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Trump policy of detaining children 'may amount to torture', UN says – live Trump policy of detaining children 'may amount to torture', UN says – live
(35 minutes later)
Trump has ended his speech talking about the work of his administration to assist victims of immigration and to track immigrants who have committed crimes:
We’re following these people. We’re following them, so that it can’t happen again ... Our first duty and our highest loyalty is to the citizens of the United States ... We don’t want people in our country who don’t go through a process.
Trump also lamented that countries are sending “bad ones” to the US, saying, “Then when they commit their crimes, we’re so surprised. We will not rest.”
The president’s rhetoric and media events have continued to focus on violent crime, but his administration has widely targeted immigrants with no criminal record and no history of violence:
Under Trump, the government no longer prioritizes deporting gang members and dangerous criminals, which means many of the parents recently separated from children under the president’s “zero tolerance” policy have been accused only of misdemeanor illegal entry.
Another dispatch from Guardian reporter Oliver Laughland who is now reporting from the Ursula detention centre, a few miles from McAllen, Texas:
Ursula is a large, warehouse-like facility about four miles from the border where migrants are detained for processing before they are sent to other detention facilities in the area. It is nicknamed the “dog kennel” due to the chain link cages used to detain migrants.
Many of the unaccompanied minors separated from their parents have been housed here before being sent off to other facilities in the area.
The Rio Grande valley has seen substantial flooding over the past few days and the roadway outside the detention facility is still heavily waterlogged meaning I can’t even cross the road to the doorway.
I’ve lodged multiple requests this week (including one this morning) to see inside the facility, but all of them have been denied.
So instead, I’ve been waiting outside to see what activity I can spot. About five white vans have left the facility, one of which appeared to be carrying a group of migrants in the back. It was unclear where they were heading and the two Border Patrol agents position outside refused to answer my questions.
It’s quite an eerie place. The facility is surrounded by truck depots carrying cargo to and from the US border with Mexico, and its confronting to know that what enters and leaves this facility is not cargo but human beings.
Outside the Ursula processing centre where I’ve counted 5 white vans exiting the facility. At least one carrying migrants in the back. The roadway outside is still flooded. Cc @SamTLevin pic.twitter.com/qMMUBaC7NA
Trump and his supporters are now promoting the group Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime at a press conference now. They are attacking the media and sharing their stories of loved ones killed by immigrants. Said one woman:
The mainstream media does not let you know what’s happening. If anyone has been a victim of illegal alien crime, contact us. ... We are trying to get people the help they need.”
The president has made this issue a cornerstone of his immigration policies and his campaigns. In 2017, he announced that the US would be posting a weekly list of crimes committed by immigrants.
A Trump database aimed to track migrants who have committed crimes also stirred controversy last year when immigrant rights’ attorneys alleged that the government website exposed the personal information of crime victims, putting them at risk of further violence and violating federal laws designed to conceal the identities of abuse survivors.
The press conference speakers today have also attacked sanctuary cities and policies.
Trump is now speaking live about the “human toll of illegal immigration”, repeating his campaign messages linking undocumented immigration to crime. He is with “angel families” – people whose loved ones were killed by undocumented immigrants:Trump is now speaking live about the “human toll of illegal immigration”, repeating his campaign messages linking undocumented immigration to crime. He is with “angel families” – people whose loved ones were killed by undocumented immigrants:
You’re loss will not have been in vein ... We’re going to have a safe country, and you’re loved ones are going to be playing and continuing to play a big part in that.”You’re loss will not have been in vein ... We’re going to have a safe country, and you’re loved ones are going to be playing and continuing to play a big part in that.”
Trump said the immigration laws are the “weakest in the world, weakest in the history of the world”, adding, “Where is the media outrage over the catch and release policies that allow deadly drugs to pour into our county?”Trump said the immigration laws are the “weakest in the world, weakest in the history of the world”, adding, “Where is the media outrage over the catch and release policies that allow deadly drugs to pour into our county?”
Some of the families are also speaking about their “permanent separation” from their loved ones.Some of the families are also speaking about their “permanent separation” from their loved ones.
