# How does the children concentration camps compare to the Japanese camps? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 17, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289 "2018-06-17T21:33:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Barack\_Obama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@Barack\_Obama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barack_Obama)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/1 "2018-06-17T21:33:26Z")
From what I know about the japanese camps, they were stacked ontop of each other in small buildings out west with no air conditioning and forced to stay. However they did get to bring their whole family. The children concentration camps are just children, no family, possibly air conditioning in some places, and presumably poor conditions for the most part. Now, which is worse? Are they just as bad as each other? I’m not aware of us torturing or abusing the japanese, if we did then I guess that would be worse than these kid camps. However separating families and throwing a kid into a cage essentially seems worse than what I know about the japanese camps. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/2 "2018-06-17T22:00:18Z")
How much would footage from inside one be worth I wonder. They don’t speak the language, unexpectedly have been separated from their family, in a country they don’t know at all, and put in a jail effectively. Traumatizing children with intent. One wonders how the people doing the hands on here, sleep at night. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/3 "2018-06-17T22:26:11Z")
We won’t know the full story for years. Hopefully they are getting fed and some healthcare. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/4 "2018-06-17T23:06:43Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > One wonders how the people doing the hands on here, sleep at night. From what I understand, “hands on” are not allowed. Looks like the lawyers set this one up. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/5 "2018-06-17T23:14:48Z")
Really? No hands on? How’s that work exactly? Do the toddlers go willingly? What about babies? ICE is a pretty good acronym for this lot in my mind! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/6 "2018-06-17T23:54:44Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Really? No hands on? How’s that work exactly? [Here’s the article, but you might get hit by a paywall.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/06/16/america-is-better-than-this-what-a-doctor-saw-in-a-texas-shelter-for-migrant-children/?utm_term=.2e4a4e76e5d6) It’s by Washington Post journalist Christine Phillips (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > But the first child who caught the prominent pediatrician’s [Kraft] attention during a recent visit was anything but happy. Inside a room dedicated to toddlers was a little girl no older than 2, screaming and pounding her fists on a mat. One woman tried to give her toys and books to calm her down, but even that shelter worker seemed frustrated, Kraft told The Washington Post, because as much as she wanted to console the little girl, **she couldn’t touch, hold or pick her up to let her know everything would be all right.** That was the rule, Kraft said she was told: **They’re not allowed to touch the children.** ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/7 "2018-06-18T00:00:57Z")
No idea, but it probably is worth noting that a lot of these kids are probably coming from homes that look like these: [http://seejamieblog.com/kens-mexico-mission-trip/](http://seejamieblog.com/kens-mexico-mission-trip/) Living on dirt floors with no A/C is not the definition of torture, it’s the average living conditions for most of humanity through history and, possibly, still today. Separating kids from their parents, on the other hand is pretty cruel. Though, it is true that all criminals have their kids taken away when that go to jail. Just, usually, there’s other family to take them. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/8 "2018-06-18T00:14:56Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > No idea, but it probably is worth noting that a lot of these kids are probably coming from homes that look like these: > > [Ken’s Mexico Mission Trip – See Jamie blog.](http://seejamieblog.com/kens-mexico-mission-trip/) > > Living on dirt floors with no A/C is not the definition of torture, it’s the average living conditions for most of humanity through history and, possibly, still today. [trump]Then these kids should be super-glad they’re in detention, where they have free, luxury accommodations! Just like the Trump Towers! Quicherbitchen, Liberals! BTW, I am the greatest babysitter ever, and don’t you forget it![/trump] ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/9 "2018-06-18T00:26:41Z")
It’s worse than we thought. [When the children are taken from their parents,](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/06/family-separation-is-horrifying-but-we-cant-go-numb-and-turn-away.html) > [@](#): > > …their mothers are told they are bathing. Their. Mothers. Are. Told. They. Are. Bathing. I can’t help but think of the “showers” in another time and place. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/10 "2018-06-18T00:31:02Z")
I’m _very much against_ this border policy, but I don’t think it is comparable to the Holocaust in any but the most facile rhetorical sense. I think that equating them is a real bastardization of history and demonstrates a lack of perspective. Fuck this border policy, fuck the separation of the families, I’m totally against it, but it’s really, really, _really_ not the same as a campaign of mass extermination. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/11 "2018-06-18T00:34:29Z")
