# Separating immigrants from their children is child abuse. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 16, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206 "2018-06-16T16:45:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/141 "2018-06-17T21:05:12Z")
Random thought: where are all those “pro-family” conservative (mostly evangelical) orgs? Where do they stand on this? I checked out Focus on the Family’s website, and couldn’t find any mention of this moral carnage. Yeah, I know: they’re not pro-actual families, just pro some twisted Platonic ideal of a 1950s white evangelical family. I’d still be delighted to be proven wrong. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/142 "2018-06-17T21:12:16Z")
The link in post #140 also says: > [@](#): > > The Department of Homeland Security says 1,995 minors were separated from their “alleged adult guardians” at the southern border in just over a monthlong period. > > A DHS spokesman said the separations occurred between April 19 and the end of May under the administration’s relatively new “zero tolerance” policy, in which parents have also been arrested. Today is June 17, so they’ve probably managed to separate another several hundred kids from their parents. May 31 is just the last date they’ve got the numbers for. Today is also the 46th anniversary of the Watergate break-in. That at least wasn’t a crime against humanity, though Nixon and Kissinger committed more than their share. ---
**Author:** ![Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/143 "2018-06-17T21:15:46Z")
> [@Huey\_Freeman](#): > > Your sarcasm is noted, but why not use that energy to articulate a point of discussion relevant to the topic? Because it’s not as fun. Fine, I consider it monstrous and also probably financially unwise, it’s probably expensive to look after kids while their parents will do it for free. It does sound like this is more than just a Trump thing, if border guards are going to extra effort to prevent asylum seekers then it’s probably systemic dickishness. It also sounds like they’ve found the best way to shit on immigrants while still technically following the law so it’s probably not going to stop, Trump’s people aren’t doing it to appeal to liberals and the media, i bet this is going down great with Trump’s base. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/144 "2018-06-17T21:20:52Z")
One important question that’s come up elsewhere online is: what happens when these kids act out, or simply go crazy, as a result of being deprived of their parents? Does ORR have enough staff trained to handle extremely traumatized children to look after thousands of them? Or do they just have whatever warm bodies they can find, in our booming economy with plenty of better jobs out there, who can give them food and show them where their beds are, but aren’t capable of much more than that? And what does the staff do when these kids throw things, break things, try to harm themselves? ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/145 "2018-06-17T21:24:13Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > If it’s not, can you explain what measures you believe the United States can take that would be morally acceptable to meaningfully enforce that immigration law? …I have a response for you Bricker. This what is happening right now. > [@](#): > > AC: There is no one process. Judging from the mothers and fathers I’ve spoken to and those my staff has spoken to, there are several different processes. Sometimes they will tell the parent, “We’re taking your child away.” And when the parent asks, “When will we get them back?” they say, “We can’t tell you that.” Sometimes the officers will say, “because you’re going to be prosecuted” or “because you’re not welcome in this country,” or “because we’re separating them,” without giving them a clear justification. In other cases, we see no communication that the parent knows that their child is to be taken away. Instead, the officers say, “I’m going to take your child to get bathed.” That’s one we see again and again. “Your child needs to come with me for a bath.” The child goes off, and in a half an hour, twenty minutes, the parent inquires, “Where is my five-year-old?” “Where’s my seven-year-old?” “This is a long bath.” And they say, “You won’t be seeing your child again.” Sometimes mothers—I was talking to one mother, and she said, “Don’t take my child away,” and the child started screaming and vomiting and crying hysterically, and she asked the officers, “Can I at least have five minutes to console her?” They said no. In another case, the father said, “Can I comfort my child? Can I hold him for a few minutes?” The officer said, “You must let them go, and if you don’t let them go, I will write you up for an altercation, which will mean that you are the one that had the additional charges charged against you.” So, threats. So the father just let the child go. So it’s a lot of variations. But sometimes deceit and sometimes direct, just “I’m taking your child away.” Parents are not getting any information on what their rights are to communicate to get their child before they are deported, what reunification may look like > **[What's Really Happening When Asylum-Seeking Families Are Separated?](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/whats-really-happening-asylum-seeking-families-separated/)** > > An expert on helping parents navigate the asylum process describes what she's seeing on the ground. Do you think that this method of separating parents from children is a morally acceptable method to enforce immigration law? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/146 "2018-06-17T21:25:40Z")