Studies have repeatedly contradicted the president’s claims about the correlation between immigration and crime. Undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes than US-born people, according to some studies. Research has also found that cities with sanctuary policies have lower crime rates than comparable municipalities.Studies have repeatedly contradicted the president’s claims about the correlation between immigration and crime. Undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes than US-born people, according to some studies. Research has also found that cities with sanctuary policies have lower crime rates than comparable municipalities.
WH releases names of 14 people joining Trump at White House "Angel Families" event. Appears that 6 people lost family members in violent circumstances. The other 8 people lost family members in car accidents. Here's the full WH list >> pic.twitter.com/ekJrW4V14OWH releases names of 14 people joining Trump at White House "Angel Families" event. Appears that 6 people lost family members in violent circumstances. The other 8 people lost family members in car accidents. Here's the full WH list >> pic.twitter.com/ekJrW4V14O
Trump is listing statistics on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants at an event with Angel Families. pic.twitter.com/F3VYr2MQjSTrump is listing statistics on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants at an event with Angel Families. pic.twitter.com/F3VYr2MQjS
Patrick Timmons writes for the Guardian from El Paso, Texas where people are being deported across the international bridge to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, according to an immigrants’ rights activist.Patrick Timmons writes for the Guardian from El Paso, Texas where people are being deported across the international bridge to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, according to an immigrants’ rights activist.
Instead of flying Mexican deportees to central Mexico, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) now deports people by land across the international bridge in Ciudad Juárez, an immigrants’ rights activist told El Diario.Instead of flying Mexican deportees to central Mexico, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) now deports people by land across the international bridge in Ciudad Juárez, an immigrants’ rights activist told El Diario.
“The spike in deportations to Juárez is happening because a month ago Ice said it did not have the funds to keep flying deportees three times a week to central Mexico and would suspend those flights for 90 days,” Blanca Navarrete García of the group Human Rights in Action told El Diario. The Juárez newspaper attempted to contact Ice in El Paso but officials could not be reached for comment.“The spike in deportations to Juárez is happening because a month ago Ice said it did not have the funds to keep flying deportees three times a week to central Mexico and would suspend those flights for 90 days,” Blanca Navarrete García of the group Human Rights in Action told El Diario. The Juárez newspaper attempted to contact Ice in El Paso but officials could not be reached for comment.
Organizations in Ciudad Juárez are struggling to cope with the deportations. In the first four months of this year Ice deported almost 3,000 Mexicans to Juárez from El Paso, reports El Diario.Organizations in Ciudad Juárez are struggling to cope with the deportations. In the first four months of this year Ice deported almost 3,000 Mexicans to Juárez from El Paso, reports El Diario.
A spokeswoman for the Casa del Migrante, a migrant shelter run by the Catholic Church in the border city said they have been receiving about 100 deported Mexicans a day but only have space to shelter 500 migrants, including northbound Mexicans and Central Americans trying to enter the United States.A spokeswoman for the Casa del Migrante, a migrant shelter run by the Catholic Church in the border city said they have been receiving about 100 deported Mexicans a day but only have space to shelter 500 migrants, including northbound Mexicans and Central Americans trying to enter the United States.
Navarrete told El Diario the deportees arrive without documents and without money and find it difficult to even find low-paying work in Ciudad Juárez.Navarrete told El Diario the deportees arrive without documents and without money and find it difficult to even find low-paying work in Ciudad Juárez.
The Casa del Migrante is the only migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, a border city of 1.3 million people dominated by large-scale manufacturing for export known as maquiladoras.The Casa del Migrante is the only migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, a border city of 1.3 million people dominated by large-scale manufacturing for export known as maquiladoras.
Guardian reporter Rory Carroll writes from the border in Texas, where some people say they are frustrated by the influx of immigrants to the US.Guardian reporter Rory Carroll writes from the border in Texas, where some people say they are frustrated by the influx of immigrants to the US.
Amid the widespread outrage and protests over the Trump administration’s immigration policy it’s easy to overlook the fact that many Americans, even working class Latinos, are fed up with the influx across the border.Amid the widespread outrage and protests over the Trump administration’s immigration policy it’s easy to overlook the fact that many Americans, even working class Latinos, are fed up with the influx across the border.
