Attorney General Jeff Sessions — who identifies himself as a Christian — addressed an Arizona law enforcement conference about an imaginary "massive influx of illegal aliens across our Southwest Border" (something that not even Trump believes in), and told border guards that they should disincentivize such crossings by separating undocumented children from their parents in border detention.
More than 700 children have been separated from their families by US border guards since October 2017.
But this argument omits the fact that in crossing the border, families have often done no harm to anyone — which makes separating them seem particularly cruel. These families frequently undergo significant trauma and hardship before making it here and do so knowing the great risks they face. And even if Sessions has no sympathy for the parents who knowingly violate American immigration law, the policy can further stress and traumatize the children, who came across the border through no fault of their own.
Jeff Sessions Says Border Agents Will Separate Undocumented Kids from Their Families [Cody Fenwick/Alternet]
