These Policies Are Truly Scary

There is a lot to reflect on given the recent Trump policy of "zero tolerance" regarding all foreign nationals who enter our country without a Visa.

It is a number that has been declining for years, well before Trump. Why is another subject entirely. When arguments are made regarding foreign nationals residing in the US illegally (as Trump describes as an "infestation"), one should always keep in mind that a majority are here due to overstaying their Visas.

Trump and his minions (press secretary, DHS Secretary, Attorney General, loyal Trump Republicans in Congress) have repeated over and over that their policy of separating young children from their parents was only following the law. Trump went further to call it specifically a "Democrats" law.

This brazen assertion is not true. There is no law, Democrat or otherwise. Do the research yourself - I did. That Trump should assert an untruth is not surprising; he has done it almost countless times. But these other people (my God...the Attorney General, chief of law enforcement!!) are equally reprehensible.

Initially, when they were making reference to "Flores" I thought they were talking about a law which mandated that children could not be kept in detention centers. That's what they wanted me to think. However, "Flores" is not a law, it was a Court decision back during the Reagan administration which restricted the treatment of alien children. A reaffirmation of the finding by the 9th Circuit during the Obama Administration reiterated that children could not be held with their parents in detention if there were less offensive ways of keeping track of them (which the Obama Administration chose).

It is why Trump's so called "reverse" Executive Order to create internment camps for entire families (at abandoned Air Force bases) will not work. It's as if he finds it perfectly acceptable to take us back to 1942. Are empowering Jim Crow laws next?

Although the repulsiveness of this recent episode of the Trump Administration is self evident, its not what I found scary.

The National response has been proper, and the vilified News Media (except for Trump News) has been aggressive. I feel it will ultimately work its way back to a policy identical to that of the Obama Administration, albeit with hurt children and parents along the way.

What I found frightening was the lack of transparency by which Trump, Sessions, and their advisors chose to try and pull this off. Of all the blustery comments Trump has made about authoritarian leaders, how he respects their actions, applauds their behavior, and seeks to emulate them, his actions have at best been limited tweets or passive support of Authoritarian principals. However, this time it's different.

What scares me was the lack of transparency by which this policy was carried out. Individuals, media representatives, even Senators were restricted from information that would divulge the nature of what Trump was doing. The details of the whole policy were carried out for weeks, children transferred to 17 states around the Country, entirely in secret.

Once the extent of the action was uncovered the attempt at secrecy continued until they realized it was fruitless. No information on how many or where, no pictures allowed, no eye witnesses allowed (including ranking Senators), the DHS Secretary refusing to say where young girls were sent, and so forth.

This attempt at blinding public scrutiny goes hand in hand with Trump proclaiming American News Media as the number one "enemy of the people". Folks...this is really scary stuff. It is a critical leg of Authoritarianism. We see it around the world where human rights are most suppressed. The Holocaust couldn't have happened without it.

Dear reader, vote out Republicans in November so Congress can finally be a check to this anti-American Administration.