The Free World's Hostage Crisis

President Donald Trump's implementation of the zero toleration policy concerning illegal immigration had led to the separation of thousands of families.

 Although, the president signed an executive order to repeal his policy of separating families at the border, the new executive order does not take into account the plight of the 2300 children that have been separated from their families and are currently in detention centers.

 The family separation policy may potentially violate the migrants' Constitutional rights to familial integrity if the families are separated without just cause. Also, ICE may resume their possibly unconstitutional practice of separating children from their families at the border in twenty days. The Trump administration has argued they are only enforcing the laws made by Congress. However, the family separation policy was instituted this year by the Trump administration and if it was a law passed by Congress then the President could not rescind the policy. 

 Supporters of the family separation policy also claim that it is necessary to cut down illegal immigration and verify the identities of immigrants. Many of the illegal immigrants are fleeing poverty and violence. They are desperate enough to make the dangerous journey to the U.S and are willing to legally apply for asylum once they cross the border. In fact, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU  alleged that a Congolese woman who sought asylum after crossing the border was separated from her child for months. Although,  advocates of the family separation policy argue that children are separated to verify the parents' identity and ensure their own safety, no significant steps were taken to do so prior to the lawsuit. Thus, the purpose of this policy is not being fulfilled.

 In addition, proponents of the family separation policy fear that once released, illegal immigrants that have applied for asylum will not show up in court. Therefore, they need to indefinitely detain any migrants. This is not the case. At its worst, 75% of migrants attend their court hearing and at their best community programs have a 99% success rate at ensuring migrants attend the court hearings. Now, it may come as a surprise when you find that the Trump administration cancelled these community programs.

 Even if these fears are not unfounded, their are cheaper and just effective alternatives to family separation for migrant families such as tracking and family detention centers. The logistical hassle of reuniting families that have detained in different corners of the country will also pose a major crisis. I mean how can infants and young children identify their family names. Will a three year old know their own mother's full name?

The family separation policy has only has two objectives:

One is to intimidate illegal immigrants from crossing the border and the other is for political leverage over the Democrats in order a border wall.

Neither of which will be achieved by this policy that unnecessarily inflicts psychological and emotional trauma on young children. The children are being held hostage both literally and figuratively.

References:

https://www.aclu.org/families-belong-together

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/09/politics/aclu-lawsuit-separating-immigrant-families/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/27/589079243/activists-outraged-that-u-s-border-agents-separate-immigrant-families

https://www.aclu.org/cases/ms-l-v-ice