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Caging Children, Separating Families: Has the War on Immigration Gone Too Far?

Sometimes you have to draw a line in the sand. This is one of those moments. There are some acts so wrong-headed, so immoral, and so inhumane that they simply cannot be defended on any grounds. Separating undocumented parents from their children at the border as a way of discouraging illegal immigration is pushing America into dangerous territory morally and otherwise. Dragging young children kicking and crying and screaming from their parents, separating those children from their parents indefinitely, locking those children up in cages (“dog kennels”) like animals, and subjecting them to the predators of the American police state: these are acts that no decent people should tolerate from their government.

If you’re inclined to advance this double standard because you believe you have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, beware: there’s always a boomerang effect. Whatever dangerous practices you allow the government to carry out now—whether it’s in the name of national security or protecting America’s borders or making America great again—rest assured, these same practices can and will be used against you when the government decides to set its sights on you. Indeed, as John W. Whitehead warns in this episode of On Target, it’s just a short hop, skip and a jump from the government stripping undocumented “criminals” of their parental rights to the government meting out the same treatment to American citizens.

Read John W. Whitehead’s Commentary “Caging Children, Separating Families: Has the War on Immigration Gone Too Far?


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