“Who’s paying for it? Taxpayers like me, that’s who. It’s costing us a lot. They’re getting everything for free. I don’t get no help from the government but these people get free food, free medical care. We can’t foot the bill for everyone.”“Who’s paying for it? Taxpayers like me, that’s who. It’s costing us a lot. They’re getting everything for free. I don’t get no help from the government but these people get free food, free medical care. We can’t foot the bill for everyone.”
The speaker was not a Trump diehard but a woman I’ll call Sonia, a fiftysomething Latina in Tornillo, the Texan hamlet where more than 300 children of undocumented migrants are housed in a tent city. I heard several others here echoing her views.The speaker was not a Trump diehard but a woman I’ll call Sonia, a fiftysomething Latina in Tornillo, the Texan hamlet where more than 300 children of undocumented migrants are housed in a tent city. I heard several others here echoing her views.
Sonia said she felt bad about the separation of parents and children but felt worse that the US, in her view, was being fleeced. “Are these people going to be productive? Are they going to work?”Sonia said she felt bad about the separation of parents and children but felt worse that the US, in her view, was being fleeced. “Are these people going to be productive? Are they going to work?”
Undocumented migrants and asylum seekers invariably say they do wish to work, hard, and often end up doing tough, menial jobs that Americans shun. Others endure months or years in detention before being deported.Undocumented migrants and asylum seekers invariably say they do wish to work, hard, and often end up doing tough, menial jobs that Americans shun. Others endure months or years in detention before being deported.
Sonia was not heartless, just expressing her priorities. She works full-time in a discount store and earns barely $9 an hour. She has health problems, struggles to pay insurance, has no pension and expects to have to work well into old age.Sonia was not heartless, just expressing her priorities. She works full-time in a discount store and earns barely $9 an hour. She has health problems, struggles to pay insurance, has no pension and expects to have to work well into old age.
While progressives see detained migrants as victims of inhumane policies she sees uninvited burdens. Ending the separation policy will encourage more to come, she predicted. “There are air-conditioned tents waiting for them.”While progressives see detained migrants as victims of inhumane policies she sees uninvited burdens. Ending the separation policy will encourage more to come, she predicted. “There are air-conditioned tents waiting for them.”
Sam Levin in the Guardian’s San Francisco bureau here, taking over our live coverage of family separations at the border. The Guardian has correspondents reporting on both sides of the border, in Guatemala and across the US who will continue sending dispatches.Sam Levin in the Guardian’s San Francisco bureau here, taking over our live coverage of family separations at the border. The Guardian has correspondents reporting on both sides of the border, in Guatemala and across the US who will continue sending dispatches.
Here’s a quick update from the United Nations human rights office, which has said that Trump’s decision to stop separating children from their parents doesn’t go far enough and may amount to torture. From the AP:Here’s a quick update from the United Nations human rights office, which has said that Trump’s decision to stop separating children from their parents doesn’t go far enough and may amount to torture. From the AP:
Human rights office spokeswoman Ravini Shamdasani said Friday that “children should never be detained for reasons related to their or their parents’ migration status”.Human rights office spokeswoman Ravini Shamdasani said Friday that “children should never be detained for reasons related to their or their parents’ migration status”.
Shamdasani urged the US to overhaul its migration policy, such as by relying on “non-custodial and community-based alternatives” under the “logic of care” rather than that of law enforcement.Shamdasani urged the US to overhaul its migration policy, such as by relying on “non-custodial and community-based alternatives” under the “logic of care” rather than that of law enforcement.
Also Friday, a group of nearly a dozen independent human rights experts commissioned by the UN said the new US policy “may lead to indefinite detention of entire families in violation of international human rights standards”.Also Friday, a group of nearly a dozen independent human rights experts commissioned by the UN said the new US policy “may lead to indefinite detention of entire families in violation of international human rights standards”.
The executive order signed by the @POTUS on 20 June 2018 fails to address the situation of thousands of migrant children forcibly separated from their parents & held in detention at the border – UN #HumanRights experts: https://t.co/R2I0TrttS9 pic.twitter.com/BbfFoHIX3lThe executive order signed by the @POTUS on 20 June 2018 fails to address the situation of thousands of migrant children forcibly separated from their parents & held in detention at the border – UN #HumanRights experts: https://t.co/R2I0TrttS9 pic.twitter.com/BbfFoHIX3l
The experts also said the practice of detaining children in some cases “may amount to torture”.The experts also said the practice of detaining children in some cases “may amount to torture”.