Here’s [Susan Collins’ mealymouthed response](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Df16WQvWsAAViDk.jpg) to a constituent asking about the kids separated from their parents. No hope from moderate Republican officeholders, then. Disappointed but not surprised. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/147 "2018-06-17T21:28:28Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Random thought: where are all those “pro-family” conservative (mostly evangelical) orgs? … They’re pro family in the sense of “wow, it sure feels good to say I’m pro family”. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/148 "2018-06-17T21:46:08Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > And here’s a thought experiment to hopefully remove the misdemeanor/felony distraction, for a distraction I believe it to be. > > Tomorrow morning, the announcement is made: I, Bricker, have been appointed Chief of the US Border Patrol. > > By Friday, I implement the following changes: using fingerprint scanners, my agents check all detained immigrants at border crossing. Those who are thus identified as previous illegal border crossing captures, or those identified as people previously deported, are subjected to the same treatment being discussed in this thread: if they have children with them, they are separated from those children exactly as being done now. > > But those who appear to be first time entrants – misdemeanants, in other words – are cited and released upon their signed promise to appear at a specified time in front of an immigration judge. > > Is this treatment, the “Chief Bricker Protocol,” also inhumane? How would you deal with: - People who were caught at the border previously, but say they were forced to sign documents in English that they didn’t understand regarding their willingness to leave the U.S. without formal deportation proceedings? (This happens with astonishing frequency.) - People who were in deportation proceedings previously (and then either left voluntarily or were deported) years ago, or even recently, but experienced events in their home country in the interim that forced them to flee again? I’m sure there are other circumstances not contemplated by the Bricker Plan that would lead to people being treated unfairly. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/149 "2018-06-17T22:35:36Z")
**[Hundreds March To Texas Tent City Holding Detained Immigrant Kids](https://www.npr.org/2018/06/17/620813068/hundreds-march-to-texas-tent-city-holding-detained-immigrant-kids?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news)** > [@](#): > > With chants of “families united” and “free our children now,” hundreds of people marched to the tent city in Tornillo, Texas, where children have been detained for immigration violations. > > The Father’s Day march near El Paso was primarily organized by Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, who is also running for Senate against Ted Cruz. He says the march was the brainchild of Veronica Escobar, who is running to fill his seat in the House, as well as other community leaders. > > The march came together on short notice: O’Rourke announced it late Friday. > … ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/150 "2018-06-17T22:47:42Z")
Improvisational politics worries me. Too many things can go wrong when its hot and grumpy and people are already fired up. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/151 "2018-06-17T23:15:54Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > These are asylum seekers. They generally turn up, because if they don’t then their chances of being granted asylum are zero. As far as bonds that cannot be posted, like I said earlier, that’s a problem with our legal system in general. If we want to solve that issue as well, tat’s great, otherwise, it’s a distraction. > > As far as “real crime”, sure illegal immigration is. But it is not a felony, and it does not have a victim, so I would treat it more along the lines of possession of drugs crime than a DUI or battery, where you have actual or potential victims of physical harm. > > And as far as asylum seekers, which is what we are talking about here, they are not committing any crime at all. Even if they are turned down, they still did not commit a crime when they crossed the border with the intent of seeking asylum. They would only commit a crime by staying i the country after being rejected or after not showing up for their court date. > > It would be like charging someone for trespassing on their neighbor’s lawn while their house burned down and taking away their children. Even if you say they can’t stay on their neighbor’s lawn, you still can’t charge them with trespassing and tell them that you are taking their children away for a bath, never to be seen again. I read the rest of the thread, but I wanted to respond to this as it was directed at me. Illegal immigration has a victim: the sovereignty of the United States. Twelve MILLION people here in violation of the law. If it is a shitty law, then we need to change it. If not, we need to enforce it. Further, this Libertarian idea that so long as there is not an identifiable victim of a crime, then it should not be illegal, has never been a part of U.S. or English common law jurisprudence. Regardless of the legality of seeking asylum, there is cause (and the Fourth Amendment is extremely relaxed at the borders) to believe that someone showing up with a kid and asking for asylum is attempting simple illegal immigration. Many people accused of DUI, battery, or shoplifting are completely innocent, but they will be separated from their children while the justice system proceeds, even if it proceeds slowly. In the latter instances, children are separated from U.S. citizens. We have a right to defend our own borders. Let me blast through the Rainbow Bridge customs area with my daughter and see if the nice Canadians allow us to spend the night together. