Lying To Cover-Up Child Abuse

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's press briefing yesterday was simply a cascade of lies and obfuscations. She falsely claimed that the policy of separation is required by law rather than a choice by the administration. She trumpeted the administration's false choice between a total immigration crackdown and "open borders". She lied that the policy was not set up as a deterrent. She used misleading statistics almost as well as Kris Kobach to advance the myth of a surge child trafficking. She lied that asylum seekers were not being turned away at the border. When asked where the women and children were being held, she claimed not to have those details. When asked why the policy of separation was not child abuse, she started talking about MS-13 and unaccompanied minors.

Sarah Sanders followed Nielsen's abhorrent briefing with the usual one of her own. When asked about the policy of separation, she talked about the number of children killed by MS-13 and immigrants. When confronted by the fact that Germany's crime rate has been falling in direct contradiction to Trump's earlier tweet, Sanders claimed ignorance, which remarkably may be the only truthful thing she said.

We have yet to learn virtually any information about where the separated girls and children are being held. When confronted by photographic evidence of separated girls, the administration again claims ignorance. There is no clear plan for eventually reuniting these families and today the ICE director admitted that it may be years before families will be reunited because the present system is such a mess. We already know that separation is occurring across borders, with either parents or children being deported while the others remain.

Of course these lies are merely advancing one of the most cruel and inhumane policies this country has ever seen. This children, especially the youngest, will be scarred for life. Their language and social skills will be stunted and they will be more likely to have health problems throughout the full length of the their life. Christ, even when we interned the Japanese during WWII, we did not separate the families.

Of course, lying is the primary feature of virtually every member of this administration. It almost seems as though the capacity for continual bald-faced lying is a prerequisite for becoming part of the Trump team. And these people will lie under oath, to both Congress and federal investigators. Right now they are lying to the American people in order to defend child abuse.