The UN human rights office said the U.S. policy of putting immigrant children in detention centers harms their development and "may amount to torture." 11,786 children are in U.S. detention facilities. The Trump administration plans to place 20,000 more in shelters this year. pic.twitter.com/yzVxCQ9l9WThe UN human rights office said the U.S. policy of putting immigrant children in detention centers harms their development and "may amount to torture." 11,786 children are in U.S. detention facilities. The Trump administration plans to place 20,000 more in shelters this year. pic.twitter.com/yzVxCQ9l9W
More from Lauren Gambino, Guardian political correspondent, who watched the end of this week’s legislative session in Washington DC.More from Lauren Gambino, Guardian political correspondent, who watched the end of this week’s legislative session in Washington DC.
In a dramatic end to a week roiled by public outrage over family separations at the southern border, congressman Ted Lieu stood quietly on the House floor as audio of immigrant children crying desperately for their parents reverberated through the chamber.In a dramatic end to a week roiled by public outrage over family separations at the southern border, congressman Ted Lieu stood quietly on the House floor as audio of immigrant children crying desperately for their parents reverberated through the chamber.
“If the Statue of Liberty could cry, she would be crying today,” the California Democrat said opening his remarks on the House floor on Friday.“If the Statue of Liberty could cry, she would be crying today,” the California Democrat said opening his remarks on the House floor on Friday.
He stood in front of a photograph of children wrapped in space blankets, lying on the floor of a detention center.He stood in front of a photograph of children wrapped in space blankets, lying on the floor of a detention center.
“As I stand here there are 2,300 babies and kids who were ripped away from their parents by our government in detention centers around the country,” he continued, likening the policy to the “functional equivalent in kidnapping”.“As I stand here there are 2,300 babies and kids who were ripped away from their parents by our government in detention centers around the country,” he continued, likening the policy to the “functional equivalent in kidnapping”.
He asked the near-empty chamber to consider the “horror and fear” these children are facing. “What must it sound like?” he asked, before playing a recording published by ProPublica earlier this week from inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention center.He asked the near-empty chamber to consider the “horror and fear” these children are facing. “What must it sound like?” he asked, before playing a recording published by ProPublica earlier this week from inside a US Customs and Border Protection detention center.
The audio, which ran for eight minutes, added a new dimension to the understanding of the toll the practice was taking on the young children at a point when journalists were kept from touring the centers.The audio, which ran for eight minutes, added a new dimension to the understanding of the toll the practice was taking on the young children at a point when journalists were kept from touring the centers.
For several minutes, the audio played in the chamber as the chair banged her gavel and demanded he turn off the recording. Playing the audio violated the House “rules of decorum” the chairwoman said.For several minutes, the audio played in the chamber as the chair banged her gavel and demanded he turn off the recording. Playing the audio violated the House “rules of decorum” the chairwoman said.
“People need to hear the tape,” Lieu protested.“People need to hear the tape,” Lieu protested.
After four minutes, Lieu yielded the floor and the House adjourned for the weekend, leaving once again for another the week any hope of resolving of immigration reform.After four minutes, Lieu yielded the floor and the House adjourned for the weekend, leaving once again for another the week any hope of resolving of immigration reform.
Nic Wirtz, writing for the Guardian from Central America, sent dispatches from people who said their children were taken away from them.Nic Wirtz, writing for the Guardian from Central America, sent dispatches from people who said their children were taken away from them.
Nazario Jacinto Carrillo was arrested on the Mexico-US border on May 16 and deported back to Guatemala, leaving his five-year-old daughter Filomena Jacinto Velásquez behind.Nazario Jacinto Carrillo was arrested on the Mexico-US border on May 16 and deported back to Guatemala, leaving his five-year-old daughter Filomena Jacinto Velásquez behind.
Prensa Libre captured the frantic father as he raced back to Huehuetenango to continue the search for Filomena. She is believed to be in New York, where her father claims children are being hit on their feet with pieces of aluminium. Nazario intended to return to the US to provide a better life for his family.Prensa Libre captured the frantic father as he raced back to Huehuetenango to continue the search for Filomena. She is believed to be in New York, where her father claims children are being hit on their feet with pieces of aluminium. Nazario intended to return to the US to provide a better life for his family.
