Trump Admin Sat On Critical Data For Helping Reunite Kids Separated From Families | Rachel Maddow

Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project, tells Rachel Maddow how his organization was suddenly presented with data, including phone numbers, related to immigrant families that had been separated by the United States after months of saying no such data existed. Aired on 12/5/2020.
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Trump Admin Sat On Critical Data For Helping Reunite Kids Separated From Families | Rachel Maddow

78 comments

    1. George republicans-“don’t vote for the republicans on the Jan 5 run off , don’t give these republicans candidates your votes” this is the head of the Republicans saying this maybe listen?

    2. Absolutely! And the whole election fraud scandal should be added as part of the charge of sedition on this clown Dump.

    1. @kingof Troy In fact, they didn’t.

      It isn’t illegal to enter the US.
      It is illegal to try to **stay** without citizenship/greencard/visa/leave-to-remain etc etc but just to enter the country?

      Nope, not illegal.

    2. @Buff Straw They didn’t have hospitals, car insurance, and schools back then. Strangers are fine if they come here illegally. The ones who don’t are criminals.

    3. @hay woods haha, look some who couldn’t pass a high-school civics test trying to school someone else on the difference between “immigrants” and Refugees …..your funny …. might want to look up the actual laws on refugees in our country and also the Geneva Conventions ….. might want to look up the poem on our symbol of America the statue of liberty as well ….

    4. @Sharon Brown thanks Sharon. I realise that now. So used to getting attacked because of my name on here, I guess! Stay well.❤

    1. For all those wanting to help out families help them out and move them into your homes….until they can help themselves

    1. @hay woods Are you too dumb to understand that these parents did not do this for fun? Is your emphatic ability so limited that you simply can’t understand that there are people out there who are so DESPERATE that they see no other way out than to walk thousands of miles? The only thing that will open your eyes seems to be dropping you smack in the middle of a war torn country, without money or food or transportation. Somebody should burst your bubble, you ignorant hick!

    2. @hay woods When the von Trapp family hiked over the Alps to escape the Nazis and found welcome refuge in Switzerland, their heroism was so inspiring that Hollywood turned their story into a movie (“The Sound of Music”). But when the Gutierrez family does the same thing, trekking across a harsh desert to escape drug cartels and MS-13 gang members to seek refuge in the USA, you want them locked up and punished. You’re sick and need help.

    1. @Heather M Christ wouldn’t have have been able to get into the country .he is middle eastern and probably would have used youtube to protest this,then the true Christians of this country would have condemned him as radical and a terrorist.

    2. @Ray Barrera Indeed… a brown, middle eastern, social- justice- loving radical like Jesus would have a very hard time convincing the “Christian right” that He was a good guy to let into the country. Painfully ironic.

  1. Where were all these judges?
    They are a DISGRACE, and they all should lose their seats at the bench period

    1. @Mr Anonymous1113 That was before hospitals and lawyers and schools. If uneducated people want to come to USA they can fill out paperwork and wait in line.

    2. @hay woods
      OK so then it’s OK for our government to treat those kids the way they did.
      There is very little difference in what the white house did and what Nazi Germany did to the Jewish families…. Or was that OK with you also

    3. @hay woods”They should not waste any resources on illegal people. Send them home”
      From A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens: “Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”
      “If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

      Merry Xmas, Mr. Woods.

    4. @hay woods “they can fill out paperwork and wait in line.” Seeking asylum is legal. Asylum seekers must be at a port of entry (an airport or an official land crossing) to apply for, or request the opportunity to apply for, asylum. “There’s no way to ask for a visa or any type of authorization in advance for the purpose of seeking asylum. You just have to show up.” – IRC Director of Immigration Olga Byrne.

    5. @hay woods Then YOU need to get in, same said line. Not Only are You Uneducated….your are an Ignorant Racist. These people not only flee, for a better life….They flee because of groups & gangs like the brutal ms13. Why dont We the People, put You in a cage with them. Think you would talk All this SH/T. No….I think not! You would be in pieces, from being hacked to death. Sound Good???? THEN STFU

    1. @Emeraldforest When I mentions South America, I was talking about their current problems as a whole. As that is a continent with many countries, many of which are dysfunctional.

    2. @Apada
      THANK YOU !! I get so very tired of people bringing up the past to try to justify the present…Obama did this, Bush did that…SO WHAT !!! Can we do anything about it NOW except try not to let it happen again? Remember the adage “If you’re not part of the Solution, you’re part of the Problem”? Bellyaching about the past doesn’t help. Doing in the now does!

    3. @Tom Woods Trump is anti humanity, a sociopathic hate filled conman with 70 million dumb cretins cheering him on!

    1. Aney father that is sleeping with his daughter and teddy bear dose not know eney better so becomes the
      The usa pres

  2. It not for no apparent reason it’s because it damages the children and even more importantly it damages America. Lock him up!

