The United States has always been the land of immigrants. Since it was founded immigration laws have constantly been changing to accommodate the needs of the people. One of these laws pertain to immigrants seeking refuge if there is clear evidence of ill-treatment in your home country regarding the choice of religion, race, military action or political movement you can receive asylum in the US. However, in today’s America immigrants who are looking for a haven are instead being treated like terrorists. The way America is treating these people is not humane at all. Families are being separated, kept in cages and living in deplorable conditions. America needs to do better.
Like any other human, immigrants have rights. The protection of due process and equal protection expressed in the Constitution and Bill of Rights apply to everyone. However that doesn’t seem to include the migrants held in detention centers at the border. The United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet visited the border and she was appalled at the conditions there. In a statement, she said, “I am deeply shocked that children are forced to sleep on the floor in overcrowded facilities, without access to adequate health care or food, and with poor sanitation conditions.” This statement completely fits the description of concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Children were not given sufficient food, beds, medical care or soap. The basic needs of a child are being denied and on top of that their being separated from their parents. To be put through that much stress at such a young age can negatively affect a child. “Detaining a child even for short periods under good conditions can have a serious impact on their health and development — consider the damage being done every day by allowing this alarming situation to continue” (Ms. Bachlet). The lack of compassion shown to those children is alarming. The long term trauma that will affect these children from the things they saw, smelled, or felt could never be forgotten.
It’s clear the US has no idea how to handle the influx of immigrants coming into the country, it is also clear that the detention centers can no longer hold any more people. Only option is to send them away to wait out their day in court for asylum but the corrupt and broken system does not make this easy. The trump administration has returned to the practice of catch and release to solve the problem of overcrowding but points out that none of the families ever make their court date. Reason for this mainly being lack of communication. In a article by Dara Lind she points out that If someone moves while their case is pending, the report says they are expected to update their address with five different entities which can be a lot of paperwork for someone without an attorney and with a language barrier.
In a conclusion, there is need for a new policy that has to be implemented to tackle immigration issues.
