THE Political Thread (ALL Political Discussion Here - See Rules, P. 1)

[ChefLinda]

Obama had a program in place that legally shepherded people through the system while keeping families together without having to detain them while awaiting court dates (had to wear ankle monitors), and they had a 99% appearance rate.

Trump killed that program and replaced it with this mess, precisely because he wanted to punish people and make an example of them by purposely ripping their children away. NYT reported two months ago he was yelling at staffers, "Why aren't you separating them! I told you to separate them!" Staff resisted until Sessions obliged.

This makes my blood boil.

[DaMuleRules]

^^^
I’m not doubting you or challenging you on this at all CL, but it would be great if you linked where you get this kind of info so it can shared elsewhere with supporting info to back it up.
_________________
You thought God was an architect, now you know
He’s something like a pipe bomb ready to blow
And everything you built that’s all for show
goes up in flames
In 24 frames

Jason Isbell

Man, do those lyrics resonate right now

[ChefLinda]

And then there's the whole for-profit prison thing. I wonder how many corrupt Trump administration cronies own stock in these companies or have family relatives with stakes in these companies.

[ChefLinda]

[LakerSanity]

[DaMuleRules]

[VicXLakers]

Trump administration funds Texas contractor Southwest Key with $458 million to care for migrant kids

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny-news-trump-admin-southwest-key-grant-migrant-children-20180619-story.html

a little info about Southwest from Wiki

Southwest Key Programs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwest_Key_Programs

Southwest Key Programs is a Texas-based nonprofit organization that operates unaccompanied minor shelters for immigrant youth, youth justice alternative programming and educational programming as well as providing community enrichment programming such as cultural arts programming, health, wellness and nutrition programming and social enterprises.[1] Southwest Key was founded in 1987.[2] The organization reported in August 2016 that it has 87 programs in 7 states: California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin, and New York.[3] The organization reported annual revenue of $242,755,041 for the year ended August 31, 2016, 98.9% of which came from grants and contracts.[4] Southwest Key Programs is the sole owner of Southwest Key Enterprises, a for-profit holding company made up of several businesses, including: Cafe del Sol, Southwest Key Green Energy & Construction, Southwest Key Workforce Development, and Southwest Key Maintenance.[5]

Southwest Key's largest source of revenue is grants and contract revenue[6]. Southwest Key first opened an immigrant shelter in the late 1990s. It now describes itself as "one of the largest providers of services to unaccompanied children in the U.S."[3][7] As of mid-2018, it houses 5,100 immigrant children[8] and operates 26 immigrant youth facilities in Texas, Arizona, and California.[7]

In 2015, it received $193,948,228 in contracts from the "unaccompanied alien children" program, the vast majority of its federal grants.[2] As of June 2018, it has received $310,824,288 in federal grants in fiscal year 2018 (which began on October 1, 2017). Under a contract signed in June 2018, its total grant revenue for immigrant your detention will reach $458 million for the fiscal year.[9] Grants for housing immigrant children increased dramatically following the announcement of the Trump administration's family separation policy. By mid-June 2018, children separated from their parents represented about 10% of Southwest Key's migrant child population.[7]

The organization is headed by President and Chief Executive Officer Juan Sánchez. His wife Jennifer Sánchez is a vice president of the organization.[7]

Evidence surfaced in June 2018 of Southwest employees telling crying siblings, traumatized because they were just separated from their parents, that they weren't allowed to hug and comfort each other.[10]


Detention facilities for immigrant children
Casa Padre in Brownsville, Texas—A housing facility for children built in a former Walmart and operated under contract for the Department of Health and Human Services. On June 13, it housed 1,469 children, a plurality of whom arrived as unaccompanied minors crossing the border. Southwest Key estimated that 5% of children held there had been separated from their parents.[11]
Estrella del Norte in Tucson, Arizona—A 300-bed housing facility for children, that housed 287 children in mid-June 2018. A former staff member described conditions in the facility as increasingly "prison-like," and recounts being told to forbid siblings without their parent from hugging one another.[12]

Casa El Presidente in Brownsville, Texas—A housing facility for babies and toddlers built in a former medical center. One twelve-month-old girl held in the facility had been separated from her family for around a month.[13]
Proposed facilities