    1. @hay woods WHEREAS, America has reacted with horror and outrage over the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which has separated children from their asylum-seeking parents. These families seeking asylum are not criminals—many are fleeing the Northern Triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), one of the deadliest regions in the world, where their communities are overrun by organized crime, violence, human trafficking and persecution; they seek refuge and compassion from our nation. These children and their parents have suffered irreparable harm and trauma; and

      WHEREAS, because the American people have spoken in ways that could not be ignored, President Trump issued an executive order that calls for the pullback of the separation policy, but which, in fact, has not completely stopped the separations, nor repaired the harm already done to thousands; it has only replaced one crisis for another, but children do not belong in jail under any circumstances, and family unification must not be traded for family imprisonment; and

      WHEREAS, denying the nurturing care that babies, toddlers and young school-age children require for proper development may cause these children in detention to suffer irreversible neurological and developmental damage; and

      WHEREAS, the American Federation of Teachers has fought back against this inhumane treatment of children; we have taken action across the United States and in the halls of Congress; we have delivered books and education supplies to children and families at the southern border; we have presented a formal complaint for action to the United Nations Human Rights Council; and we have participated in many actions across the country; and

      WHEREAS, the AFT has worked alongside civic leaders, clergy, refugee and immigrant rights groups, and other community organizations in this work—including the Hispanic Federation, Kids in Need of Defense, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the National Action Network, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, PEN America, T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, the UndocuBlack Network, United We Dream, Voto Latino and our sisters and brothers in the labor movement—to right this horrible wrong; and

      WHEREAS, children are being forcibly taken from their parents’ arms and immediately locked up in cages and detention centers by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and are later transferred to group shelters and foster care settings by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in the Department of Health and Human Services; CBP officials have consistently relied on deceitful practices to separate children from their parents, such as telling parents that their children are being taken for a bath, when in reality they are being placed in a cage and detention center, and later transferred to ORR custody; and

      WHEREAS, the traumatic policy of forcibly breaking families apart at the border, and the refusal to grant asylum to refugees, violates the letter and the spirit of numerous U.N. treaties and protocols, including the “Convention against Torture,” “the Right to Family Life,” “the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and the “Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights at International Borders”:

      RESOLVED, that we must stand up and call this separation policy exactly what it is: a crime against humanity. We have witnessed this scene before in history, including but not limited to: during the forced separation of families of millions of enslaved people, a founding act of violence and inhumanity in the United States; during the unconscionable internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II; during the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust; in Argentina, with the “disappearances” of children and loved ones during a generation of political repression; and with the refugee crisis and family displacement in present-day Syria. Our darkest times have often been marked by the forced separation and detention of “the Other,” and it is happening again today, in full view of the American people and the world; and

      RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers condemns and calls for a total repeal of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies and indefinite family incarcerations that erode our values, divide our nation and separate children from their parents. We will press our actions on every front, using all our resources to push back—in the streets, through the media, in courtrooms, in our union halls, in houses of faith, in Congress and at all levels of our legislatures; and

      RESOLVED, that the AFT calls for due process that provides all children and families seeking asylum with adequate protections and legal services, including a legal advocate who can provide children and families with guidance through the legal, humanitarian and asylum process; and

      RESOLVED, that the AFT calls on all members to become part of a national vigilance and resistance network to confront this national crisis; when we see in our schools and communities children who may be victims of the government’s inhumane policies, we will utilize social media and report the situation to national organizations that stand ready to assist, such as the Vera Institute of Justice (www.vera.org(link is external)), dedicated to securing equal justice and supporting immigrants’ legal representation; and

      RESOLVED, that the AFT will fully engage in the political battle to see that this kind of tragedy never occurs again in this country; we will continue to oppose the gutting of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, and the separation of children and family detention; we will fully support proposed legislation that opposes the Trump administration’s unconscionable policies, such as the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act in the House of Representatives, and the Keep Families Together Act in the Senate; and we will support those who are leading the legislative fight, including Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Reps. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Juan Vargas (D-Calif.), among many others; and

      RESOLVED, that as representatives of those who teach and care for the next generation, we call for community-based alternatives to family detention, and for congressional oversight on the care and treatment of children in U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities to ensure the medical, educational and mental health needs of children are being met; and

      RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue to press its formal human rights complaint (co-signed by 14 additional human rights activists) lodged with the United Nations Human Rights Council, urging the council to raise awareness and response, and pull the curtain back on this cynical policy that is both cruel and immoral; and

      RESOLVED, that we will work with Education International and Public Services International to take expedited action to secure the introduction of a U.N. General Assembly resolution, during September’s New York meetings, condemning the Trump administration’s action at our southern border to be a crime against humanity.

    2. @hay woods what an incredibly ‘cold and cruel’ thing to say! Guess you were just ‘lucky’ to have been born in America.

    3. @hay woods what is the poem that is emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty? read it to me then tell me what it means to you …. that will tell me if you are a troll or an American …..

    1. #LourdesCisneris But not only do they sleep, but they dine with each other and plan further atrocities, they also tweet; play golf; and continue to lie.

      This type of individual has always been among us, 45 has unleashed those hounds and given them the green light to do their worst (without fear of repercussions).

      Tht dark side of humanity unfortunately, which has been buried and overlooked… is currently in plain *sight!*

    1. @hay woods Hay Woods they Entered the country illegally and this is wrong send them back but to separate the families inhumane and the families are devastated.

    2. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

    3. @chris green Not at all. I know many people from Mexico who came to USA both legally and illegally and I am very proud of the ones who spent years doing it the right way. They come here and have real jobs and pay taxes. The illegal ones come here hoping to find a job and if they can’t they just tie up resources and refuse to learn how to speak english. They should go back where they came from.

    4. @susan Fox Sorry you feel so bad for all the poor people of the world. I think you should donate your house so they can have a better life and go to their third world country and help them and be a real missionary.

    5. @hay woods Madcow never seems to mention the fact that Obama was the Godfather of separation with the building of the cages to store his illegally immigrants

  3. This is a international human rights violation to keep the children separated from their families. Trump should face indictment in the international Criminal court at The Hague.

  4. The whole separation of kids from their parents thing should get the people responsible on trial for crimes against humanity.

    1. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

  5. IT doesn’t deserve to be called a ‘he’ or ‘him’ or even ‘Sir’ Those terms are for humans with compassion & a heart ❣

  6. This made me feel like I’m about to have a heart attack. Heartless people have no place on planet earth. Somebody is going to jail. 💔😭💔

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