Crime against humanity in USofA

For what terrible crime must a mother be accused to justify authorities taking her infant child from her? How horrible must the crime be that justifies sending her child to foster home without giving the mother an opportunity for a hearing? How heinous must the crime be that justifies keeping the mother in detention without a court hearing, a chance for bail, the right to an attorney, and held several hundred miles away from her place of arrest without knowing the status or whereabouts of her child? How terrible must the mother be that her child disappears into the world of foster care denying her any knowledge of her child’s well being or whereabouts? And once she is released, authorities either don’t know or claim not knowing the whereabouts of her child.

Two single mother sisters sharing a home each with an infant child. A loud rapping on their front door with yelling voice instructs the occupants to open in the name of the law. On opening, several armed officers enter. They are served a warrant to search the house as they have been tipped that there are drugs in the premises. They search finding no drugs or trace of any. They take the two mothers into custody and arrange for social services to pick up the toddlers to take them.

The mothers are detained; no accusations of a felony or even a misdemeanor are made. Nonetheless they are sent to detention around 300 miles from where they were apprehended. No notice or news, the whereabouts or the status of their children is given them. They were held for 3 months then released.

A year later they still have no news of the whereabouts of their children. No one seems to know. The children are lost in the maze of bureaucracy probably in some foster home, possibly already put up for adoption. No one seems to know.

These events didn’t take place in some foreign land where injustice is a daily way of life. No, it took place right here at home in the

United States of America

Are these but two stories of a system gone wrong? No, it is the story that to date has been repeated over 5,000 times and estimated to happen to over 15,000 within the next 5 years unless stopped immediately.

So what could these people have done to deserve losing their children in such manner? They had either entered the country with temporary visas and overstayed the permitted time or entered without documentation between ports-of-entry.

Sadly far too many Americans are under the impression that entering the country without documentation is a crime. Immigration violation laws are not a crime; it is a civil violation that unless qualified through a process to stay in the U.S., they are deported that is the punishment. Thus immigrants detained are in non-criminal custody.

That those found to not have justification for staying should be deported, is a consequence of U.S. immigration laws. But such laws do not state that mothers or families must be separated from their minor children. Nor does the law mandate that the children should be placed in foster homes and their whereabouts be kept from the parents. And when the parents are deported, there is no U.S. law that states that the children should not accompany the parents; that they must stay in the U.S. in foster care, and at later time be placed for adoption.

The sad fact is that what is taking place is a crime against humanity – nothing less. It brings shame to the entire country. It must be stopped and each child separated from their parent or parents must be joined.

But for those who remember the sage advise that the editor of the Washington Post gave the two reporters who broke the story of the Nixon Watergate scandal --- “follow the money.”

Let’s do that --- Detaining those subject for deportation costs the U.S. taxpayers $122 per person per day. Over 67% of detention facilities are under contract by the Department of Homeland Security to either local jails or private sector run facilities. There are somewhere around 380,000 in detention. Do the math: 122 x 380,000 = $46,360,000 a day. As in the case of the two mothers who were held for 90 days the cost before deportation was over $2,000, and the cost to taxpayers for detention of the 380,000 is 4,172,400,000.00 dollars from which around $2.8 billion goes to local jails or private sector companies.

Somebody is making a lot of money out of this game. And that dear people, is why there are those who do not mind committing crimes against humanity and bring shame to the nation.