Laura Bush: Separating children from their parents at the border 'breaks my heart'

[DemocratSinceBirth]

By Laura Bush
June 17 at 8:45 PM
Laura Bush is a former first lady of the United States.

On Sunday, a day we as a nation set aside to honor fathers and the bonds of family, I was among the millions of Americans who watched images of children who have been torn from their parents. In the six weeks between April 19 and May 31, the Department of Homeland Security has sent nearly 2,000 children to mass detention centers or foster care. More than 100 of these children are younger than 4 years old. The reason for these separations is a zero-tolerance policy for their parents, who are accused of illegally crossing our borders.

I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.

Our government should not be in the business of warehousing children in converted box stores or making plans to place them in tent cities in the desert outside of El Paso. These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history. We also know that this treatment inflicts trauma; interned Japanese have been two times as likely to suffer cardiovascular disease or die prematurely than those who were not interned.

Americans pride ourselves on being a moral nation, on being the nation that sends humanitarian relief to places devastated by natural disasters or famine or war. We pride ourselves on believing that people should be seen for the content of their character, not the color of their skin. We pride ourselves on acceptance. If we are truly that country, then it is our obligation to reunite these detained children with their parents — and to stop separating parents and children in the first place.

In 2018, can we not as a nation find a kinder, more compassionate and more moral answer to this current crisis? I, for one, believe we can.

...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/laura-bush-separating-children-from-their-parents-at-the-border-breaks-my-heart/2018/06/17/f2df517a-7287-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html?utm_term=.22ec395d93be

[volstork]

1. Then do something about it.

YOU have power. Use it.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

2. Something Melania should have said since she cares about the Cheel-dren! Nt

[Hokie]

3. She didn't call out Trump and Sessions so screw her

Essentially her gesture is meaningless unless she does that.

[nolabear]

5. I don't think so. It's meaningful if we make it so.

We need to knock it off with “not good enough.” She’s the wife of a former GOP president. She gives people who are looking for a way to criticize 45 and the current cowards someone to agree with.

[cynatnite]

4. This is a powerful indictment and it will be talked about a lot tomorrow...

We've all got our issues with her, but this opinion piece will be heard loudly.

[Cha]

6. The more sincere people on the anti-trump Kidnapping

bandwagon the better.