Human rights abuses come home

St. Louis Dispatch (Editorial)

June 11, 2018

Human rights abuses come home

On Tuesday the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a blistering criticism of two nations for human rights abuses. One was Egypt. The other was the United States. This is not good company to keep.

Egypt was hammered for a crackdown on the rights of protesters. The U.S. was hit for the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their families to deter illegal immigrants and those seeking political asylum in the land of the free. The practice is shameful, a blatant violation of American values and arguably the biggest scar on the nation’s soul since police dogs and fire hoses were turned on civil rights protesters.

“The use of immigration detention and family separation as a deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and principles,” the UN office said. “The child’s best interest should always come first, including over migration management objectives or other administrative concerns.”

The Trump administration’s response to this criticism was predictable. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley basically told the human rights office to butt out: “Neither the United Nations nor anyone else will dictate how the United States upholds its borders,” Haley said.

She went on to bash the human rights records of some of the nations sitting on the UN Human Rights Council; this was correct but irrelevant. The United States is supposed to be better than the likes of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

In the weeks since the plight of the children was revealed — the government admits to 658 separations from May 6 to May 13; other estimates are higher — the administration has refused to respond directly to critics. Instead it denies and lies, falsely blaming the problem on Democrats, equating scared toddlers with MS-13 gangbangers. Previous administrations detained children who crossed the border alone, looking for their parents. The “zero tolerance” practice of separating even young children from their families is all Trump.

Last weekend Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., decided to see for himself. He tried to get into a detention facility inside an abandoned Walmart store in Brownsville, Texas. The private firm that runs the facility under government contract refused to let him in. Health and Human Services officials said Merkley hadn’t given the required two weeks’ notice. Local police were called to run him off.

Merkley was allowed into the McAllen, Texas, Border Patrol Processing Center, where undocumented migrants are taken when they first arrive. Families are separated here, with kids staying 72 hours in cage-like enclosures before being sent to detention centers or foster homes. All that’s missing are the boxcars.

For having a conscience, a White House spokesman blamed Merkley for policies that “allow violent criminal aliens to flood into American communities.”

This is standard Trumpian lying and blame-shifting. Using it to defend the unforgivable somehow makes it worse.

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