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Tear Gassing Children is Not the American Way
Posted on Nov 26 2018
November 26, 2018 – On Sunday afternoon, the world saw U.S. immigration officials lobbing tear gas across the border into a crowd of migrants. The world saw barefoot, choking children, and mothers crying as they dragged toddlers away from tear gas.
“This is not the American way: this action does not represent American values nor the ideals engraved on the Statue of Liberty,” said John Keller, Executive Director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. “The current administration has intentionally escalated and manipulated this refugee crisis. It has shown its cynical bad faith by acting unlawfully and without regard for international human rights, settled U.S. law, and human dignity.”
“The unlivable violence in Central America has created a refugee crisis, and unambiguous U.S. law requires that any person who seeks asylum must be given a chance to be heard,” he continued. “These people fleeing violence cannot simply apply for asylum in their home country. They must come to the United States to do so. The Trump administration has intentionally misrepresented the character of both the migrants and the law at every turn.”
Over the past months, the Trump administration closed down border crossings to asylum seekers, arbitrarily claiming they could only process a handful of applicants each day. That resulted in thousands of asylum seekers waiting in Mexico, even before the Central American caravan’s arrival. As people waited for weeks in difficult conditions, not even allowed to approach the border crossing, some decided to cross without permission and ask for asylum once they were inside the United States.
Again, the law is clear: anyone entering the United States, either at a border crossing or without permission, is allowed to seek asylum. With more than a month’s notice to prepare, instead of sending judges or asylum officers to process their lawful petitions for protection, this Administration preferred the political optics of sending 5,000 troops.
The president even tried to rewrite long-settled immigration laws via an executive proclamation restricting asylum to only those presented at official border crossings. A federal judge almost immediately enjoined that order on November 19, rebuking the president for seeking to reverse a law clearly passed by Congress.
This intentional stoking of the refugee and border crisis led to the use of tear gas on children and the complete closing of part of the border on both sides on Sunday.
“Rows of razor wire, full border closings, and armed border forces intentionally tear gassing choking, barefooted children and toddlers in traumatized mothers’ arms are images not from a faraway war zone but from California and this Administration’s cruel and unlawful assault on unarmed asylum seekers,” said Keller. “This Administration’s actions towards immigrants and refugees continue to corrupt the very soul of who we strive to be as expressed by our national motto, E Pluribus Unum.”