The Washington Post published an article about how this photograph was taken. I think if Border Patrol had anticipated the outrage that would be sparked by this image they would not have allowed the photographer to ride along. Until I read this article, I did not understand why parents would come to the US if they knew their children would be seized. The fact is, they did not know. This policy changed while they were in route from South America. The "he" in the first paragraph is John Moore, the photographer.
He knew that when loners crossed the river by day, they tended to run or hide from Border Patrol. But the large groups that crossed at night often surrendered themselves to the first U.S. agents they found.
The night-crossers were often families, exhausted and terrified from their journeys, seeking asylum from whatever terror had driven them from home.
While they had been evacuating their homes and traveling — some for weeks — the United States had changed the rules. Pleas for asylum that had been accepted for years might now be rejected. Mothers and fathers, who would have been released to await court hearings, would now be jailed. Their children would be seized and held from them by a foreign government.
Yesterday Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen denied that children were being taken from their parents. Today she said DHS would not apologize for doing their jobs. Which is it? Not taking the kids or we're not apologizing for taking the kids? Those are two mutually exclusive positions. This administration is just beyond venal, as is every Republican member of Congress. Jeff Flake or Bob Corker (neither of whom are running for re-election) could walk across the aisle and vote with the Democrats to end this. But nooooooo, it's too difficult to grow a pair.The American public had only just learned this. Moore and the Border Patrol agents who hid with him on the banks of the Rio Grande knew it. But the people on the rafts . . . “These people had no way to know that,” Moore said.
I could go on, but I will spare you my despair over what is happening in this country.
This would end with one directive from Trump, who continues to lie saying it is "the law." These are acts of a third world dictator, all the while Congress sits on their hands, not wanting to make waves in an election year. Sad.
ReplyDeleteI'm still trying to figure out whether parents who come to the border to apply for asylum - legally - are having their kids taken from them.
ReplyDeleteI live in Tucson in the winter and I volunteer for Keep Tucson Together. I help people fill out their asylum paperwork, or their cases to avoid deportation. I have been home for two months now. I wonder what is happening at KTT.
This is beyond an atrocity, and I share your despair.
ReplyDeleteI too share your despair. And yet the voices against this are becoming a chorus. Thanks for adding yours.
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