Houston facility for young children, pregnant girls, and teenage mothers—Southwest Key has leased a 53,600-square-foot building—419 Emancipation Avenue—formerly occupied by the non-profit Star of Hope in Houston, Texas, and applied to use it as a detention center for up to 200 migrant youth "from age 0 to 17."[8] Advocates report that the facility would house "children younger than 12 as well as pregnant and nursing teenagers"; the Department of Health and Human Services refers to this younger age group as "tender-age children"[14] Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner opposes the facility and has urged the Texas state government not to license it. At a press conference, Turner said, "I do not want to be an enabler in this process. I do not want the city to participate in this process. The health department has yet to provide a food permit or shelter permit. … If we don’t speak, if we don’t say no, then these types of policies will continue.”[14]

[ChefLinda]

[ChefLinda]

This was from a month ago (original story was in NYT)

Trump Berated Homeland Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen For Not Separating Immigrant Families

[jodeke]

Fact check: Did Obama administration separate families?

LINK
_________________
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

[jodeke]

Band aid

Trump caves, embarrassing his sycophants again

LINK
_________________
Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

[DaMuleRules]

[focus]

[DaMuleRules]

[jodeke]

[ChefLinda]

From the end of May:

Trump Has Quietly Cut Legal Aid for Migrant Kids Separated from Parents

[tox]

[LakesGnrLake]

Wish we saw this kinda uproar years ago....

https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/12/414023967/obama-immigrant-detention-policies-under-fire

"The Obama administration is under growing pressure to change its policies governing the detention of thousands of migrants who came to the United States illegally.

Maybe it is a coincidence, but consider what has happened this past week:

--The American Immigration Council and the American Civil Liberties Union announced a class-action lawsuit challenging the conditions of detention in Border Patrol facilities in the Tucson, Ariz., region. Scores of detainees report being held in unsanitary and frigid cells while being denied adequate food, water, hygiene, medical attention, or access to legal counsel. The lawsuit alleges the Border Patrol's facilities violate constitutional due-process guarantees. It seeks no monetary damages, but rather court-ordered reforms, according to ACLU attorney James Lyall."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailywire.com/news/32114/drudge-flashback-obama-sued-illegal-immigrants-james-barrett%3famp

"In a report published Aug. 29, 2014, CBS2 Los Angeles provided some of the details of the case (formatting adjusted):

At a news conference Friday, attended by CBS2’s Amy Johnson, [Nancy] Luna said her husband had Type 2 diabetes, and his care was neglected. He was held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, among other places.

Last March, Roberto Aguilar Batista, 38, died from complications of diabetes at the Dalby Correctional Facility.

“It’s so tough, because he was so young,” said Batista’s niece Esmeralda Aguilar. She said her uncle was constantly writing letters. “He was letting [his wife] know it was really tough in there. That he didn’t want to be in there,” said Aguilar.

According to CBS2, Batista had lived in the Los Angeles area for 10 years with his wife and two daughters before being arrested in June 2013 on suspicion of entering the country illegally. While at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Batista and his family claimed in written correspondence, he was denied necessary care to treat his diabetes, resulting in kidney damage, a heart attack, and eventually blindness. He was allegedly moved to three different facilities during his ultimately deadly detention."

[Omar Little]

When all else fails, you always have whataboutism...
_________________
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel

[LakesGnrLake]

Why not one more.
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-is-the-obama-administration-keeping-toddlers-behind-bars/

"The women and their children are housed six to a room at the Berks County Family Detention Center in Leesport, Pennsylvania. They share a bathroom with a short curtain but no door. They’re awoken at 6:30 every morning for the first of several mandatory check-ins. During the night, a guard shines a flashlight into their eyes every 15 minutes. Most of them are badly sleep deprived. Many of their kids are showing symptoms of early childhood trauma and other developmental problems; some have stopped growing. The youngest detainee at Berks is 2 years old, and has spent around half of his life in detention. Like the other children, he isn’t allowed to sleep in his mother’s bed at night."

Think of the children....

[nickuku]

[DaMuleRules]

[Omar Little]

Kevin McHale photographed at Trump rally. His wife is apparently a big supporter on Twitter, but deleted her account.
_________________
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel

[nickuku]

[DaMuleRules]