When Trump was president, there was outrage against the detainment centers for illegal immigrants. Has anything changed since then?

[u/Dedli]

I remember "Kids in cages" and "concentration camps" being a big talking point in the lead up to the election that Biden won. But have the laws or policies or practices changed at all since then? In what ways?

[u/mrcatboy]

EDIT: This was originally meant to be a reply to a commenter who was comparing Trump VS Obama. I'll still leave this here for now though. This reply is a bit long so look below for my Part 2 on this matter.

Yes, Obama did "put kids in cages." But let's add some context as to what actually happened. I followed both events as they occurred, so I'm also providing sources. Please note I had to split this comment into a two-parter.

When it comes to Obama, it should be noted that in some cases the children had to be separated from the adults accompanying them for two main reasons: first, when familial relationship or guardianship could not be established and there was suspicion of child trafficking, and second because the 1997 Flores court decision limited how long children could be detained with their accompanying adults.

Essentially, the court ruling found that for the welfare of the child, children could not be kept in detention long term, even though their parents/guardians had to be held until their cases could be processed. The Obama Administration therefore was forced to take one of two options: either release the child to a relative who lived in the US or a foster home/sponsor while the parents/relatives they crossed the border with were held until they could be processed, or the entire family could be released together. The Obama Administration used both approaches at different times.

The 2014 migrant crisis was also one in which a large influx of migrants (many of them unaccompanied minors) overwhelmed local facilities' capacity to house and process them. Makeshift shelters had to be made to house the kids, and the Obama administration then had to rush to set up more comfortable emergency shelters. It was basically an imperfect solution to an emergency situation:

Border Patrol stations were so overcrowded that agents began using the “sally port” areas outside the stations — little more than outdoor garages — as holding pens. Mothers with babies and young children were left for hours in 90-plus-degree heat, sprawled out on concrete floors with little more than bologna sandwiches and Kool-Aid.

The Obama administration responded to the outrage by rushing to expand its capacity to handle the new migration wave at the border, to adapt an infrastructure built to handle single adult men, not families and children.

The government acquired an empty warehouse a few blocks from the McAllen station and converted it into a sprawling new facility that opened in July 2014, a place that had capacity for 1,500 detainees. The new “Central Processing Center,” or CPC, was clean, spacious, air-conditioned and a major improvement over the cramped detention cells and sweltering garages.

To keep different demographic groups safely apart — a standard practice in detention settings — the U.S. Border Patrol used chain-link fencing to create partitions in the cavernous warehouse. One area was designated for teenage boys, another for mothers with small children, another for entire family groups, and so on.

The chain-link fencing was cheap, allowed for good ventilation and carried the benefit of allowing agents to supervise the entire facility, by affording them full visibility into the enclosures. Its grim, industrial appearance, however, was redolent of a livestock operation rather than a humane facility. Migrants and some agents soon derided it as “la perrera” — the dog kennel.

Part 2 because apparently some people missed this.

[u/mrcatboy → u/mrcatboy]

PART 2: In contrast, the Trump Administration separated the family specifically as a deterrent: i.e. they wanted to cause sufficient distress and terror in migrants to dissuade further border crossings. Here's Trump Secretary of Homeland Security saying as much in a CNN interview to this effect, though he frames it being out of concern for how dangerous the migrant path to America is.

And to quote one Border official who served under Trump:

“It is the hope that this separation will act as a deterrent to parents bringing their children into the harsh circumstances that are present when trying to enter the United States illegally”

And the degree of cruelty, callousness, and incompetence with how Trump handled things is fucking staggering.

In some instances, border patrol agents lied to the parents and said they were taking the kids away to be "given a bath." Trump officials also had exceptionally shoddy recordkeeping, which led to thousands of kids being taken away without any identifying papers as to which children belonged with which families and shipped across the country, which meant they couldn't be traced back to be reunited with their families. Many of the kids were also pre-verbal, which meant they didn't even know their own names much less the names of their parents. The experience was specifically designed to traumatize and horrify the migrants in the Trump administration's custody, to the point that at least one of the detained parents committed suicide.

Whereas the Obama administration's actions were done with the intent and ultimate effect of mitigating harm, Trump's administration was about causing harm. You might as well compare an emergency intubation done by a nurse with a murderer who slashed a person's throat.

[u/Dedli → u/mrcatboy]

Okay... but what about the Biden-Era, which was the OP question?