Lawyers for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid have agreed to represent two Central American mothers who had their children, including a two-year-old, taken away from them at the border. Both women were attempting to seek asylum for domestic abuse.Lawyers for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid have agreed to represent two Central American mothers who had their children, including a two-year-old, taken away from them at the border. Both women were attempting to seek asylum for domestic abuse.
Rómulo González from Champerico, Guatemala had his right eye torn out during a kidnapping which cost his family $13,500 to free him. Fearing another attack he decided to seek asylum in the US. González was detained and his three-year-old daughter Genesis was taken away from him.Rómulo González from Champerico, Guatemala had his right eye torn out during a kidnapping which cost his family $13,500 to free him. Fearing another attack he decided to seek asylum in the US. González was detained and his three-year-old daughter Genesis was taken away from him.
Lourdes de León agreed to be deported back to Guatemala on the condition that her six-year-old son would be returned to her. To date, Lourdes does not know where Leo Jeancarlo de León is.Lourdes de León agreed to be deported back to Guatemala on the condition that her six-year-old son would be returned to her. To date, Lourdes does not know where Leo Jeancarlo de León is.
“They told me that if I accepted the deportation they would give me my son back soon, but if I stayed in the United States, the process to recover him would take more than six months. All I wanted was to give him a better tomorrow, but I think I failed him,” said Lourdes de León.“They told me that if I accepted the deportation they would give me my son back soon, but if I stayed in the United States, the process to recover him would take more than six months. All I wanted was to give him a better tomorrow, but I think I failed him,” said Lourdes de León.
Buzzfeed has put together a robust piece on one of the main attacks being leveraged against reporting on Donald Trump’s family separation policy: that journalists did not cover Barack Obama’s harsh family detention policies the last time there was an influx of child migrants at the border.Buzzfeed has put together a robust piece on one of the main attacks being leveraged against reporting on Donald Trump’s family separation policy: that journalists did not cover Barack Obama’s harsh family detention policies the last time there was an influx of child migrants at the border.
The Buzzfeed piece, which explains how that claim is not true, is here: Anyone Who Says The Media Ignored Obama’s Border Crisis Is Wrong, and a tiny sampling of the Guardian’s best reporting on that issue, here:The Buzzfeed piece, which explains how that claim is not true, is here: Anyone Who Says The Media Ignored Obama’s Border Crisis Is Wrong, and a tiny sampling of the Guardian’s best reporting on that issue, here:
Orphaned by deportation: the crisis of American children left behindOrphaned by deportation: the crisis of American children left behind
US government deporting Central American migrants to their deathsUS government deporting Central American migrants to their deaths
Child immigrant detainees: ‘There’s an overwhelming sadness among them’Child immigrant detainees: ‘There’s an overwhelming sadness among them’
These stories are newly relevant because the Trump administration is moving to violate a law that limits child, and therefore family, detention to 20 days. A federal judge put that rule in place in response to criticism of the Obama administration’s family detention practices.These stories are newly relevant because the Trump administration is moving to violate a law that limits child, and therefore family, detention to 20 days. A federal judge put that rule in place in response to criticism of the Obama administration’s family detention practices.
Simon Tisdall, a foreign affairs commentator for the Guardian, writes about how family separation and tensions around immigration in Europe intertwine.
The longstanding inability of governments to cope with challenges posed by the increased flows of refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants is common to both sides of the Atlantic. The ensuing vacuum has been filled by opportunists such as Trump, maverick fringe parties, andrightwing zealots such as Italy’s new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, and the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions.
Chaos in Congress, where Republicans and Democrats have argued over conflicting plans to end incarceration of immigrant children on the Mexican border, enabled Trump to claim he was addressing Americans’ concerns. The US president has backed off for now, but his tough approach remains popular. Likewise, Salvini’s approval rating has soared after he banned a shipcarrying migrants from Libya.
In Germany, Angela Merkel’s domestic public standing has never wholly recovered from her decision to admit 1.1 million refugees in 2015. Although the total annual influx into Europe has plunged to under 40,000 people so far this year, polls suggest about two-thirds of German voters agree with Horst Seehofer, the interior minister and the chancellor’s rebellious ministerial rival, that tougher border controls are necessary.
