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US Border Policy: Law Enforcement vs "Concentration Camps"

A heated debate is taking place in the US over whether the Obama-era border policy that Trump inherited is inhumane after disturbing reports emerged alleging that "unaccompanied minors" are being sent to so-called "concentration camps".
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A heated debate is taking place in the US over whether the Obama-era border policy that Trump inherited is inhumane after disturbing reports emerged alleging that "unaccompanied minors" are being sent to so-called "concentration camps". Decontextualized photos of children inside what appeared to be cages recently began circulating in the media, after which the Democrats accused Trump of maliciously separating them from their illegal immigrant parents. Never mind that the original pictures were taken when Obama was President, nor that it was he who promulgated this policy, the immediate effect was that the Establishment started blaming Trump for these heart-wrenching scenes that Americans began to see all over their TV screens, the internet, and their newspapers.

In his defense, the President tweeted a series of messages about how human traffickers are exploiting children in order to enter the country illegally, and administration officials reminded the world that anyone can apply for asylum so long as they do so at official border crossings. Those that don't, however, will be apprehended by law enforcement if they're caught, and the children might be separated from the adults for their own protection until it can be determined that there's at least a family or custodial relationship. Even in the event that there is, however, the children cannot be incarcerated with their caretaker if they did nothing wrong other than be illegally brought by their guardian across the US border, hence the need to house these children in the meantime.

Contrary to the Mainstream Media stereotype of these facilities being "concentration camps" — a provocative image being propagated for what some say is the cynical reason of helping the Democrats ahead of the upcoming November midterm elections — video footage has shown that they're actually not too shabby and that all of the interned individuals' needs are fully taken care of. Not only that, but Breitbart also proved that the federal government spends approximately $10,000 more on each of these illegal immigrant children per year than the families of the 13 million impoverished American children receive during the same period,  further dismantling the narrative that these children are housed in "concentration camps".

In any case, separating children from what might be their parents is a very sensitive issue, as well as housing them in facilities that they're prohibited from leaving, which is why this issue has taken America  by storm in recent weeks and Trump just signed an ambiguous Executive Order that supposedly curtails this practice under certain circumstances.

Andrew Korybko is joined by Gabriel Benton, an Orthodox Christian, father, and American Russophile, and Victor Santiago, Mexican political commentator and contributor to the Subway News blog.

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