#172 / Political Terrorists At The Border

According to a report in Vox, as updated on June 15, 2018, U.S. agents are separating children from their parents at the border, when the government believes that the parents and the children have been involved in an illegal entry. The Vox report says that "between October 1, 2017, and May 31, 2018, at least 2,700 children have been split from their parents. 1,995 of them were separated over the last six weeks of that window — from April 18 to May 31 — indicating that, at present, an average of 45 children are being taken from their parents each day."

Of course, the Trump Administration has both confirmed and denied these claims and has also chosen, on occasion, simply to ignore the question or to change the subject when confronted. 

As we contemplate the behavior of our government and think about why the government would do such a horribly inhumane thing, an explanation does come to mind. Maybe the government is seeking some sort of advantage, by holding the children as hostages.

Hostage taking, as a way to achieve "leverage," is a tried and proven technique. For instance, Minwoo Yun, author of Understanding Global Terrorist Hostage Taking and Kidnapping, has this to say about what has become an increasingly common practice: 

Terrorist hostage taking and kidnapping has become an international concern in recent years. Since the mid 1990s, hostage taking and kidnapping have dramatically increased as a preferred tactic of political terrorists.

Could that be right? Is President Trump's administration taking children as hostages as its preferred way to achieve political leverage?

That could be the rationale upon which the Administration is basing its inhumane conduct, but if that explanation is correct, pursuing this policy qualifies all those involved as "political terrorists."

Image Credit:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/18/17449150/family-separation-policy-immigration-dhs-orr-health-records-undocumented-kids