[ This time we have an opportunity to make right a crime committed
in the immediate past while all the co-conspirators and perpetrators
are still alive]
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WILL THE CHILDREN TORTURED AS A TRUMP POLICY TOOL RECEIVE JUSTICE?  
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Thom Hartmann
February 8, 2023
Hartmann Report
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_ This time we have an opportunity to make right a crime committed in
the immediate past while all the co-conspirators and perpetrators are
still alive _

, Image by Bob Dmyt from Pixabay

 

Well, it was a hell of a State of the Union speech. Throughout it,
multiple Republicans rudely interrupted the president by shouting,
“Secure the border!”

IT’S IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED WHEN REPUBLICANS WERE IN
CHARGE OF SECURING THE BORDER: THEIR “BIG NEW IDEA” WAS TO
FORCIBLY SEPARATE CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS AND PUT BEWILDERED AND
TERRIFIED YOUNGSTERS IN CAGES FOR THE WORLD TO SEE.

And then they trafficked and disposed of those children, as if dumping
the trash, in a way that “lost” thousands of them.

Last week the Biden administration announced
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so far, they’ve managed to reunite 2,926 of the 3,924 children
brutally torn from their families by Donald Trump’s and Stephen
Miller’s cruel and criminal border policy. Biden’s _Task Force on
the Reunification of Families_ believes 998 children are still
missing, trafficked by the Trump administration to places and people
unknown.

Josef Stalin is often quoted (perhaps
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as saying, “A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a
statistic.”

OUR MEDIA TREATED THESE CHILDREN AS IF THEY WERE A STATISTIC RATHER
THAN AS INDIVIDUALS: THAT DHS TASK FORCE ANNOUNCEMENT LAST WEEK WAS A
MINOR, ONE-DAY STORY.

Louise and I have three children. I can’t even begin to imagine —
it’s too traumatic to really let myself fully go there — what it
would feel like or how I’d respond if a Trump official had taken one
of our three children away from us by force and we now had no idea
where she was.

Can you?

CAN AMERICA SUMMON ENOUGH EMPATHY TO FEEL THE PAIN A NURSING MOTHER
FELT WHEN HER CHILD WAS TORN FROM HER BREAST AND HANDED OFF TO ONE OF
TRUMP’S AND BETSY DEVOS’ “CHRISTIAN ADOPTION
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GROUPS, OR TO BE TRAFFICKED INTO GOD-KNOWS-WHERE IN THE US, VANISHED
WITHOUT A TRACE?

Each one of these children — both those reunited (after four years!)
and those still missing — are scarred for life.

THIS IS CHILD ABUSE OF UNIMAGINABLE SCOPE AND CRUELTY.

The nonprofit group _Physicians for Human Rights_ was given access
to a group of asylum seekers and their children who had been ripped
apart by Trump’s agents at the border. Their findings, while
predictable, are nonetheless shocking.

FIRST, THEY NOTED
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THE PARENTS AND CHILDREN WHO’D ARRIVED AT OUR SOUTHERN BORDER WERE
ALREADY TRAUMATIZED BY THE EVENTS THAT LED THEM TO FLEE THEIR HOMES
AND THE RIGORS OF THE HUNDREDS OF MILES THEY’D TRAVELED TO GET HERE.

“Due to targeted acts of violence in their home countries,” PHR
notes, “all parents arrived at the U.S. border having already been
exposed to trauma — most often as victims of gang activity — from
death threats, physical assault, relatives killed, extortion, sexual
assault, or robbery. All parents expressed fear that their child would
be harmed or killed if they stayed in their home country.

“In almost all cases, their children had already faced severe harm
before fleeing — gangs drugged, kidnapped, poisoned, and threatened
children, including threats of death, violence, or kidnapping, if they
or their parents did not comply with the gang’s demands.

“Parents were confident that the journey to the United States would
result in protection for their children.”

BUT PROTECTION WAS NOT WHAT THEY FOUND WHEN THEY MET TRUMP’S AGENTS
AT THE BORDER. INSTEAD, THEY CONFRONTED THE UNIMAGINABLE HORROR OF
BEING TORN FROM THEIR CHILDREN, IN MOST CASES AS SOON AS THEY’D
APPLIED FOR ASYLUM:

“When they arrived in the United States, however, parents reported
that immigration authorities forcibly removed children from their
parents’ arms, removed parents while their children slept, or simply
‘disappeared’ the children while their parents were in court rooms
or receiving medical care.

“Almost all reported that immigration authorities failed to provide
any explanation as to why they were being separated, where their
family members were being sent, and if or how they would be reunited.
In addition, the asylum narratives documented instances of four
parents who were taunted and mocked by immigration authorities when
asking for the whereabouts of their children.”

The shock these parents and their children felt was deep and long
lasting. Something most of us will never have the misfortune to
experience.

IMAGINE IF A GANG IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD THREATENED TO KILL YOUR CHILD
OR FORCE HER INTO PROSTITUTION, SO YOU GATHERED UP YOUR MOST IMPORTANT
POSSESSIONS — NO MORE THAN YOU COULD CARRY IN A BACKPACK — AND
WALKED FROM YOUR HOME WITH YOUR CHILD FOR DAYS AND NIGHTS, BRAVING
ROBBERS AND RAPISTS, TO REACH A NEARBY STATE.

And, once there, hoping for asylum and safety, a new gang — this
time in uniform — took your child from you and explicitly told you
you’d never see him or her again?

