Well, in most states, you would be subject to charges of
child abuse, which is variously defined in state law, but with some common
elements, often based on or expanding on Federal Law, to wit:
“At the Federal level, the Child Abuse Prevention and
Treatment Act (CAPTA) defines child abuse and neglect as: 'Any recent act or
failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious
physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure
to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm’.”
“Nearly all States, the District of Columbia, American
Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin
Islands provide civil definitions of child abuse and neglect in statute
(and/or… in regulation) States recognize the different types of abuse in their
definitions, including physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse.
Some States also provide definitions in statute for parental substance abuse
and/or for abandonment as child abuse. (To find statute information for a
particular State, go to https://www.childwelfare. gov/topics/systemwide/
laws-policies/state/)
“Physical abuse is generally defined as ‘any nonaccidental
physical injury to the child’ and can include striking, kicking, burning, or
biting the child, or any action that results in a physical impairment of the
child. In approximately 38 States and American Samoa, Guam, the Northern
Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, the definition of abuse
also includes acts or circumstances that threaten the child with harm or
create a substantial risk of harm to the child’s health or welfare.
“Neglect is frequently defined as the failure
of a parent or other person with responsibility for the child to provide needed
food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision to the degree that the
child’s health, safety, and well-being are threatened with harm. Approximately
25 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the
Virgin Islands include failure to educate the child as required by law
in their definition of neglect… Ten States and American Samoa specifically
define medical neglect as failing to provide any special medical treatment
or mental health care needed by the child; four States define medical neglect
as the withholding of medical treatment or nutrition from
disabled infants with life-threatening conditions.”
“In addition to defining acts or omissions that constitute
child abuse or neglect, several States’ statutes provide specific definitions
of persons who can be reported to child protective services as perpetrators of
abuse or neglect. These persons have some relationship or regular
responsibility for the child. This generally includes parents, guardians,
foster parents, relatives, or other caregivers responsible for the child’s
welfare.” (https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/define.pdf)
(emphasis mine).
It is also important that we be reminded of the
responsibility we have to report such abuse when we see it. In fact, this same government site indicates:
“Generally speaking, a report must be made when an individual knows or has
reasonable cause to believe or suspect that a child has been subjected to abuse
or neglect.”
In light of the continuing neglect (and worse) by the Trump
Administration of children separated from their parents at our southern border,
we should call upon all the resources we can muster, to take action against the
child abuse being perpetrated upon children held in detention facilities (and
elsewhere) by our government.
Let us be clear about this.
Donald Trump and his administration (primarily DHS and HHS) have responsibility
for the care of these children, and the President has the ultimate
responsibility for the actions of the Executive branch of our government that
is tasked with executing the laws made by Congress and signed by the President.
Just as a reminder: the Constitution, in Article II, Section 8, directs
Congress “to establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization.” which section
concludes with a direction that cannot be taken lightly: “To make all Laws which shall be necessary
and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other
powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or
in any Department or Officer thereof.”
Section 3 of Article III states unequivocally that the
President “shall take care that the Laws be faithfully executed…” combined with
the oath of office in Section 1 – “I do solemnly swear (or affirm ) that I will
faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to
the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the
United States” – leaves little doubt as to the one person ultimately
responsible for the execution of the laws of the Land.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA),
migrants can claim asylum even if they do not enter the country through a port
of entry. The INA, however, also gives the president the authority to prohibit
the entry of migrants into the U.S. if their presence would be
detrimental to the country, which Trump apparently believes about most
every immigrant, but so far, the Courts do not accept his opinion as a valid
argument.
On May 7, 2018, Attorney General Jeff
Sessions announced that the Trump administration would
prosecute parents who crossed the U.S. border illegally with their children.
The policy called for parents to be separated from their children, pending
resolution of their cases. The policy called for children to be placed in
shelters or with families. The policy applied to those crossing the border
illegally, not those requesting asylum at ports of entry. Those caught crossing
the border illegally would still be permitted to apply for asylum.[71]
Sessions said, “I have put in place a zero-tolerance policy
for our Southwest border. If you cross the border illegally, we will prosecute
you. It’s that simple. If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we
will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you
and that child will be separated from you as required by law. So,
if you’re going to come to this country, come here legally. Don’t come here
illegally.
Given the country-wide ruckus this “Zero Tolerance policy”
created when children were indeed separated from parents and detained in
inadequate facilities with horrid results, Trump tried to stem the tide of
criticism.
