The Trump regime's immigration brownshirts at ICE continue to find ways to reach new lows, as if that's even possible, but here we are in America in 2018 being Germany in 1938.
Alma Jacinto covered her eyes with her hands as tears streamed down her cheeks.
The 36-year-old from Guatemala was led out of the federal courtroom without an answer to the question that brought her to tears: When would she see her boys again?
Jacinto wore a yellow bracelet on her left wrist, which defense lawyers said identifies parents who are arrested with their children and prosecuted in Operation Streamline, a fast-track program for illegal border crossers.
Moments earlier, her public defender asked the magistrate judge when Jacinto would be reunited with her sons, ages 8 and 11. There was no clear answer for Jacinto, who was sentenced to time served on an illegal-entry charge after crossing the border with her sons near Lukeville on May 14.
Parents who cross the border illegally with their children may face criminal charges as federal prosecutors in Tucson follow through on a recent directive from Attorney General Jeff Sessions to prosecute all valid cases, said U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Cosme Lopez.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection started referring families caught crossing illegally for prosecution several weeks ago, Lopez said. Those prosecutions unfold both in Streamline cases and through individual prosecutions.
On Thursday, Efrain Chun Carlos, also from Guatemala, received more information than Jacinto when he asked Magistrate Judge Lynnette C. Kimmins about his child during Streamline proceedings.
“I only wanted to ask about the whereabouts of my child in this country,” Chun said.
Kimmins responded she didn’t know where his child was and suggested he ask officials at the facility where he will be detained.
Christopher Lewis, the federal prosecutor at the hearing, told Kimmins that children from countries that are not contiguous to the United States will be placed in foster care with the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
“When they will be reunited, I cannot say because that’s an immigration matter,” Lewis said.
The yellow bracelet is a nice historical touch, right? It's not a dehumanized chattel processing plant where parents are forcibly split from their children possibly forever, it's a fun, all-inclusive club where you get this cool wristband and can go on all the rides and enjoy all the food and entertainment for one low price!
And let's remember that the Trump regime doesn't exactly have a sterling record when it comes to actually keeping track of those children separated from their parents by the Immigration Gestapo, either.
A top official with the Department of Health and Human Services told members of Congress on Thursday that the agency had lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children it placed with sponsors in the United States, raising concerns they could end up in the hands of human traffickers or be used as laborers by people posing as relatives.
That was in April, and a month later, we still don't know where those 1,500 kids are. Nobody in this regime seems to give a damn, either.
If you ever wondered how you would react to the rise of European fascism 80 years ago, look in a mirror. Are we the baddies?
At this point? Yeah. Yeah, we are.
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