So I'm sure you've seen it splashed all over the news lately: the human rights abuses that are taking place at our Southern border. It seems to me this had been building up over past administrations, but has reached its zenith with the Trump circus.
Sessions's zero-tolerance policy justifies separating families at the border, and for a few reasons. First, it is a fear tactic for others considering fleeing their oppressive countries to seek asylum in the U.S. This is not a new tactic. Slave owners in the south would separate mothers, fathers, and children; they'd be sold to different masters. It would take away the slaves' hope, instill them with fear, and keep them subjugated for generations. The other tactic that Sessions (and slave owners) use is the Bible. By quoting scripture, he and Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have insisted the Bible tells us to obey the laws of government as we obey God. This is one of the many examples of people weaponizing the Bible to meet their personal agenda. It is cruel, wrong, and the opposite of what Jesus spoke of. The other reason the Trump administration is defending this disgusting policy is because they have to appease their base, which consists of Nazis, xenophobes, white nationalists, and your run-of-the-mill racist Americans. Trump himself has been on twitter the last few days, comparing immigrants to an infestation. He claims that Germany's crime is up because of all the immigrants pouring into the country (yet he lists no source for this data, nor can any be found). He's using the same tactics that Hitler used in the 1930s to blame the Jews for all of Germany's problems; with the support of many citizens, the government was able to seize, terrorize, torture, and kill 6 million Jews (not to mention, gypsies, homosexuals, and political enemies). I've read extensively on the Holocaust (I even read all 1,000 pages of "Mein Kampf"). Trump's rhetoric is nothing new, and it's quite scary that these ideas are being championed in 2018 (although not surprising: I could see Trump's racism a million miles away).
So now I want to bring up the Republican/Alt-Right's argument. "Well, they broke the law by entering the U.S. illegally. We're just enforcing the law." You can enforce the law without being cruel. Remember the Presidential debates between Trump and Hillary? Hillary and Tim Kaine warned that Trump would round up immigrants in a violent, abusive way. Trump/Pence insisted that they would only go after "criminal" aliens, such as MS-13 gang members, rapists, and drug dealers. And yet, here we are lumping abused mothers and fathers seeking safety and asylum for their families, in the same category as criminals. This administration has labeled these families as criminals.
I'm reminded of the "Roma" series by Steven Saylor that I read a few years ago. Ancient Rome was an empire of laws. In one scene a slave had killed its master (the master was trying to rape him, if I recall, and he was acting in self defense). The law at the time was to kill *all* the slaves in retaliation, even though only one had committed a crime. The reasoning was, "If we let them get away with it, they'll think they can kill their masters with no problem and there will be a slave uprising." It was discussed with great severity in the Senate. The master who had been killed owned about 400 slaves at the time. Should they really kill all 400 slaves (some of them pregnant mothers, children, and babies)? Why yes, because they had to enforce the law, and what was a nation without laws? But could they really justify killing innocents even if they were property? In the end they crucified all 400 slaves.
So, my question is this: what are we doing? Yes, laws must be enforced, but when a policy goes against the law of *humanity* then something is terribly wrong. Slavery was once the law in this country. So was Jim Crow and segregation. Where do we draw the line with our humanity (or the lack thereof)? Has the line already been crossed to the point of no return? I sure hope not. Not only for America's sake, but for the world's.
