Should Detained Migrant Children Be At Least Allowed To Sleep?

[jim360]

Let's just start by trying to set one thing aside: the ultimate fate of migrants to the US, whether they should be allowed to stay or not, should really be neither here nor there when it comes to this story. Nor is this entirely an anti-Trump thread: although it is the Trump administration involved, this story dates back as far as the Obama era.

Instead, what matters here is what happens in between their arrival (and subsequent detention) and resolution of their cases. Can anyone seriously argue that, as long as the children concerned are in the State's care, they should be kept in at least passably sanitary conditions? And, if not, why not?

https://www.sfchronicle.com/nation/article/Judges-differ-with-Trump-administration-on-14016372.php

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/21/detained-migrant-children-no-toothbrush-soap-sleep/?noredirect=on *

*You may need a US-based VPN to read the Washington Post article.

[Togo]

Of course these children during the, adult led, trek across thousands of miles of open and hostile terrain are well looked after. They also, as we know, sleep every night in a lovely cosy Travel Lodge with a Lenny Henry style welcome and king size bed. Every day is filled with visits to the numerous specially constructed theme parks that dot the route. Education and mobile libraries are on hand to ensure that the children have their tuition and training. If this is not the case, are the adults who drag them along as a human shield or guarantee of a sympathetic welcome, or worse to facilitate abuse, ever charged with child neglect or cruelty? Thought not.

[vetuste_ennemi]

And on the issue of "separating parents and children" the presumption that the people entering the country illegally are in all cases their i]parents[i] is itself questionable, isn't it?

[jim360]

Neither Togo's nor v-e's posts have any bearing at all on what happens while these children are in the care of the State.

[Mamyalynne]

AOG, I read the OP - more to the point I understood it.

[Togo]

The only "states" having a duty of care of course being, conveniently according to the libbies and luvvies,the United States. Not the "states" that they left, or the states that facilitate movement across a continent...……..just the States that they decide to "stop for a rest" in.

[fiction-factory]

So it's okay for the US to treat them this way then Togo?
Or is that just an attempted deflection?

[Togo]

Just an inconvenient observation for you. The obvious solution is to deter the caravans of illegal migrants. Unless you feel it is a good idea to encourage them. However "horrendous" the "reported" conditions may be, they still set off for the destinations in their millions. Bound to end well is it not. Perhaps the lovers of the EUSSR should focus their attention on what is happening in their own backyard and leave the Americans to deal with their problem in what they perceive to be the most fitting manner. Or is that an embarrassment too painful to consider?

[Mamyalynne]

I will say that what does make me shudder is that not only are children denied the basic human dignity because of accident of birth or circumstance but that people both in USA and here are prepared to go online and nod tacit approval to such treatment.

[jim360]

It may be that the children should never have left their home countries, and that those countries have a duty to reduce, discourage or even stop this migration altogether. But at the instant when children arrive in the US, then it becomes the responsibility of the US to look after them properly. Everything that led up to it is irrelevant to what the children's needs are in that period.

It's not difficult. It's just about common decency. Shame on anyone who ignores that or tries to deflect attention away from it.

[jim360]

// However "horrendous" the "reported" conditions may be ... //

Let me again state that there is no dispute that the conditions are as reported. Burying it in quotes is utterly misleading. The US government acknowledges that the conditions are appalling. The only question is whether the state is legally at fault for failing to provide proper care.

[Togo]

//Shame on anyone who ignores that or tries to deflect attention away from it. //

Shame on those who would use the plight of these children, who are being let down or inhumanely treated by their guardians or parents. Use the children purely as an exercise in virtue signalling or political cat calling no less. Whilst doing not a whit or using the opportunity to make practical suggestions. As ever Jim, You have no answers to the problem, You do however reserve the "right" to display your caring sharing nature without there being any danger of you actually being called upon to provide it.

[andres]

I am sure that not long ago I read an article about migrants and their children. When they arrive at the detention centres the adults are taken into custody and the children spend the night in the Centre. Conditions there are not ideal but the morning after they are moved out to several different centres in Texas. A bit like boarding schools. They have to follow strict rules and have to attend school etc. but I don't think they are ill-treated in any way. Then the lucky ones are re-patriated with their parents after all the necessary paperwork is completed. So maybe the no toothpaste, soap. bedding etc only applies to the time they spend in the reception centre?
I can't access the Washington Post .