You Thought Our Border Policy Couldn’t Get Even Crueler? It Just Did.
The COVID-19 Death Undercount Is Scarier Than You Think
As the number of coronavirus deaths across the U.S. passed 40,000, there were emerging signs of hope: hospitalization rates were decreasing, daily death tolls were beginning to flatten, and transmission rates were seeming to slow.
But as mayors and governors, with the president’s blusterous urging, begin easing restrictions and other emergency public health measures—sending Floridians back to packed beaches this weekend, for instance—we still need a better understanding of the true number of COVID-19 deaths. Not just because having a transparent and accurate death count is critical (it is), but because it can illuminate unknown hot spots and provide critical insight into the real scope of this pandemic—and how to avoid new disaster amid the urge to resume normal life.
The Trump Administration Is the Worst for Children in the Country’s History
From the immoral border policy to the environment to the effects of the shutdown and more, the Trump administration has all but declared war on vulnerable children.
It was already clear that Donald Trump’s policies, actions, and words have put millions of children at risk. But although the longest government shutdown in American history is coming to an end, this nearly 40 day financial crisis added a whole new dimension to the challenges facing children living in poor, working poor, and even many middle-class families.
So Many Migrant Children Are Detained, Government Could Run Out of Room in 30 Days
Onerous new procedures have created a bottleneck, keeping more than 15,000 unaccompanied minors in facilities that are at full capacity.
If it wasn’t bad enough that tens of thousands migrant children are being held in temporary detention, the system designed to move them into permanent homes is breaking down.
Trump’s Cruelty Isn’t Deterring Immigrants—They Told Me in ICE Custody
Despite being jailed and many being separated from their children, 42 women interviewed said they would do it again.
Under the cover of multiple self-inflicted crises, President Trump has reportedly proposed reviving the widely reviled policy of separating children from parents as a way of discouraging immigration from Central America.
Hurricane Michael’s Damage Could Be Permanent for Kids If Florida Doesn’t Reopen Schools ASAP
The destruction of life and property wrought by monster Hurricane Michael won’t be fully clarified for weeks; many communities so damaged that it will take years to become inhabitable again. Needless to say, the priority is still to find survivors and locate those who didn’t make it. But, soon enough, it will be time to think hard about what it’s going to take to support a massive recovery effort, especially in Florida which took the brunt of the category 4 storm.
During the response and recovery process, we should give high priority to what is happening to the children who survive the storm.
Donald Trump’s HHS Secretary Alex Azar Must Resign Now
A unique moral failing has happened under his watch. He must go.
There is no justifying the unrelenting trauma the U.S. government is purposely inflicting on children and parents separated at the southern border as an explicit deterrent to immigration from Central America. It is an unconscionable use of overt cruelty as governmental policy. And many Americans, even ardent Trump supporters I have spoken with, say they find this policy abhorrent.
But compounding the trauma of separation are the conditions for children during the weeks and months of uncertainty that follow it. Children are being subjected to emotional shock treatment at detention centers that the government has set up to warehouse them as they wait for reunification.
Donald Trump’s HHS Secretary Alex Azar Must Resign Now
There is no justifying the unrelenting trauma the U.S. government is purposely inflicting on children and parents separated at the southern border as an explicit deterrent to immigration from Central America. It is an unconscionable use of overt cruelty as governmental policy. And many Americans, even ardent Trump supporters I have spoken with, say they find this policy abhorrent.
If I Saw a Child Mistreated Like ICE Is Doing, I’d Call the Authorities
The bandwagon of child care and health professionals who have characterized the federal government’s forced separation of migrant children from their parents as “child abuse by government” is overflowing. It would indeed be difficult to concoct a more traumatizing experience for already vulnerable infants and children then what these kids have gone through.
The fact is that, as a pediatrician, if I saw a child being subject to the terror these kids are experiencing I would be ethically and legally obliged to contact the authorities. But wait: The authorities are the perpetrators!