Trump Blames Own Border Policy on Democrats

[Mainecat]

Trump Blames Own Border Policy on Democrats

By D'Angelo Gore

Posted on May 22, 2018

President Donald Trump wrongly blamed Democrats for a Trump administration policy that will separate parents and their young children caught entering the U.S. illegally.

“We have to break up families,” Trump claimed, because of “bad laws that the Democrats gave us.” But there is no such law. Instead, it’s the administration’s decision to criminally prosecute all immigrants who cross the border illegally that will cause children to be separated from their parents.

In early May, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen directed her department to refer all unauthorized immigrants who cross the U.S. border to federal prosecutors. It’s in accordance with the Department of Justice’s new “zero tolerance” policy on illegal immigration at the Southwest border.

Parents would be sent to federal court under the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and then placed in a detention center, according to a DHS spokesperson. Their children, minors who cannot be housed in a detention center for adults, would be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services for placement in a juvenile facility or foster care if they have no other adult relative in the U.S. who can take them in.

“It is the government’s choice whether to criminally prosecute someone for illegal entry or reentry,” Theresa Cardinal Brown, director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., told us.

Trump made his remarks at a White House meeting on so-called “sanctuary city” policies in California. He told Nielsen, who was in attendance, that Democrats were responsible for the “tough” situation involving immigrant families.

Trump, May 16: I know what you’re going through right now with families is very tough. But those are the bad laws that the Democrats gave us. We have to break up families. The Democrats gave us that law. It’s a horrible thing. We have to break up families.

The Democrats gave us that law and they don’t want to do anything about it. They’ll leave it like that because they don’t want to make any changes. And now you’re breaking up families because of the Democrats. It’s terrible.

Since at least the administration of George W. Bush, a Republican president, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has held many parents and children who crossed the border seeking asylum in family detention centers. Those families have been kept together until they go before an immigration judge or are formally removed from the U.S.

Prior to that, “family units were hardly ever detained, but rather processed and released with a notice to appear at immigration court, especially if they met the credible fear of persecution criteria for a claim to asylum,” according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank that promotes bipartisan policy solutions.

So, to what Democratic law is Trump referring? 

A White House spokesman referred us to a DHS statement regarding a 1997 legal settlement and 2008 antitrafficking law affecting minors who are apprehended without a parent present:

• Under the 1997 settlement, DHS could detain unaccompanied children captured at the border for only 20 days before releasing them to foster families, shelters or sponsors, pending resolution of their immigration cases. The settlement was later expanded through other court rulings to include both unaccompanied and accompanied children.
• The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 requires unaccompanied minors from countries other than Mexico and Canada to be placed in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, or relatives in the U.S., while they go through removal proceedings. The bipartisan bill was approved by unanimous consent and signed by Bush.

(We wrote about both when Trump also wrongly faulted Democrats for the so-called “catch and release” policy that allows some immigrants caught in the U.S. without proper documentation to be released back into the U.S. while they await an immigration court hearing. See “FactChecking Trump’s Immigration Tweets” for more details.)

But neither the court settlement nor the 2008 law require the Trump administration to “break up families.”

They require the government to release children from custody after a certain period of detainment, said Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. But they don’t require that parents continue to be held in immigration detention.

“The government absolutely has the option to release the parents,” as well, Pierce said. That’s as long as they aren’t a flight or safety risk, she added.

Brown, of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said the Trump administration’s decision to bring criminal charges against the parents — rather than follow the civil removal process — will result in children being separated from their parents.

“It is the government’s choice whether to criminally prosecute someone for illegal entry or reentry,” Brown wrote in an email to FactCheck.org. “That is the quintessential definition of ‘prosecutorial discretion.'” 

“Historically, most immigrants were not prosecuted, even when the law allowed for it, they were simply removed in civil proceedings,” she said. “The significant uptick in criminal prosecution began under President George W. Bush, and continued through the early Obama administration.”

U.S Attorney General Jeff Sessions outlined the new enforcement actions on May 7.

“If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It’s that simple,” Sessions said. “If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law.”

Because minors cannot be kept in jails for adults, children would be separated from parents charged with committing a crime, Brown explained. Children would then be considered unaccompanied minors and turned over to the refugee resettlement office.

In fact, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who was Homeland Security secretary before Nielsen, indicated in March 2017 that DHS was considering splitting up parents and children as a strategy to deter other families from illegally immigrating to the U.S.

Other administration officials — including Nielsen and ICE’s top official, Thomas Homan — have since denied that is the intent.

“I want to be clear. DHS does not have a blanket policy on separating families as a deterrent,” Homan, reportedly said at the press event with Sessions. “Every law enforcement agency in this country separates parents from children when they’re arrested for a crime. There is no new policy. This has always been the policy. Now, you will see more prosecutions because of the attorney general’s commitment to zero tolerance.”

Even so, the decision to prosecute all offenders is one that was made by the current administration. It is not a law that “Democrats gave us,” as Trump said.

 

https://www.factcheck.org/2018/05/trump-blames-own-border-policy-on-democrats/

[Zambroski]

He is correct.  Do you read these articles before you post?  Good grief.

 

[f7ben]

4 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

He is correct.  Do you read these articles before you post?  Good grief.

 

No...he isn't correct you fucking idiot. It's a stupid law that was going largely unenforced. Trump the retard and his pathetic piece of shit AG decided to enforce this terrible law 100%. The blame falls completely on Trump. Only a brain dead fucking retard would see it any other way

[Zambroski]

Just now, f7ben said:

No...he isn't correct you fucking idiot. It's a stupid law that was going largely unenforced. Trump the retard and his pathetic piece of shit AG decided to enforce this terrible law 100%. The blame falls completely on Trump. Only a brain dead fucking retard would see it any other way

Then, why did Clinton and Obama put it in place?  To NOT enforce it?  Make sense.  Calm your heels you fucking moron and don't buy into this idiotic hype.

