Another Act of DHS Cruelty to Children

[VA_Jill]

Haitian boy, 9, detained as Trump's family separation policy pursued to bitter end

In the final hours of the Trump presidency, immigration officials detained a nine year-old Haitian boy with a valid US visa, separated him from his elder brother and incarcerated him, according to lawyers and activists.

Vladimir Fardin arrived in San Francisco from Haiti on Sunday, on a tourist visa. He was travelling with his 19-year-old brother, Christian Laporte, who has been studying in Diablo Valley College outside San Francisco, and had a valid student’s visa, according to lawyers acting for him.

The two boys had been on a Christmas vacation with their mother in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and Vladimir was flying back to California with Christian to spend some time with his elder brother and their godmother, who acts as their guardian in the US.

They were detained by border officials at San Francisco airport and held for two days without being allowed to contact family, lawyers or community organisations. On Tuesday morning, they were separated.

Nine-year old Vladimir was sent to a refugee resettlement facility in southern California as an unaccompanied minor, and Christian was deported to Mexico, apparently because that was where their connecting flight from Santo Domingo was from.

As of Tuesday evening, Vladimir had not been allowed to contact, or be contacted by, his family or any support group.

“We are extremely worried because Vladimir has never spent time alone,” Guerline Jozef, the head of the Haitian Bridge Alliance community group, said. “He is nine years old, and his older brother has been extremely protective of him and taking care of him. So, this is beyond cruel.”

The Trump administration carried out a policy of separating migrant children from their families, and there are still hundreds of children whose parents have not been found. What makes Vladimir Fardin’s case distinctive is that he was reportedly travelling on a valid visa, with a family member also with a valid visa. The outgoing administration also has a record of targeting black migrants and asylum seekers and deporting them to countries irrespective of the threat to their safety posed by deportation.


more at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/20/haitian-boy-9-detained-as-trumps-family-separation-policy-pursued-to-bitter-end

I can see no excuse for the detention of this child other than pure cruelty. Hopefully this will be brought to the attention of the Biden administration ASAP, even though that miserable cockroach Josh Hawley is blocking the nomination of Biden's DHS secretary.

[rickyhall]

1. We've had quite enough of that shit.

[Hortensis]

2. Biden's already committed to taking care of these children,

not "taking care of" them.

Itm, I hope this 9-year-old is one of the "dandelions." An expert in children speaking of Repubican cruelties categorized their little victims for the public as, I think, the most fragile orchids or lilies, then roses, and then dandelions, from fragile psyches to the toughest who were most likely to come through without serious damage. Doesn't mean they're not frightened and miserable, though.