It’s the laughter that sickened me most.
Ten children, some thought to be as young as four, can be heard repeatedly sobbing ‘Mami’ and ‘Papa’ in fear and desperation after being separated from their parents by U.S. immigration authorities.
That harrowing noise alone would be appalling enough.
But it’s what followed next – on an audiotape secretly recorded by ProPublica inside a Customs and Border Protection Facility – that made my stomach churn with rage and revulsion.
‘Well,’ chuckles a Border Patrol agent, ‘we have an orchestra here. What’s missing is a conductor!’
An orchestra?
Agents are pictured above taking Central American asylum seekers into custody near McAllen, Texas
‘Well, we have an orchestra here,’ the agent is heard saying in the shocking audio. ‘What’s missing is a conductor’
What kind of sick, twisted mind thinks the sound of frightened, crying children snatched from their parents’ arms is a bloody ORCHESTRA?
This is not a musical performance, you vile man.
This is an obscenity that shames America.
And it already has a conductor – President Donald Trump.
The issue of illegal immigration has bedevilled America for decades.
To me, the problem is straightforward in principle, but complex in how to resolve it.
When I enter the United States, I present my immigration papers.
I am currently classified as an ‘alien of extraordinary ability’ for my O-1 visa, which is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me.
Throughout the audio Alison and other children are repeatedly heard screaming ‘Mami’ and ‘Papa’ just moments before the border agent drowns out their sobs with a joke
But extraordinary or not, alien or otherwise, if those papers are not in order, then I would expect to be refused entry and put on the next plane home to London.
The US immigration system obliges me, as someone who wishes to occasionally live and work in America, to endure considerable paper work, legal fees and time spent on appointments at US embassies.
But I have no problem with this sufferance because I think it is right and proper that any country should know exactly whom it lets cross its borders, and approve their entry.
What I do have a problem with is illegal immigration.
I don’t think it’s OK for people to just ignore the laws and sneak into a country because they don’t like their own.
Such behaviour, if tacitly tolerated, makes a mockery of any immigration system, and makes people like me wonder why we’re bothering to go through such hoops to do it legally.
So in this regard, I share President Trump’s overall view that illegal immigration is a bad thing and it should be prevented.
This doesn’t mean turning a deaf ear – as Trump sadly does far too often – to genuine asylum seekers or refugees fleeing war-torn hellholes.
Pulitzer prize-winning photographer John Moore captured this two-year-old Honduran asylum seeker crying while being taken into custody by federal authorities
But it does mean enforcing strict border controls.
If you want proof of how destabilising poor border control can be, then look no further than the chaos currently enveloping Europe where open borders have been systematically abused and led to a surging rise in illegal immigrants and reactionary right-wing populism.
Trump was wrong this week to claim Germany’s crime has risen because of immigration – it hasn’t. But he is right when he says mounting tension surrounding Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to let a million migrants into the country has inflamed German politics to such a frenzy that it now threatens to now bring down her fragile government.
In Italy, a new coalition government just swept to power by exploiting anger over migration from Italian people sick and tired of tens of thousands of Africans entering illegally on boats – many of whom tragically drown in the attempt.
In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has led a campaign to reject illegal migrants from Europe and has even built a wall across his country’s southern border.
In Britain, concern about immigration was the defining reason why we recently voted to leave the European Union.
‘Trump (pictured Monday) was wrong this week to claim Germany’s crime has risen because of immigration – it hasn’t. But he is right when he says mounting tension surrounding Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to let a million migrants into the country has inflamed German politics to such a frenzy that it now threatens to now bring down her fragile government’
So there is a very real problem with porous borders that is causing very real political and social upheaval, and I don’t doubt Trump’s sincere in his belief that this causes big problems, not least from the ongoing threat of Islamist terrorism.
But where I disagree with him is on the scale of his brutal methods to combat it.
To put it bluntly, Trump’s new policy to separate young children from their parents and stick them in glorified cages is disgusting, inhuman and simply indefensible.
Nearly 2,000 children were taken from families between mid-April and the end of May as part of a new ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards anyone trying to cross the border illegally that now classifies them all as criminals.
These poor kids are now living in detention centers along the US-Mexico border, joined by more and more children on a daily basis.
The policy has been condemned by medical professionals, religious leaders and immigration activists, all of whom are deeply worried the children could suffer lasting psychological trauma.
US Border Patrol agents take into custody a father and son from Honduras near the U.S.-Mexico border near Mission, Texas
Dr Colleen Kraft, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has even called it ‘government-sanctioned child abuse’ after reviewing one of the detention centers.
‘I can’t describe to you the room I was in with the toddlers,’ she told CNN. ‘Normally toddlers are rambunctious and running around. We had one child just screaming and crying, and the others were really silent. This is not normal activity or brain development with these children.’
No, it’s not. It’s exactly what she says it is: abuse.
Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen insists: ‘We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period.’
But that is a lie.
They do, and that’s why 2000 kids have been separated from their families in the past few weeks.
She also insisted the children are not being used as bargaining pawns for the wider, more comprehensive immigration deal that Trump badly wants.
But if that were true, then the issue of child separation could be dealt with separately, and it isn’t.
I agree with Trump that U.S. immigration laws need wholesale reform and I share his irritation at ‘administrations kicking the can down the road’. It’s ridiculous that hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants continue to pour over the southern border each year without anything being done to properly stop it.
And I’m sure he’s right to suspect that some illegal immigrants are fraudulently using children to pose as family units to help themselves gain entry to the US.
It’s also true that his predecessor President Obama deported more illegal immigrants – over 3 MILLION in eight years – than any president in U.S. history and was nicknamed the ‘Deporter-in-Chief in Mexico as a result.
The four living first ladies have joined First Lady Melania Trump (left) in an unusual united political front expressing horror at children separated from their parents
Obama may not have had a formal policy of separating families, but that certainly happened a lot on his mass-deportation watch too.
So as usual, there’s a lot of bi-partisan hypocrisy flying around about all this.
But to try to deter illegal immigrants by deliberately abusing their children through enforced separation, and quite possibly causing them irreparable harm, is not just offensive – it’s disgraceful.
It takes quite something to unite all five living First Ladies on one divisive issue, yet they stand as one on this.
Rosalynn Carter, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton have all expressed their horror at the separation policy.
‘The practice of removing children from their parents’ care at our border with Mexico is disgraceful and a shame to our country,’ said Mrs Carter.
Mrs Bush agreed: ‘I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international borders but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel, it is immoral, and it breaks my heart.’
But perhaps the most powerful words came from Trump’s own wife Melania, whose spokesman issued a statement saying: ‘Mrs Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform. She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.’
Exactly.
There’s nothing strong or impressive about abusing young children in this way.
Listen to your wife, Mr President, and show some heart.