Why We Ask: Our mission and operations are funded 100% by conservatives like you. Please help us continue to extend Liberty to the next generation and support the 2024 Year-End Campaign today.

June 21, 2018

Resolving the Alien Minor Separation Issue

Trump’s EO changes policy to detain illegal alien families together, yet Democrats still politicize it.

As pressure mounted nationally under the strategic Democrat- and mainstream media-fomented conniption fit over the practice of separating minors from parents who have illegally crossed the U.S. border, President Donald Trump issued an executive order Wednesday halting the practice. Trump said that the U.S. needs to have a “very powerful, very strong border … [while] at the same time we have compassion.” He added, “We want to keep families together. It’s very important. … I don’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.”

In his executive order, Trump noted that while the families will not be separated, they also will not be released. The order reads, “It is the policy of this Administration to rigorously enforce our immigration laws. It is also the policy of this Administration to maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources. It is unfortunate that Congress’s failure to act and court orders have put the Administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law.”

Did Trump’s action assuage Democrat and MSM “moral” objections? Nope. Before the ink was even dry on Trump’s EO, Democrats began voicing their objections. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-2020) complained, “This Executive Order doesn’t fix the crisis. Indefinitely detaining children with their families in camps is inhumane and will not make us safe.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (S-VT) harangued, “Trump’s executive order merely replaces one inhumane act with another. In response to the overwhelming public outrage at his policy of tearing children away from their parents at the border, this administration thinks the appropriate response is to indefinitely detain families.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) lamented, “It’s extremely troubling that the president’s executive order would require immigrant families with children to be detained indefinitely. The order appears to be the next step in the Trump administration’s larger agenda to eliminate basic protections for asylum seekers.”

Clearly, Democrats favor open borders and want to see the reinstatement of Barack Obama’s catch-and-release policy that amounted to nonenforcement against illegal immigration. It’s a despicable hate-fest ginned up for the 2018 midterms.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) quickly called out the Democrats, tweeting, “Some Democrats now even using the disingenuous ‘indefinite detention’ term. They know full well that those who unlawfully enter the U.S. are not held indefinitely… Just heard Senate colleague on floor say U.S. detains immigrant children ‘indefinitely & indiscriminately’. That is just PATENTLY FALSE. They are entitled to due process hearing so not indefinite. And only applies to those who enter the U.S. unlawfully so it’s not indiscriminate.”

But it was Trump himself who dealt the most devastating blow with a video of Democrat leaders advocating tough immigration enforcement. You know, back before they could bash him for actually doing it.

Now for a few important details the mainstream media is deliberately not telling you.

Of the 12,000 immigrant minors in Health and Human Services custody, 10,000 crossed the border without a family member, and 2,000 are in custody because their parents entered the country illegally.

Mark Alexander argues that “these minors in HHS custody are now safer, more comfortable and better cared for than at any other time in their lives.”

As HHS Secretary Alex Azar notes: “The vast majority of these kids are teenagers, over the age of 13. We have a few who are under the age of 13 and keep them in separate facilities with separate protocols. These kids are getting the full range of services. America is a generous nation, and America takes care of these kids even though they should not be in the country. We provide them with education, we provide them with meals, they get medical care, they get dental care, vision, they get athletic time, entertainment, they get psychiatric care. We’re providing excellent care for these kids. … Each child costs taxpayers hundreds of dollars per day … more than most U.S. parents can afford to spend on their children.”

Azar notes further, “The simple fact is, the way you prevent separation, the way you prevent your children from coming into our care — don’t come into our country illegally. Go and present yourself at a legal border crossing with permission to come into the country, or make your case why you legally should be allowed to enter. If you break our laws, you will be prosecuted. If you’re prosecuted, you may have your children given into our custody.”

Exercise a little sensory discrimination and intellectual discretion before assuming what is true…

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.