Thread by @matt_cam

1/ The conditions which allowed #WhereAreTheChildren to happen were created by the Obama admin. The recent Sessions policy of separating children from parents at the border will make things even worse for one reason no one really seems to be talking about. Let's talk about it.

2/ We have all heard by now that asylum-seeking parents will be separated from their children and detained. But it gets much, much worse.

They will also be legally orphaned.

3/ Asylum-seeking families have always been processed and released together and their cases joined for review in #ImmigrationCourts. The new Sessions approach is designed to not only reverse that policy, but to inflict maximum harm in the process.

4/ By definition, "unaccompanied minors" are coming to the US without a parent with them. Try to imagine the magnitude of the threat to your child's life & safety at home that would force you, a loving responsible parent, to send them away in the care of strangers.

5/ After separating children from parents, the new Sessions policy requires #immigration authorities to *designate the children as unaccompanied minors* and process them accordingly.

We are literally ripping them from the arms of loving parents and calling them orphans.

6/ If there are no family members willing or able to take these children, they will be placed in foster care or shelters--even as innocent parents seeking nothing but safety are criminalized and jailed indefinitely as asylum claims are reviewed.

7/ I have always found #ORR to be a responsible, compassionate agency staffed by people truly looking out for the best interests of the children under their care. But the 1,500 unaccounted-for kids are their responsibility. This travesty (for once) has nothing to do with #ICE.

8/ Unaccompanied minors have special protections per 2008 law & may be eligible for #SpecialImmigrantJuvenile visas.

Sessions and the nativist right loath these protections & want them gone.

#WhereAreTheChildren could be the excuse they've been looking for. Don't let it be.

9/ VERY IMPORTANT FOOTNOTE:

The # of unaccounted-for kids reported comes from data collected from a *new policy* which follows up w/sponsors not in place until very recently.

But HHS has had this responsibility for 16+ years.

#WhereAreTheChildren, and HOW MANY ARE THERE

10/ The official #ORR position remains that they are not legally responsible in any way once kids are released to verified sponsors.

Per Steven Wagner's recent testimony, they are now "taking a fresh look at that question."

Let's be sure that they do.

#WhereAreTheChildren

11/ IMPORTANT: A lot of pushback to the idea that the Obama administration could have had anything to do with #WhereAreTheChildren. When I say that Obamacreated these conditions during the 2013-2015 "surge" of migrant children, this is the kind of thing I'm talking about.

12/ #WhereAreTheChildren predates Trump, and putting it all on him gets us nowhere. This 2016 AP investigation raised same questions & went almost entirely unnoticed. I wish it were as simple as ending one truly horrific presidency, but it's just not.

apnews.com/cc07b82ec58145…