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Fresh off tear gassing children at the southern border last weekend, Trump administration officials tell Buzzfeed that no charges will be filed against migrants they took into custody after the attack, including 15 women and children. Maybe because they weren’t criminals in the first place? That’s sure what we weren’t hearing from the administration’s official propagandists.
White House Press Sec. Sarah Sanders called them, without evidence, “a violent Caravan.” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen, without evidence, claimed that members of the so-called caravan were using women and children as “human shields,” women and children that officials then appeared to arrest.
Trump himself made up fake injuries on the U.S. side of the border, claiming that three (how does he come up with the fake numbers?) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents “were very badly hurt, getting hit with rocks and stones.” That was debunked by the CBP commissioner, who reported no such injuries.
What’s truly criminal here is the administration continuing to block asylum seekers from their right, under U.S. and international law, to ask for asylum at an official port of entry. “Authorities at legal border crossings have been limiting the number of people who can request asylum,” NPR reports. “Only 40 to 100 people are allowed each day,” which will mean waits to just even be heard stretching into the months.
As for the group of migrants taken into custody from last weekend, “the AP reports that they may be subject to deportation,” according to the Daily Beast. “A CBP spokesperson said the cases could be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”