids alleging “agents assaulted them with their feet, fists, flashlights, and Tasers.”
But while officials were “well aware of the allegations of unlawful child abuse—including people still now directing the agency—there is no indication that any individual official was ever held accountable for abuse.”
In the eyes of this administration, white supremacy trumps the law. Meanwhile, migrant parents, coming to our border with nothing but their children and hope, have had both ripped away as punishment by the federal government. “I don't even know where she is,” one Guatemalan man said in court about his 11 year old.
We have lost track of nearly 1,500 children, yes. We have also lost our humanity.