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/152 "2018-06-17T23:37:15Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > As to your first questions, I’m not an immigration expert, nor am I a refugee detention expert. So, I don’t know the answers to your questions either. However, we manage to keep kids with parents in other situations, such as large human displacements after natural disasters. However, I do think that the United States of America has the resources to house a truly gigantic number of would-be immigrants and asylum seekers if we wanted to. I’m sure that’s true. I could probably sleep six more people in my basement. But I doubt you’d argue that my failure to volunteer my basement is inhumane. So my question focuses not on what we could do with full advertance of the national will, but, as I hinted above, what would constitute avoiding inhumance actions. > [@](#): > > As to your final question, I think the USA can morally enforce sanctions against would-be illegal immigrants and asylum seekers by providing humane detention centers while figuring out whether to accept their claims of asylum or sending them back to wherever they will they should ultimately end up. Humane centers may be converted arenas and stadiums, temporary housing, and so on (in my totally non-expert opinion), set up so that families can stay together. If a husband and wife are arrested for tax evasion, and cannot make bail, we do not provide a shelter for them to remain with their children. I have never heard of that policy being criticized as inhumane. So at the least, it would seem defensible to separate those border crossers who are repeat offenders. No? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/153 "2018-06-17T23:45:24Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > I read the rest of the thread, but I wanted to respond to this as it was directed at me. > > Illegal immigration has a victim: the sovereignty of the United States. Twelve MILLION people here in violation of the law. If it is a shitty law, then we need to change it. If not, we need to enforce it. Further, this Libertarian idea that so long as there is not an identifiable victim of a crime, then it should not be illegal, has never been a part of U.S. or English common law jurisprudence. “the sovereignty of the United States” is an impressive-sounding phrase. Could you be more specific about the concrete consequences to U.S. sovereignty here? > [@](#): > > Regardless of the legality of seeking asylum, there is cause (and the Fourth Amendment is extremely relaxed at the borders) to believe that someone showing up with a kid and asking for asylum is attempting simple illegal immigration. Many people accused of DUI, battery, or shoplifting are completely innocent, but they will be separated from their children while the justice system proceeds, even if it proceeds slowly. Why? Why do you think it’s essential that the children of people who haven’t even been accused of a crime be punished so cruelly? > [@](#): > > In the latter instances, children are separated from U.S. citizens. Why, even then? If we determine that their claim to asylum is invalid, and they have been charged with crimes in other countries, why do we need to separate them even then? Why not just return them to the custody of the officials in the country where they have been charged? > [@](#): > > We have a right to defend our own borders. Let me blast through the Rainbow Bridge customs area with my daughter and see if the nice Canadians allow us to spend the night together. This is such a ridiculously bullshit false equivalence that it discredits any semi-rational arguments you may have made. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/154 "2018-06-17T23:48:56Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > … but is being turned away as an asylum seeker the first time a crime? Is seeking asylum a second time, after having been denied the first time, a crime? > [@k9bfriender](#): > > If the guy turns himself into the border patrol claiming asylum, what law has he broken, exactly? Answer: 8 U.S. Code § 1325(a)(1), forbidding entry or attempted entry of the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers. A person who has illegally entered the United States may still apply for asylum, but that does not erase the crime of illegal entry. Asylum-seeker should enter the United States at a designated point of entry to seek asylum. But are we assuming that majority of illegal immigrants are legitimate asylum seekers? I don’t believe that’s a true statement. > [@](#): > > If you are a cop, and you see someone run out of their burning house, and you see them cross onto their neighbor’s property, in completely defiance of the well posted “No Trespassing” signs, do you take their children away from them and put them in jail? That’s an interesting question. The answer is generally no, because generally that’s not a crime. But if a parent were arrested for the crime of trespassing, and could not make bail, the children for which they are responsible would typically be taken into some sort of custody until another appropriate adult could be found. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/155 "2018-06-17T23:50:54Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Why do you think it’s essential that the children of people who haven’t even been accused of a crime be punished so cruelly? I don’t think it it’s essential. I am arguing against the proposition that it is per se inhumane. Not that you asked me. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/156 "2018-06-17T23:59:49Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > If a husband and wife are arrested for tax evasion, and cannot make bail, we do not provide a shelter for them to remain with their children. I have never heard of that policy being criticized as inhumane. I have, many times. The notion that people get jailed for sheer **inability** to post bail, pay fines, etc. creates a caste system of justice where comfortably well-off people like you and me remain free awaiting trial, but poorer people sit in jail awaiting trial, with all the life consequences (loss of income, disruption of ability to care for dependents, potential loss of residence, etc.) that that entails. In the opinion of many on the left (myself included) it’s only marginally removed from debtor’s prison. [Here’s David Dayen in The Nation writing about this.](https://www.thenation.com/article/prosecutors-and-judges-have-brought-back-debtors-prisons/) The point isn’t to derail this thread with a debate over this issue, but to make the point that this policy is in fact criticized as inhumane, though you yourself may not have heard those criticisms. > [@](#): > > So at the least, it would seem defensible to separate those border crossers who are repeat offenders. No? To the extent that this depends on your previous assertion, no. