*Immigration – Page 3 – * Failed Pols

The U.S. slides into Christmas with a partial government shutdown, which began at just after midnight on Saturday morning, December 22, and may continue into the New Year. The partial shutdown is a result of the inability of representatives in Congress to reach an agreement with each other and with Donald Trump regarding his demands to fund a border wall. By Saturday, many House and Senate lawmakers had left town for the holidays, so a new vote is not likely in the near future. Fingers are pointing on both sides as to who is to blame for the partial shutdown.

Trump had said the previous week, on December 11, when a shutdown seemed a little less likely, that he would “own” a shutdown if it occurred. “I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck (speaking to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer). … I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.”

On December 19, the Senate passed a bill that seemed amenable to Trump and that looked as if it would prevent a shutdown, at least through February. In an apparent reversal on December 20, however, Trump said he wouldn’t sign the bill, after all, and that he won’t sign any bill that doesn’t include his required $5 billion to fund his border wall.

The House was then set to pass a spending deal with Trump’s required $5 billion for the border wall, but without Senate Democrats’ votes, the bill won’t pass in the Senate. On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the Senate would not take more votes until all sides could agree on a deal.

“When those negotiations produce a solution that is acceptable to all of those parties,” said McConnell, “It will receive a vote here on the Senate floor.”

On Friday, December 21, after previously declaring that he would “own” a shutdown, Trump did a turnaround tweet: “The Democrats now own the shutdown!”

In a video posted to Twitter, Trump said, “We’re going to have a shutdown. There’s nothing we can do about that because we need the Democrats to give us their votes. Call it a Democrat shutdown, call it whatever you want, but we need their help to get this approved.”

Though Trump blames the current partial shutdown on the Democrats, Senate Democrats did support the bill that passed on December 19, and that appeared to have Trump’s support, until he flip-flopped.

As House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi points out, “Democrats are for real border security solutions. Not for wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on an immoral, ineffective & expensive wall.”

Though government shutdowns have happened under other administrations, they are not common, especially under an administration in which one party controls all three branches. This, however, is the third shutdown in less than a year.

Partial government shutdown to continue through Christmas | Fox News [2018-12-24]

Day one of partial federal shutdown: Things go ‘from bad to worse’ |
PBS News Hour [2018-12-22]

On Tuesday, June 26, as the result of an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit that began on behalf of a 7-year-old Congolese child separated from her mother, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ordered that the Trump administration stop its family separation policy at the Mexico-U.S. border. The order also requires that children and parents separated as a result of the family separation policy be reunited within specified time limits.

The court order does not prevent the U.S. government from prosecuting illegal migrants, or from enforcing immigration laws. It does, incidentally, underline the fact that the family separation policy was not an immigration law; nor was it a law at all.

“The facts set forth before the Court portray reactive governance – responses to address a chaotic circumstance of the Government’s own making. They belie measured and ordered governance, which is central to the concept of due process enshrined in our Constitution,” Sabraw said.

Here’s what the court order requires:

That federal officials stop detaining adults separately from their minor children, except when the parent is determined to be unfit, or when the parent declines to be detained with his/her children
That all parents be reunited with their children who are under the age of five within 14 days
That all parents be reunited with their minor children who are age five and over within 30 days
That parents be allowed to have contact with their children by phone within 10 days, if not already in contact with the child(ren)

Some have argued that the Trump administration’s family separation policy is no different from separating American children from their parents if their parents are jailed. After all, they say, those crossing the border illegally are also breaking the law.

Sabraw pointed out, however, that when an American is jailed, the government keeps track of not only his or her children, but also even personal effects such as money, cars, etc. Trump’s family separation policy had no provision for keeping an account of the migrant children separated from their parents at the border. Consequently, the federal government now faces the challenge of reuniting many of the approximately 2,000 children – many of them too young to talk – with their families.

Nevertheless, citing the vast resources the U.S. government can access when it really needs to get something done, Sabraw, the ACLU, and many others remain optimistic that reuniting these families is possible. What’s more, the court order against the family separation policy is an important hopeful step toward preventing similar practices in the future.

Federal judge orders families separated at border to be reunited within 30 days | CBS This Morning [2018-06-27]

Federal Judge Orders U.S. to Reunite Migrant Children with Their Families After Separation at Border | Democracy Now! [2018-06-27]

Category: *Immigration

U.S. Government Greets Partial Shutdown for the Holidays

Federal Judge Stops Trump Family Separation Policy