CAN YOU IMAGINE ANY WORSE TRAUMA? I’D RATHER GET A TERMINAL CANCER
DIAGNOSIS THAN BE TOLD MY CHILD HAS BEEN STOLEN AND I’LL NEVER SEE
HIM AGAIN. I DON’T THINK I’D EVER RECOVER.

As Physicians for Human Rights noted
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“PHR clinicians chronicled that nearly everyone interviewed
exhibited symptoms and behaviors consistent with  trauma and its
effects: being confused and upset, constantly worried, crying a lot,
having sleeping difficulties, not eating well, having nightmares,
being preoccupied, having severely depressed moods, overwhelming
symptoms of anxiety, and physiological manifestations of panic and
despair (racing heart, shortness of breath, and headaches), feeling
‘pure agony’ and hopelessness, feeling emotional and mental
anguish, and being ‘incredibly despondent.’

“The evaluating clinicians noted that the children exhibited
reactions that included regression in age-appropriate behaviors,
crying, not eating, having nightmares and other sleeping difficulties,
loss of developmental milestones, as well as clinging to parents and
feeling scared following reunification with their parents.”

THIS CRIME WAS PERPETRATED IN OUR NAMES, YOURS AND MINE. WE PAID FOR
IT WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS.

IN 1984 NATIONS AROUND THE WORLD RATIFIED THE UNITED
NATIONS _CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE
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AS PHR NOTES, IT SPECIFIES THAT CRIMINAL TORTURE:

“[I]s an act 1) which causes severe physical or mental suffering, 2)
done intentionally, 3) for the purpose of coercion, punishment,
intimidation, or for a discriminatory reason, 4) by a state official
or with state consent or acquiescence.”

Inflicting torture to intimidate and punish refugees for seeking
asylum is a crime under international law. A serious crime.

AND THIS CRIME WAS NO ACCIDENT. IN EARLY MAY, 2018, STEPHEN MILLER
CALLED TOGETHER A GROUP OF SENIOR TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS IN
THE WHITE HOUSE TO DEMAND THEY GET WITH THE SO-CALLED “ZERO
TOLERANCE” PROGRAM DONALD TRUMP AND ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS
HAD ANNOUNCED NEARLY A MONTH EARLIER.

Using torture to discourage people from showing up at the border was
an extreme measure, Miller knew, but too many Brown people were
entering our majority-White country. As two attendees at the
meeting told
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reporters Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff, Stephen Miller said it
right out loud:

“If we don't enforce this, it is the end of our country as we know
it.”

The meeting calendar says attendees included AG Jeff Sessions, DHS
head Kirstjen Nielsen, professional bigot Stephen Miller, CIA Director
Mike Pompeo, HHS head Alex Azar, Undersecretary of Defense John Rood,
Trump’s Chief of Staff John Kelly, deputy chief of staff Chris
Liddell, White House counsel Don McGahn, and Legislative Affairs
Director Marc Short.

After Miller’s pitch he demanded a show of hands for the
president’s brutal and criminal policy; according to media reports,
only Kirstjen Nielsen refused to raise hers (but later defended the
policy, which she helped implement).

THEY WERE ALL IN ON THE CRIME. THEY ALL FOLLOWED THROUGH WITH THE
CRIME. THEY SHOULD ALL BE FACING A PROSECUTOR AND A JURY OF THEIR
PEERS.

And it’s not just a crime by international standards. Section 2340A
of Title 18
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US Code, prohibits torture committed by American public officials
under color of law against persons within the official’s custody or
control.

THAT FEDERAL LAW DEFINES TORTURE AS “ACTS SPECIFICALLY INTENDED TO
INFLICT SEVERE PHYSICAL OR MENTAL PAIN OR SUFFERING.”

Three former Trump officials told
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reporters that Miller was even arguing
for _routinely_ separating _virtually all_ asylum seekers and
brown-skinned southern-border immigrants from their children, “even
those going through civil court proceedings.”  

This isn’t the first time America has officially visited brutality
on non-white people as a matter of policy.

The people who committed the horrific acts of slavery, the slaughter
of Native Americans, ran a century of “separate-but-equal,” and
interned Japanese-Americans in the 1940s are all dead.

BUT THIS TIME WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE RIGHT A CRIME COMMITTED
IN THE IMMEDIATE PAST WHILE ALL THE CO-CONSPIRATORS AND PERPETRATORS
ARE STILL ALIVE.

Will Merrick Garland show the same reluctance to prosecute these Trump
administration crimes as he’s shown so far regarding the plotters
and planners of January 6th? Will other federal prosecutors also fail
to seek justice for these children and families?

OR WILL JUSTICE FINALLY BE SERVED, SO FUTURE ADMINISTRATIONS WILL
THINK LONG AND HARD BEFORE AGAIN USING TORTURE AS A POLICY TOOL?

If you’d like to share your opinion with your elected
representatives, the number for the Congressional switchboard is
202-224-3121. And don’t forget to reach out to your favorite media
outlets via social media and ask why they’re not covering this crime
more comprehensively.

_Thom Hartmann is a NY Times bestselling author 34 books in 17
languages & nation's #1 progressive radio host. Psychotherapist,
international relief worker. Politics, history, spirituality,
psychology, science, anthropology, pre-history, culture, and the
natural world._

* asylum seekers
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* separation of children
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* Donald Trump
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* justice
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* punishment
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