Politico has a detailed story on White House senior policy advisor Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner who has almost entirely disappeared from public view amid the family separation controversy.
It’s hard to overstate Miller’s influence on the administration’s positions on immigration, according to interviews with a dozen current and former administration officials and Republicans close to the White House. Immediately after signing his executive order Wednesday suspending family separation at the border, Trump took his former campaign speechwriter-turned-immigration czar along for the ride on Air Force One to a rally in Minnesota.
But the backlash over the policy has opened cracks in Miller’s support network on Capitol Hill and among Republicans both inside and outside the White House, who have viewed the separation of migrant families as a huge political and policy misstep for the White House — and, for some, as a moral lapse.
“He led the president down a path that again ended in disaster,” said one Republican congressional staffer. “The Muslim ban and the immigration executive order are things that have activated both sides of the aisle and caused widespread pushback and disgust. I just think the president should think twice before following in his lead in the future on these issues.”
Miller was spotted on Sunday at a Mexican restaurant in Washington DC, where he was harassed and called a fascist. Trump supporters responded by posting bad reviews online of the restaurant Miller was eating at.
Nic Wirtz, a journalist based in Central America, writes for the Guardian about the motivations for immigrants fleeing Guatemala.
US president Donald Trump’s plans to make the country more inhospitable for migrants has worked, to an extent. Although Guatemalans are more aware of the risks, they also want to escape poverty, violence or to reunite with their families.
Juan Aguilar, mayor of San Juan Ostuncalco estimates that 15,000 of the municipality’s 78,000 inhabitants have migrated to the US. In the past six weeks, three residents from the area have died making the perilous journey north. Marvin Garcia Cabrera and Darwin Ovidio Vásquez Romero both drowned in the Rio Bravo, while Claudia Patricia Gómez González was shot dead in a case involving a border patrol agent which is under investigation.
In the past month stories have emerged that show Guatemala’s gangs have penetrated its military, as they expand around the country into rural areas such as San Marcos. As gangs get more organised, Guatemalans see fewer options to escape them.
Returning migrants especially from western parts of the country such as San Juan Ostuncalco say they will be preparing their next attempt to cross immediately. “I was in the US for four years,” said Kevin López, a 17-year-old call centre worker. “I can make $100 a day there without overtime, better than here and I’m on a good salary. Every choice is difficult, we either leave our families or live poor.”
Family separation has dominated late-night television shows in the US all week, with hosts taking aim last night at first lady Melania Trump’s decision to wear a jacket that said “I don’t care. Do U?” on a trip to Texas to meet migrant children at a shelter.
On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah also made reference to Melania’s much-criticized choice of jacket. “It looks like when Melania was in the hospital, she had her last fuck removed,” he said.
He continued: “Although it is kind of sweet that she made a jacket out of her and Donald’s wedding vows.”
The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland is outside the federal courthouse in McAllen, Texas, where, since May, around 150 migrants a day have been prosecuted for the misdemeanor offense of illegal entry.
These prosecutions have been the cause of family separation as parents are ripped away from their children to go to court for the minor offense.
Lawyers for the Texas Civil Rights Project, an advocacy group that has been monitoring daily events at the court, just came out to address reporters. They confirmed that today is the first day US prosecutors have not brought a single parent to court. Yesterday, despite Trump’s order stopping family separation, 17 parents were brought here, although the government dropped charges against them at the last minute.
Although there were no parents here, lawyer Efrén Olivares said that three individuals, all from Central America, were brought to court today having been separated from their families. One, a 20 year-old was separted from his younger, teenage brother. Another, 18, was also separated from his brother. Another adult migrant had been separated from their teenage cousin.
Olivares urged US attorney general Jeff Sessions to rescind the zero tolerance policy in its entirety.
“All the the Attorney General needs to say is that the April memo is now rescinded,” he said with reference to document Sessions signed off to being the policy. “That would help ease this crisis.”
Rob Rogers, the Pittsburgh cartoonist who said he was fired after 25 years for making fun for Trump, has released his first image since going freelance.