On June 20, 2018, President Donald Trump signed an
executive order directing the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) to keep detained families together. The order
also called on the U.S. Department of Defense to
assist in providing housing for families when detention centers are at
capacity, according to Politico. Prior to signing the order, Trump
said, “We’re going to keep families together but we still have to maintain
toughness or our country will be overrun by people, by crime, by all of the
things that we don’t stand for and that we don’t want." The full text of
the order can be accessed here.
At the time the order was signed, it was unclear how it
might conflict with the Flores Agreement, a legal settlement reached in 1997
that has been interpreted by federal courts to prevent immigration officials
from detaining minor children for more than 20 days. Trump's order directed the
attorney general to file a request in federal district court to modify the
terms of the agreement "in a manner that would permit [federal officials]
... to detain alien families together throughout the pendency of criminal
proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration
proceedings."
On July 9, 2018, Judge Dolly
Gee,
of the United
States District Court for the Central District of California,
issued an order denying that request. Gee wrote, "It is apparent that
Defendants' Application is a cynical attempt ... to shift responsibility to the
Judiciary for over 20 years of Congressional inaction and ill-considered
Executive action that have led to the current stalemate. ... In sum, Defendants
have not shown that applying the Flores Agreement 'prospectively is no longer
equitable,' or that 'manifest injustice' will result if the Agreement is not
modified."
On November 9, 2018, President Donald
Trump signed a presidential proclamation preventing
migrants who enter the country without legal permission from claiming asylum.
The proclamation enacted a rule published by the Departments of Homeland
Security (DHS) and Justice that stated only migrants who enter the country through
legal ports of entry can claim asylum.
On November 19, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Jon S.
Tigar issued a temporary restraining order, ruling that the
proclamation conflicted with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
"Whatever the scope of the President's authority, he may not rewrite the
immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly
forbidden."
Trump, as usual, has attempted to blame this situation on
Democrats in Congress and on President Obama.
It doesn’t wash because it is his policy; he owns it; he keeps it alive; he is in charge of its
operation (just as he makes himself “in-charge” of everything he possibly can).
Trump is a child abuser (according to most definitions) and nothing he can say can
erase that fact.
Here's the way one blogger from Canada approached it:
“State violence against children has a long, dark history
among authoritarian regimes.
Josef Stalin’s police took children from the parents he
labelled “enemies of the people.” Adolf Hitler, Spain’s Francisco Franco and
Chile’s Augusto Pinochet all separated children from their families on a large
scale as a way to punish political dissidents and those parents considered
disposable.
Now we can add Trump to the list of the depraved.”
Amnesty International called Trump’s decision to separate
children from their parents and warehouse them in cages and tents for months as
“a cruel policy that amounts to nothing
short of torture.”
By this measure, the Trump
administration has done more than
fail in its commitment to children. It has
abused, terrorized and scarred them perhaps for life.
So, let us be quite clear: this is a case of violence and neglect toward
children by the United States government under the express action of the Trump
Administration. That child abuse is
exacerbated by illegal kidnapping of children from parents and relatives, by forced imprisonment and
by the deaths of 7 children who died in the last year while in the custody of
this regime. Donald J. Trump is
ultimately responsible for their welfare, and the directors of HHS and DHS are
also liable as irresponsible and abusive caretakers.
Since
we can’t go to any of these facilities to see for ourselves what conditions
exist, let us
refer to recent
eyewitness accounts and let them tell us something of what they saw.
June
24, 2019 1:08 PM EDT
We
Went to a US Border Detention Center for Children. What We Saw was Awful
Published
in CNN (use CTRL-Click to see more)
Nicole Austin-Hillery, Executive Director, US Program @NicoleAustinHil
Clara Long, Senior Researcher, US Program clarychka
Nicole Austin-Hillery, Executive Director, US Program @NicoleAustinHil
Clara Long, Senior Researcher, US Program clarychka
“A 14-year old told us she was
taking care of a 4-year old who had been placed in her cell with no relatives. 'I take her to the bathroom, give her my extra food if she is hungry, and
tell people to leave her alone if they are bothering her,' she said.
"She was just one of the
children we talked with… as
part of a team of lawyers and doctors monitoring conditions
for children in US border facilities. We have been speaking out urgently, since
then, about the devastating and abusive circumstances we've found. The Trump
administration claims it needs even more detention facilities to address the
issue, but policy makers and the public should not be fooled into believing
this is the answer.
"The situation we found is
unacceptable. US Border Patrol is holding many children, including some who are
much too young to take care of themselves, in jail-like border facilities for
weeks at a time without contact with family members, regular access to showers,
clean clothes, toothbrushes, or proper beds. Many are sick. Many, including
children as young as 2 or 3, have been separated from adult caretakers without
any provisions for their care besides the unrelated older children also being
held in detention.
