It turns out that the government that separated children from their parents while processing their cases under a "zero tolerance" basis for illegal border crossing has done a poor job of reuniting about 500 families as of August 3rd, failing to meet a judge's deadline to reunite those families.
A judge got involved in the matter when the ACLU brought the case before the court, and the government presented the position that at this point the burden of reunification and locating and contacting families should be borne solely by the ACLU at this point. I'm really not clear on the government's logic here, It seems to be a combination of claiming incompetence, and partly an admission of indifference bordering on a claim of the inability to understand the morality or legal issues from the perspective of the separated families, to the extent that they claim that the ACLU and related parties should be completely responsible for the difficult reunifications. It's like they are saying they are evil, that they don't want to do it, and that if they are forced to do it, they will do a poor job of it.
The judge in the case (Judge Dana Sabraw) did not accept this argument on the part of the government, stating that "The government has the sole obligation and responsibility to make this happen," and that "For every parent not found will be a permanently orphaned child. That will be 100 percent of the government's responsibility. There has to be a plan so that does not happen." Sabraw did add that the ACLU is to cooperate by establishing a lead counsel or steering committee, so that a plan to track down parents and advise them of their legal options for reunification at this stage of the process.
I just don't understand how this position was actually filed, although the fact that it could be filed at all, with really no repercussion does again highlight issues I have with the legal system in general. A wrong has been done, the people/institution responsible for that wrong are identifiable, but those people/institution felt it was reasonable for them to shift their responsibility for the wrong to the people that are bringing that wrong to light, and seeking to address the problem. The claim that the ACLU has greater resources in the matter rings hollow, unless the argument is that funding is specifically being withheld to address the situation, given that it is the administration that created the problem in the first place. IF funding is being withheld, it seems that the persons withholding said funding should be held responsible, and potentially be held criminally responsible. That doesn't appear to be even threatened at this point though.
It remains to be seen how this will unwind. At least it isn't still happening, so there is that, but the fallout from the policy is ongoing, even if it isn't closely reported. I suspect that there will be hundreds of orphans still separated without parents even being contacted a month from now but we shall see.
- Trump Charity lawsuit by New York Attorney General
- FBI investigation (it keeps being called a Russian Collusion investigation, but I'm pretty sure more to it than that at this point)
- North Korea
- The Space Force
- The Border Wall
- Alien Children Detention/family separation
- Presidential Pardons
- Civil War Monuments
- Muslim Travel Ban
- China Tariffs/Trade
- Canada-G7 Tariffs/Trade
- NAFTA
- Puerto Rico response
- Military Parade in Washington
- World Trade Organization
- Covfefe Syndrome
- NATO
- Russia/Putin relationship
Giuliani still there as Lawyer
John F. Kelly still there as Chief of Staff - 6-29-2018 Trump says "Things Happen."
Jeff Sessions still there as Attorney General
Sarah Huckabee Sanders still there as Press Secretary, rumors continue to be denied.
Mike Pompeo - Secretary of State
John Bolton - National Security Advisor
Marc Short - White House Legislative Affairs Director - no denial of plans regarding his departure prior to the 2018 midterms.
Kirstjen Nielsen - Homeland Security Secretary
Joe Hagin - White House deputy Chief of Staff is resigning.- reported June 19th
Scott Pruitt - EPA Director - Resigned 7-5-2018
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