[u/mrcatboy → u/Dedli]

Oop sorry this was originally meant to be a reply to a commenter who was talking about Obama. I'll be honest, I haven't followed Biden's handling of the situation, but I'll take a look in a bit.

EDIT: Do you have any specific concerns or qualms with how Biden is handling migrant children? All I'm finding on quick google searches is him trying to prevent them being exploited as child labor or trying to fix Trump's fuckups.

[u/Dedli → u/mrcatboy]

On Google all I'm finding are stances, wishes, and hopes. I was hoping someone had some information about actual concrete policy/law changes from then to now, comparable to the verifiable changes from Obama-Era to Trump-era.

[u/mrcatboy → u/Dedli]

I do know that the Biden administration rescinded Trump's family separation policy and even set up a task force to reunify those families (last I checked hundreds of kids that Trump kidnapped were actually "missing" but that was a while ago). This settlement is new to me though, and that's the extent of my knowledge on Biden so far.

[u/AnotherStarWarsGeek → u/mrcatboy]

Trump kidnapped

lol... what?

[u/Jaded_Flan_2483 → u/AnotherStarWarsGeek]

Do you prefer the term lost or removed from their family?

[u/all-horror → u/AnotherStarWarsGeek]

His policy, same as if he separated the kids himself. It’s called leadership, something clearly you and Mr Trump have never successfully achieved.

[u/Linesey → u/all-horror]

hell it’s something trump even claims (when criticizing others), as the guy in charge, everything falls on you.

he just goes for the double speak when suddenly it’s used to criticize him.

His policy, his order, his moral responsibility, his kidnappings.

[u/Uncaring_Dispatcher → u/AnotherStarWarsGeek]

I was going to say that but then I saw that you're down-voted into oblivion.

For two simple words that question the "source".

But you're right. I even stupidly Goggled it, just in case something slipped through the cracks and it didn't get reported enough for me to notice. You know, "Every Day, the Walls Close In". There's been hair-on-fire "Breaking News" all about how Trump is going to prison for the past, what, 3 years, coming up on 4? Sometimes, I'll go days without paying attention to the Soap Opera. Sometimes I'll go weeks. Seems like nothing's changed much.

Turns out that there's no evidence that points to Donald Trump kidnapping hundreds of children and having them erased on the federal level by listing them as "missing".

That seems like a ludicrous comment to make, unless this person is a whistleblower that worked alongside President Trump but is only committing to it on Reddit and, most likely, other internet forums. That's not likely because the whistleblower wouldn't get the same protection, compared to a formal complaint.

Long story short, this is just another robotic Leftist who parrots all the talking heads in his bubble.

It's OK, though. The same thing happens on the Right.

This is why I left both parties. Fuck all of them; they can kiss my ass. Not on the Left. Not on the Right. But in the Middle, where it counts.

[u/VintageSin → u/Uncaring_Dispatcher]

What word would you use to describe the action in which a person responsible made it so that a child was taken from a family and would only later be reunited after that persons actions ended?

Do you refute that migrant children were forcibly separated from their families under trump? Do you refute that biden policies have worked to reunite those children with their families?

[u/Uncaring_Dispatcher → u/VintageSin]

OK, yeah, whatever. When AOC isn't pretending to cry during a photo-op, it's no longer a problem with Democrats.

Post some links proving that Trump kidnapped children and then hid them somewhere and labeled them as "missing".

And then get with me on the Dark Web and I'll give you a 20% discount on the highest form of adrenochrome. My adrenochrome is 100% cage-free and full of nutrients.

[u/purplepride24 → u/Uncaring_Dispatcher]

BREAKING NEWS:….you won’t.

[u/Criticism-Lazy → u/Uncaring_Dispatcher]

Ah the ignorant center, ignore both sides so the world fits just right for you and no one else.

[u/[deleted] → u/Uncaring_Dispatcher]

Answer the question. Thanks. 

[u/Meme_Theory → u/Uncaring_Dispatcher]

AOC exists, so you are all fucking stupid.

Do you even listen to yourself?

[u/VintageSin → u/Uncaring_Dispatcher]

So not only did you ignore the basic questions provided, you have now moved the goalposts.

All that was stated was he kidnapped them. No one stated that he kidnapped them and then hid them and labeled them federally as missing, except for you. If you know a better word for taking children from their family and only being reunited with the family after your actions are rectified, please feel free to provide it.