Have you ever been painfully “whacked” after hurting someone else? I notice that when I injure another person, I find myself on the receiving end of angry retaliation. Usually, the payback does not occur immediately. Sometimes the revenge actually comes from a different source and at a time when I least expect it.
I wonder if nations experience similar revenge — or appreciation — depending on how they treat others. Because of my personal experience, I fear for our republic. Most specifically, I believe the United States has invited a dangerous backlash due to our government’s treatment of immigrant children. The price tag may be horrendous.
In an effort to discourage immigration into the United States, our government designed a perfect system to teach immigrant children to absolutely hate the United States. Toward that goal, our government imposed the following:
Separated 2,500 children from their parents,
Maintained infants through teens in detention facilities,
Allowed some of the children to be sexual abused,
Deported many of the children’s parents,
Lost many records of children and parents,
Maintained “zero tolerance” but decided to keep families together in detention (due to national protests over separation),
Failed to meet judicial deadlines concerning reuniting families,
Threatened potential sponsors for children by insisting that their information must be turned over to ICE.
Currently, nearly 13,000 immigrant children live in detention facilities around the nation. Our government continues to do a thorough job of convincing these children and teens, along with their families and friends, that the United States inflicts heartless and uncaring treatment. Unfortunately, emotional damage occurring during the formative years (birth to eight) tends to become firmly fixed, making recovery almost impossible. Children and teenagers, already traumatized by violence in their home countries must currently be experiencing intensified fear and resentment from being treated like criminals in the United States.
The government’s mandate of zero tolerance has all but guaranteed that as these young people mature, their anger will come to full fruition. With proliferation of guns (now being created by computers and printers), these young people will have ample resources for revenge.
Even our citizens who discount the lack of humanity might wonder what our future will look like as these young people become free to move around the country. We know migrant kids must be tough. They traveled thousands of dangerous miles hoping to be accepted and even welcomed. Once they reached the “shining city on the hill” our government separated them from their families and placed them in detention facilities where many received terrible treatment. Currently, as our government continues to detain immigrant children, the process of growing our own future terrorists continues.
Sources:
Bump, Phillip. “The Status of More Than 2,600 Children at One Point Held by the Government.” The Washington Post. July 27, 2018.
Domonoske, Camila and Richard Gonzales. “What We Know: Family Separation And ‘Zero Tolerance’ At the Border. National. June 19, 2018.
Farley, Robert. “Fact Check: Is Illegal Immigration Linked to More or Less Crime?” USA Today. June 27, 2018.
Fleisman, Glenn. “A Record-High 12,300 Immigrant Children Are Currently Being Detained by the U.S. Government, Report Says.” Fortune. September 13, 2018. (The newspaper obtained these figures from members of Congress.)
Galvan, Astrid. “Immigrant Children Describe Treatment in Detention Centers.” Associated Press. July 18, 2018.
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