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/157 "2018-06-18T00:09:02Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I’m sure that’s true. I could probably sleep six more people in my basement. > > But I doubt you’d argue that my failure to volunteer my basement is inhumane. > > So my question focuses not on what we could do with full advertance of the national will, but, as I hinted above, what would constitute avoiding inhumance actions. Well, I already responded that, since I’m not an expert on refugee operations or whatever I said up there, I don’t know the answer, but there are actual people who know these things. Unfortunately, since this administration is filled with nothing but corrupt and incompetent people, they don’t know what to do either. A competent administration, well, wouldn’t do this in the first place, but if they did, they would have a plan for holding families in acceptable housing while their situations are sorted out, asylum seekers are separated from regular illegal immigrants, and people are sent along their way. > [@](#): > > If a husband and wife are arrested for tax evasion, and cannot make bail, we do not provide a shelter for them to remain with their children. I have never heard of that policy being criticized as inhumane. > > So at the least, it would seem defensible to separate those border crossers who are repeat offenders. No? I assume you’re taking about non-asylum seekers here, but of course, those people are treated the same way as regular illegal entrants. So, limiting this to illegal entrants, the difference between citizens and residents being arrested and folks on the border is that the locals have actual neighborhood connections. So, if my wife and I were jailed, my neighbors, family, friends could step in and care for my children. In the worst case, children are placed into temporary foster care – I know a family that would take in infants for moms who were in custody – they were placed into their loving home, not put into fenced-in camp. Almost by definition, people who are just arriving at our border don’t have that kind of support network here. So, the normal way we treat normal criminals don’t provide any guidance here. I don’t know whether you’re just playing devil’s advocate here, but I’m a little surprised at your position. With your anti-capital punishment, pro-life, pro-gay rights, devout Catholic background, you always struck me as a true compassionate conservative. This policy doesn’t seem like compassionate conservatism to me. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/158 "2018-06-18T00:32:07Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I have, many times. The notion that people get jailed for sheer **inability** to post bail, pay fines, etc. creates a caste system of justice where comfortably well-off people like you and me remain free awaiting trial, but poorer people sit in jail awaiting trial, with all the life consequences (loss of income, disruption of ability to care for dependents, potential loss of residence, etc.) that that entails. > > In the opinion of many on the left (myself included) it’s only marginally removed from debtor’s prison. [Here’s David Dayen in The Nation writing about this.](https://www.thenation.com/article/prosecutors-and-judges-have-brought-back-debtors-prisons/) > > The point isn’t to derail this thread with a debate over this issue, but to make the point that this policy is in fact criticized as inhumane, though you yourself may not have heard those criticisms. To the extent that this depends on your previous assertion, no. OK, fair enough. And in fact, I admit that with this refreshing of my recollection, I _have_ heard this policy criticized – perhaps not literally as “inhumane,” but certainly I have heard strong criticism of it. But I think my real point is: notwithstanding those criticisms, the process of separating children from parents when the parents are jailed for a crime is a well-established practice in the country; it’s not a novel indignity being directed only at illegal immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/159 "2018-06-18T00:34:17Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I don’t know whether you’re just playing devil’s advocate here, but I’m a little surprised at your position. With your anti-capital punishment, pro-life, pro-gay rights, devout Catholic background, you always struck me as a true compassionate conservative. This policy doesn’t seem like compassionate conservatism to me. I’m not supportive of this policy, and believe it to be lacking compassion and cruel. But I don’t believe it qualifies as “inhumane.” It’s the hyperbole I’m attacking here. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206/160 "2018-06-18T00:54:18Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > But I think my real point is: notwithstanding those criticisms, the process of separating children from parents when the parents are jailed for a crime is a well-established practice in the country; it’s not a novel indignity being directed only at illegal immigrants. But when you’re talking about separating children from parents jailed for a crime: first, it’s very rarely from both parents. Husband-and-wife criminal teams aren’t something you hear about every day. So Dad (overwhelmingly Dad) goes to prison in order to protect the rest of us from him. Mom is still there - probably the primary caregiver anyway. If worst comes to worst, there are likely other relatives the child can stay with. There is almost always someone there who will take on the responsibilities of a parent because that person is related to the child, and cares about the child. But what we’re talking about here is the total separation of the child from anyone with any bond to that child, from anyone the child can inherently trust. So there’s a qualitative difference, yes. The latter is far more inhumane than the former. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/separating-immigrants-from-their-children-is-child-abuse/816206.md?page=9)