The New York Times reported, in April, that about 700 children had been separated from their parents as they were processed at stations on the southwest border, including over 100 kids under the age of 4. The number of children separated from their parents is now in the thousands and growing. As the number of children in custody grows beyond the capacity of existing lockdown cages and other facilities in U.S. detention centers, the Trump administration has begun constructing enclosed tent cities as detention camps in Texas to hold the kids.

Some parents are being deported back to their home countries or arrested for seeking asylum without knowing what happened to their children. The kids don’t understand what’s going on; the younger ones are traumatized. It feels like we’re living in 1934 Germany.

President Trump has repeatedly blamed Democrats for a law that separates immigrant children from their parents. But as we now see on a daily basis with this president, there’s no truth to his statement. We have no such law, only a collection of immigration policies and court rulings that span both Republican and Democratic administrations.

None of those rulings and policies requires the separation of minor children from their parents or relatives. The last two administrations had no such policy in place. President Trump is using children as pawns in his fight with Congress over funding for a wall. The administration’s policy for separating children from parents started as a direct result of the president’s April 6 memo, and he could end the policy just as easily.

The president’s cruelty and tolerance of children suffering from the loss of parents reflect directly on Trump the man. His lying shows cowardice by attempting to blame others for his inhumane actions.

Godspeed, Robert Mueller!

Fred Egan

York Harbor