The New York Times’s editorial board on Thursday issued a call for its readers to fight against the “immoral” separation of migrant families at the U.S.–Mexico border.
“It may be hard to believe that this is happening in the United States in 2018, that hundreds of children are being snatched from their parents, frequently under false pretenses, often screaming, and placed in vast warehouse like centers like the former Walmart in Brownsville, Tex., where nearly 1,500 boys now spend their days,” the board wrote. “The parents often don’t know where their children are, or when they will see them again.”
The board went on to slam the Trump administration for its “zero tolerance” policy, blaming the policy on Trump’s “obsession” with immigrants living in the country illegally.
“[S]eparating families as a matter of unofficial policy is something new and malicious, a function of President Trump’s obsession with undocumented immigrants,” the board wrote.
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The policy, which seeks prosecution for any adult crossing the Southern border illegally, has resulted in the separation of hundreds of migrant families. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy last month, stating that the changes would help deter future immigrants from attempting the journey to the United States.
“Hundreds upon hundreds of children, of all ages, creating a new industry in mass shelters,” the board continued.
But, the board wrote, the Trump administration “has the opportunity to do the right thing here,” offering steps for readers to take to help sway the administration to change course.
The editorial advised readers to call their representatives in Congress, asking them to end the practice of family separation and to support bills that would reunite families.
The board also encouraged readers to participate in protests, donate to legal and humanitarian causes and vote.
“Elections are ultimately the most important tool Americans have to seek change in how their government operates — and the values it espouses,” the editorial concludes.
In its Thursday editorial, the board also condemned the Trump administration for issuing “a mix of just-following-orders and falsehoods” to defend the policy.
“Department of Homeland Security said it had no policy for separating families; it was just catching criminals. President Trump feigned sympathy for the separations but claimed he was the victim of ‘bad legislation passed by the Democrats,’ which nobody could find,” the board continued.
“Only John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, offered what appeared to be a plausible, if shocking, explanation: that separating parents from their children could be a ‘tough deterrent.’”
The blistering editorial comes days after a group of reporters toured the Brownsville, Texas, detention facility referenced by the Times’s editorial board, sparking uproar following their coverage of the center.
The facility, one MSNBC reporter said, reminded him of a prison.
“This place is called a ‘shelter’ but effectively these kids are incarcerated,” the reporter, Jacob Soboroff, said.
Soboroff’s picture of a mural depicting President Trump also drew backlash. The mural, located near the facility’s entrance, shows President Trump in front of an American flag and the White House by the words, “Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war,” a quote taken from Trump’s co-authored book, “The Art of the Deal.” The quote appears in English and Spanish.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) blasted the mural as “Orwellian propaganda,” calling it “frightening.”