"Some of the children we spoke
with were sleeping on concrete floors and eating the same unpalatable and
unhealthy food for close to a month: instant oatmeal, instant soup and a previously
frozen burrito. Children should spend no more than a few hours in short-term
border jails to be processed and US-law limits their detention under
typical circumstances to 72 hours. The government has been unapologetic about
conditions..(saying) in the Ninth Circuit last week that the government's
obligation to provide "safe and sanitary" conditions for child migrants
does not require it to provide children with hygiene items such as soap or
toothbrushes and it can have them sleep on concrete floors in cold, overcrowded
cells.
The government has sought to
use children in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) facilities as bait to
arrest and deport the family members who come forward to care for them, according to a report by advocacy groups The
Women's Refugee Commission and the National Immigrant Justice Center.
"The conditions we saw match
previous Human Rights Watch findings on the
harms children face in Border Patrol detention. But now it's going on for weeks
instead of days. Congress should take action… by requiring immigration agencies
to cease separating children from family members…release and reunify children
as soon as possible and cease using them as bait to
arrest family members.
"These unconscionable abuses against children
are not what America should stand for.”
More
recently, another delegation found conditions as in the following pictures released
by Rep. Henry Cuellar's (D-Texas) office:
Again, let us be clear:
· This is not simply a question of lack
of toothbrushes and toothpaste; not just a question of supplies and personnel
although those concerns must be addressed
· It was meant to be “tough”
-- using detention, isolation and deprivation as a deterrent to others
contemplating ‘illegal entry’. It was
the PLAN all along – pre-meditated!
· It was intended to
provide inadequate basic care from the beginning: poor nutrition; lack of
medical care; little outside recreation, over-crowding, military-style
discipline; no schooling
· It is a question of lousy
policy-making; of intentionally cruel terrorism meant to
frighten off other potential asylum-seekers
· It is a question of bad policy
carried out under wraps; disallowing oversight by congresspersons and press;
even paying a for-profit private company over $2 million tax dollars to run one of the very
worst centers and to cover-up deplorable conditions
· It’s a question of making America
look like a banana republic lashing out against other people and countries
· It’s a question of law: who makes it,
who enforces it, and HOW it is enforced
· It’s a problem of disarray and chaos
and inability to organize efficiently and effectively
· It’s a problem of not paying attention
to hemispheric/regional issues of violence, gang intimidation, bribery of
officials, use of police to intimidate people and the need for interventions
with those governments
· Moreover, it Is a question of how we
treat children; especially by means of government auspices
· It’s also a question of how this
administration will use that $4.5 billion emergency appropriation by Congress –
we don’t really know because we can’t trust a lying conman like Donald Trump!
· For example, will it be diverted to
other purposes, like funding more for-profits to operate more detention centers
SO—What
Now?
· There is another very major issue involved: what to
do about leaders who violate child abuse laws but face no penalties; and what
about congressional representatives who do nothing, or worse, condone these
practices by their silence or by their vocalized support?
· Maybe Democrats need to begin writing
hefty penalties into their legislation regarding government neglect and abuse
against children
Moreover, perhaps it is the right moment to introduce legislation that overturns or invalidates the DOJ rule that a President cannot be indicted while in office (whether or not it has a chance of passage in the Senate - let the Senate bear the consequences of inaction at the polls)
Moreover, perhaps it is the right moment to introduce legislation that overturns or invalidates the DOJ rule that a President cannot be indicted while in office (whether or not it has a chance of passage in the Senate - let the Senate bear the consequences of inaction at the polls)
· One more thing: the time has come to take this President and his loyal puppets and cronies to court to seek
injunctions against this child abuse and neglect on our southern border and
elsewhere
· Finally, this is one egregious
example of Donald J. Trump believing and acting as though laws do not apply to
him. He is a child kidnapper and abuser
and should be prosecuted as such either by means of impeachment, or by
indictment after he vacates his Office.
· Of all the high crimes one could cite
against this unworthy president, this should have TOP PRIORITY. He has abused the powers of his office and
used government structures, appropriations and personnel to intentionally terrorize
children and their families. He must
bear the consequences of this high crime.
In the
meantime, every progressive activist in this country should be making it
absolutely clear by protest that Trump is a child abuser! Day after day, the message that played a
pivotal role in the 2016 campaign (with slightly different wording) should be
displayed about this criminally inclined tyrant:
LOCK
HIM UP!
