If statues could cry, there would be oceans of tears flowing down the cheeks of Lady Liberty in New York harbor for the planned, organized, immoral, incompetent, shameful and un-American abuse of migrant children that is being executed by President Trump — who insults even his own base by suggesting this is an evil they favor.
Democrats, supported by a majority of voters as the most important elections in generations approach, stand united against Trump’s abuse of migrant children which creates a crisis of conscience for Republicans.
Every principled Republican and principled conservative should join every Democrat and liberal in denouncing the fact that migrant moms and migrant dads are forcibly separated from their migrant sons, daughters and babies in Trump’s war against migrant families and abuse against migrant children.
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Every believer in the great faiths of the nation should rise with righteous and patriotic outrage against this migrant child abuse, and the sickening and Dickensian moral crime of migrant children being imprisoned in cages like political prisoners of a failing president, and locked in filthy facilities without adequate food, medicine and necessities of life.
This child abuse against migrant children has led to the death of some of the kids and some of their parents. This is almost certainly being denounced in heaven by souls with names such as Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Reagan. Like decent Americans everywhere, the previous occupants of the White House would be sickened and outraged by the abuse against migrant children that must never again be allowed in the America that was great for more than two centuries before Trump took office, and will remain great for many centuries after he leaves office.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a critical spending bill that would redress many wrongs that result from the crisis on our border. As the Senate begins to consider this bill, I would dare any Senate Republican or conservative to deny that if former President Reagan were with us today, he would be standing with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), not Trump, on the great matter of immigration.
When Trump claims that migrants are being treated better under his presidency than during the presidency of Barack Obama, he is telling one more great and brazen lie. The surprise is not that Trump tells this lie, his presidency is a full employment program for fact checkers, but that Obama has not spoken out loudly against this migrant child abuse with the fierce urgency now powered by a passion for justice and love for family and children.
The immigration issue helped Democrats win a huge and historic victory in the 2018 midterm elections. With all of the Democratic candidates for president in 2020 speaking with clarity in favor of decency and against the abuse of migrant children, it will help drive the Democratic arsenal for democracy and lift the conscience of the nation.
The reason Trump backed off his plan for surprise national raids to execute a mass roundup and mass deportations of migrants is that he knew Pelosi was right when she warned him that he should not create mass fear for mothers, fathers and children in communities across the nation. Trump knew this would make the most unpopular president in memory even more unpopular and likely to be defeated for reelection.
Democrats, supported by a majority of voters, will grant the Dreamers a path to citizenship. Trump once said he had “great love” for Dreamers. But that “love” has turned to contempt and abandonment of them, while he later said he “fell in love” with the mass murdering dictator of North Korea.
With the House passing a major spending bill that will improve conditions and advance decency for the migrants while improving border security, Senate Democrats should be joined by Senate Republicans of conscience to end the Trump abuse of migrant children. Decency demands this. Justice requires this. Voters support this. America stands for this.
Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.