Immigration reform is *not* putting children in cages ~ Bismark North Dakota echo opinion

The Bismark Tribune in North Dakota editorial ~ children in cages demonstrates how the Republicans have lost their moral compass.

Although the immigration issue in America has to do with with a porous southern border, but separating babies and small children from their parents and putting them in detention facilities is unacceptable. This is unethical and not the way to create immigration reform policies.

Even with the separation policy having been revoked on Wednesday by Donald Trump’s executive order, in fact, the directive that created the separation in the first place shows just how much the Republicans who supported this unhumanitarian order have lost, at least temporarily, their moral compass.

Our nation, the one the world used to look up to for setting the standard for freedom and equality, has been taking children from their parents and locking them in cages. Babies as young as 8 months have been taken from their parents at the Mexican border and sent to foster care as far away as Michigan. Thousands of parents have lost track of their children.

We should know better from past experience.

The U.S. took Native American children away from their families and sent them to boarding schools. The country tried to take their religion and culture away from them and make them act like whites. In World War II this country interned Japanese-Americans on the pretense they posed a security threat. We also stole their homes and businesses. The country didn’t lock up German-Americans, which is fortunate for North Dakota with its large German population. They were immigrants who helped settle what’s now North Dakota.

Immigration cages

The separation of families was adopted under a zero-tolerance program by the Trump administration to protect the border. Officials said they had no choice but to follow the law. Trump blames Democrats for forcing him to enforce the law. The responsibility, however, lies with the administration, which had the authority to end the policy. Trump exercised that authority Wednesday when he signed an executive order halting the policy. There’s no doubt the children were traumatized.

Dr. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, visited a shelter along the U.S.-Mexico border to find out the impact on children and talked to the Washington Post about what she saw. In one case, a girl no more than 2 years old was screaming and pounding her fists on a mat. A shelter worker tried to give her books and toys, but neither the worker nor Kraft was allowed to pick up the child to comfort her. The rule at the shelter was don’t touch the children.

The girl had been taken from her mother the night before, Kraft told the Post. “The really devastating thing was that we all knew what was going on with this child. We all knew what the problem was. She didn’t have her mother and none of us can fix that.”

“The really basic, foundational need of having trust in adults as a young child was not being met. That contradicts everything we know that the kids need to build their health,” Kraft told the Post. That situation puts children at risk for toxic stress in their brains, which disrupts normal development and could lead to such problems as heart disease and substance abuse later in life, according to the children's doctors' organization.

Congress has failed to agree on immigration legislation. The House was moving toward a vote on two bills that would have ended the separation of families. The public outcry over the zero-tolerance policy forced Trump’s action. The separation of families shouldn’t have occurred. It’s disappointing that North Dakota’s congressional delegation wasn’t more vocal in its opposition to the policy.

Americans must be ashamed that the situation whereby families were separated was allowed to go so far. It’s time for Congress and the administration to reach agreement on an immigration policy. If they don’t, it’s likely another shameful episode will occur. Children and the nation’s reputation were the victims this time. This nation needs to find its moral compass and pursue real solutions that don’t involve caging children.