The internment of Japanese Americans was intended to be relatively long-term with no projected end date on confinement. ICE, on the other hand, doesn’t maintain long term custody of the children. ICE turns the children separated from, or without, family over to the Health and Human Services [Office of Refugee Resettlement](https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr). HHS then attempts to place them with either family, or foster homes. It also maintains facilities dedicated to the care of unaccompanied children. That’s where the description of children being lost came about. If HHS places them with other family members inside the US and the family moves (like they are motivated to do if they themselves are undocumented and just told the federal government where they live) those children can easily get “lost.” When comparing the situation days versus an indeterminate period measured in years is an important thing to consider. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/12 "2018-06-18T00:59:09Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I’m _very much against_ this border policy, but I don’t think it is comparable to the Holocaust in any but the most facile rhetorical sense. > > I think that equating them is a real bastardization of history and demonstrates a lack of perspective. > > Fuck this border policy, fuck the separation of the families, I’m totally against it, but it’s really, really, _really_ not the same as a campaign of mass extermination. It looks like you are the only person making that connection. I was referring to _baby_ showers. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/13 "2018-06-18T01:57:56Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I’m _very much against_ this border policy, but I don’t think it is comparable to the Holocaust in any but the most facile rhetorical sense. > > I think that equating them is a real bastardization of history and demonstrates a lack of perspective. > > Fuck this border policy, fuck the separation of the families, I’m totally against it, but it’s really, really, _really_ not the same as a campaign of mass extermination. You’re the only one making that comparison so… y’know… cut that shit out. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/14 "2018-06-18T02:01:54Z")
There is no way in hell he was actually talking about “baby showers.” Also, I just saw someone on Facebook post [this cartoon,](https://www.facebook.com/editorial.political.cartoons/photos/a.422173394529544.98539.422169184529965/1742461592500711/?type=3&theater) and a separate person post “These supporters of tearing children from their mothers are the same folks who ran the Nazi death camps.” Some perspective, people. This situation at the border is fucked up, but it’s really not Nazi-level fucked up, any more than a strong-arm robbery is comparable to Charles Manson. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/15 "2018-06-18T02:05:20Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > Some perspective, people. This situation at the border is fucked up, but it’s really not Nazi-level fucked up, any more than a strong-arm robbery is comparable to Charles Manson. It is not full-scale-Nazi-level-fucked-up, but it’s goddamn moving in that direction, and people seeing parallels are seeing parallels to early days, when it’s still maybe possible to turn things around. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/16 "2018-06-18T03:37:24Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > … Some perspective, people. … We’re fresh out of that. All we have left is sky-is-falling hyperbole. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/17 "2018-06-18T08:55:53Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > We’re fresh out of that. All we have left is sky-is-falling hyperbole. And [kidnapping](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/us/immigration-deported-parents.html). Don’t forget the kidnapping. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/18 "2018-06-18T10:21:48Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I’m _very much against_ this border policy, but I don’t think it is comparable to the Holocaust in any but the most facile rhetorical sense. > > I think that equating them is a real bastardization of history and demonstrates a lack of perspective. > > Fuck this border policy, fuck the separation of the families, I’m totally against it, but it’s really, really, _really_ not the same as a campaign of mass extermination. To be fair, neither was the holocaust at first. The “final solution” wasn’t decided until 1942, nearly a decade after the first concentration camp in Dachau became operational. We probably won’t reach that, but boy are the parallels stunning and horrible in their own right. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/19 "2018-06-18T10:58:15Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > From what I understand, “hands on” are not allowed. Looks like the lawyers set this one up. What is the reason for the “hands off” policy? Obviously it doesn’t apply to diaper changing where hands are necessary … I think. > [@Jacquernagy](#): > > … a separate person post “These supporters of tearing children from their mothers are the same folks who ran the Nazi death camps.”… The important story is _not_ the inhumanity of the Trump regime’s policies. _It is that someone on Facebook exaggerated the evil_. Got it. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ BTW, Trump hates this inhumanity bigly, but it’s the Democrats that have done this; his hands are tied. Any polls to show how many Americans are falling for this lie? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289/20 "2018-06-18T11:52:16Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > What is the reason for the “hands off” policy? Obviously it doesn’t apply to diaper changing where hands are necessary … I think. I can only speculate that it is for conservative legal reasons – better safe than sorry. Think of how many times innocent caregivers have been accused of impropriety in the past with kids (McMartin, etc.). So if there is no touching, other than necessary re-diapering, such accusations will be less likely to stick. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-children-concentration-camps-compare-to-the-japanese-camps/816289.md?page=2)