American nightmare

Trump Administration’s dehumanising treatment of immigrants carries long-term political and moral consequences

By: Editorials | Updated: June 21, 2018 12:20:40 am

From its inception, it has been a nation of immigrants, each wave adding to the country’s diversity, and its people’s collective capability.

For those looking for a silver lining in the Donald Trump Administration’s move to separate immigrant children from their parents, place them in camps and, in some cases, even cage them, there is some hope. Democrats have condemned the move which has already seen over 2,000 families torn asunder, a large section of the US President’s own party has spoken up against the initiative and even First Lady Melania Trump has said she “hates to see” what has been happening to children and their parents. But these small consolations aside, the implementation of the US government’s “zero tolerance” policy towards illegal immigrants has left a trail of suffering whose repercussions will go far beyond the immediate political crisis.

The US owes its predominant economic and cultural position, in large measure, to the fact that it is an open society. From its inception, it has been a nation of immigrants, each wave adding to the country’s diversity, and its people’s collective capability. That, like all modern nation-states, America needs to police its borders to some degree is understandable. But the complete lack of empathy with which Trump is going about it is shameful. The administration’s justifications have been two-fold: First, it has claimed that it is merely implementing laws and policies put in place by Democrats. This is, at best, a creative interpretation — the law asked migrants to appear before court; it did not call for children and first-time offenders to be incarcerated. The policy also did not exhort the government to hold people, like the 52 Indians currently detained in Oregon, in allegedly “inhuman conditions”. Second, Trump himself has used words that are deeply disturbing to describe those coming into the US in search for a better life — immigrants, he said, “pour into and infest our country”.

The actions of a government, especially an elected one, carry deep moral consequences. America need only recall the burden of slavery on contemporary race relations, its treatment of Native Americans and even the internment of Japanese citizens during the Second World War. Its global image will certainly not be enhanced as it detains people from friendly countries. As video and audio recordings of children crying out for their parents — locked up and scared — surface, Trump’s dehumanising language of “infestation” appears all the more stark. Amnesty International has termed such an infliction of suffering “torture”, and the American Paediatric Association has called it child abuse. Both are correct.

For all the latest Opinion News, download Indian Express App