"People crossing the borders illegally with kids are having them ripped from their parents clutching arms and sold into the sex trade by Trump!!!!!!!"

What a bunch of god damn bullshit.

 

 

 

[Mainecat]

4 minutes ago, f7ben said:

No...he isn't correct you fucking idiot. It's a stupid law that was going largely unenforced. Trump the retard and his pathetic piece of shit AG decided to enforce this terrible law 100%. The blame falls completely on Trump. Only a brain dead fucking retard would see it any other way

Yup Zambinski is just a troll here. He responds the same on every topic and that’s every topic. Adds a meme, insult a topic poster.

 

[f7ben]

3 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

Then, why did Clinton and Obama put it in place?  To NOT enforce it?  Make sense.  Calm your heels you fucking moron and don't buy into this idiotic hype.

"People crossing the borders illegally with kids are having them ripped from their parents clutching arms and sold into the sex trade by Trump!!!!!!!"

What a bunch of god damn bullshit.

 

 

 

1500 missing kids. Government says they don't know where they are. That is all one needs to know

[motonoggin]

3 minutes ago, f7ben said:

1500 missing kids. Government says they don't know where they are. That is all one needs to know

To make excuses for that means you're probably a shit person. 

[Zambroski]

1 minute ago, f7ben said:

1500 missing kids. Government says they don't know where they are. That is all one needs to know

Well, to be fair, the government has a hard time tracking the sex trade.  Those fuckers refuse to fill out census forms! 

Our foster system (or anything related) has always been an underfunded joke.  Throw in an influx of undocumented children and POOF...instant fucktardery. 

Try to keep this in perspective.  OR, I'M GIVING YOU THE WALL!!!!!!  Bright side:  I will provide you with copious amounts of Coors lites and a small portion of "munching vittles" of your choice before the "walk".

[steve from amherst]

Fuck em. Their lives should be miserable. If its not even more will come. Make the fuckers sweat out every minute they are here.

[Zambroski]

2 minutes ago, motonoggin said:

To make excuses for that means you're probably a shit person. 

I'd bet your life that if we sat down and tallied what I've done in my life to help others using both my time and my money, you'd fall UNBELIEVABLY SHORT in your "generosity" toward your fellow humans.  Ahhhhh......capitalism!

 

[Anler]

6 minutes ago, motonoggin said:

To make excuses for that means you're probably a shit person. 

It's the Christian thing to do. 

[motonoggin]

7 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

I'd bet your life that if we sat down and tallied what I've done in my life to help others using both my time and my money, you'd fall UNBELIEVABLY SHORT in your "generosity" toward your fellow humans.  Ahhhhh......capitalism!

 

Dehumanizing people cancels out anything you may have done. 

You're trash. Sbyl

[Jimmy Snacks]

9 minutes ago, steve from amherst said:

Fuck em. Their lives should be miserable. If its not even more will come. Make the fuckers sweat out every minute they are here.

Yeah because that's what this country was founded on you stupid piece of fuck.

[Zambroski]

1 minute ago, motonoggin said:

Dehumanizing people cancels out anything you may have done. 

You're trash. Sbyl

Then i want a refund...and my time back at a reasonable and customary rate with some simple interest.  Who can I call?

"Dehumanizing". 

 

 

 

[steve from amherst]

3 minutes ago, Jimmy Snacks said:

Yeah because that's what this country was founded on you stupid piece of fuck.

It wasn't founded on people making their first move here illegal activity.

[motonoggin]

1 minute ago, steve from amherst said:

It wasn't founded on people making their first move here illegal activity.

Lmao. How did your ancestors get here?

[motonoggin]

2 minutes ago, Zambroski said:

Then i want a refund...and my time back at a reasonable and customary rate with some simple interest.  Who can I call?

"Dehumanizing". 

 

 

 

Call your mom on the corner

[Jimmy Snacks]

1 minute ago, steve from amherst said:

It wasn't founded on people making their first move here illegal activity.

The whole founding of this country was deemed illegal by the colonial power you dolt.

[steve from amherst]

Just now, Jimmy Snacks said:

The whole founding of this country was deemed illegal by the colonial power you dolt.

And do you want to replay that? 

[Zambroski]

Just now, motonoggin said:

Lmao. How did your ancestors get here?

I just love these correlations.

3 minutes ago, motonoggin said:

Call your mom on the corner

Oooof.  How very liberal of you.  I expect better. 

[motonoggin]

3 minutes ago, Jimmy Snacks said:

The whole founding of this country was deemed illegal by the colonial power you dolt.

When you criminalize the quest for a better life, you're probably a fascist.

[motonoggin]

Just now, Zambroski said:

I just love these correlations.

Oooof.  How very liberal of you.  I expect better. 

You're not a serious person.

[motonoggin]

4 minutes ago, steve from amherst said:

And do you want to replay that? 

I mean...

[Zambroski]

Just now, motonoggin said:

You're not a serious person.

Actually, I can be quite serious.  It depends on the subject matter.

Or are you saying something else here?

[Stephen Hawking]

34 minutes ago, Mainecat said:

Yup Zambinski is just a troll here. He responds the same on every topic and that’s every topic. Adds a meme, insult a topic poster.

 

Be fair now, at least 80% of the members here insult you and your ridiculous posts.