Here is my first cartoon as a freelance syndicated cartoonist without a staff job. This story about the immigrant children makes me ashamed to be an American. https://t.co/EQJEUosTvi #TrumpConcentrationCamps #Trump #TrumpCamps #ImmigrantChildren #Immigration pic.twitter.com/fEE5vVuOiK
Guardian political correspondent, Lauren Gambino, has more news from Washington DC on the Republican effort to overhaul the US immigration system.
Republican leaders are trying to unite their fractious party despite Trump’s half-hearted support for the effort.
“Game over,” the Republican congressman Mark Sanford, a Trump critic, told CNN, saying Trump’s tweet “takes the wind out of the sails in what might have been a fairly productive week of looking for a compromise”.
The “compromise” bill sought to address two urgent crises triggered by Trump’s hardline immigration agenda: his cancellation of a program that shielded from deportation hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children, known as Dreamers, and the zero-tolerance policy which led to the family separations.
The bill would include $25bn for Trump’s border wall, a campaign promise. It would also limit legal immigration, provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and end family separations.
After a two-hour closed-door meeting on Thursday evening, negotiators told reporters they were exploring modifications to the bill to appease conservatives. One element would require employers to use E-verify, a federal database that determines the legal status of workers. The other provision deals with visas for agricultural workers.
On Thursday, the House defeated a more hardline immigration plan that would have dramatically restricted legal immigration without guaranteeing a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. The vote was closer than many Republicans expected, leaving some conservatives to wonder if the focus had been on the wrong measure.
“There’s been a full court press the past 48 hours on the compromise bill,” Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox. “Perhaps if we had done that on the first bill we would have gotten to that sweet spot of 218 votes. But you know, history is over with that bill.”
Now that Donald Trump’s family separation policy has overwhelmed US authorities with unaccompanied migrant children, the New York Times reports that the US is preparing to shelter as many as 20,000 migrant children on four American military bases
The 20,000 beds at bases in Texas and Arkansas would house “unaccompanied alien children,” said a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Michael Andrews, although other federal agencies provided conflicting explanations about how the shelters would be used and who would be housed there. There were reports of widespread confusion on the border.
It was unclear whether the military housing would also house the parents of children in migrant families that have been detained, and officials at the White House, the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday that they could not provide details.
If the Trump administration thought public condemnation of family separation would end when it announced on Wednesday that it would stop the practice, they were wrong.
Protestors this morning gathered outside the home of homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who oversaw the implementation of family separation. She also defended the practice on Monday in a heated White House press briefing.
Protestors are outside of DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s Alexandria townhouse, playing audio of the detained children. She appears to be still be home. pic.twitter.com/akIcxOcM3q
The demonstrators also distributed leaflets that said “beware of child snatcher” throughout her neighborhood.
Nielsen was also taunted at a Mexican restaurant this week before the policy was ended.
And shortly after first lady Melania Trump wore a coat on Thursday reading: “I really don’t care” to a shelter for immigrant children, activists created the website “ireallydocare.com” for people to donate to 14 groups that assist immigrants.
Since Melania Trump's jacket said "I really don't care"...I set up https://t.co/GL1FF0KpBsClick the link and it'll take you to a site where you can donate to 14 awesome groups helping immigrants all at once. Feel free to RT if that's your jam. pic.twitter.com/TPc4y4ZUfh
And a nationwide protest on June 30 against family separation that was planned before the Trump administration ended the policy is still on track to take place.
Two major US magazines have revealed their covers for issues about family separation.
@NewYorker cover. Must see. Must feel. pic.twitter.com/SbAjOLax26
Congratulations, @realDonaldTrump, you made the cover of TIME! You can replace all the fake TIME covers in your properties with this one! pic.twitter.com/bpyZSybBMm
The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont spoke with photographer John Moore, who captured the image of the crying young girl featured on Time’s cover:
“I am sure that most of these families had no idea of the new US policy to separate children from their parents during the immigration court proceedings,” Moore said.
“I knew, however, what would happen to many of them next – separation – after they were taken away, so it was difficult for me to witness.”
Of Moore’s images taken that day, it was the photo of the little girl who went viral, though she had not been separated from her parents, according to Reuters, and was instead in family detention with her mother in Texas.