Of course it meant that they held them no more than 20 days and then released them with a court date. What you guys are not getting is that they decided that the alternative, charging everyone that crosses the border with kids criminal (it is usually a misdemeanor unless you have done it more than once), arresting the parents, and thus the kids being separated from them, was simply too cruel. That is why they did not do it. It's not because they were weak, or hated America, or whatever, it is because they have a conscience and such a policy was unconscionable to them.
Look, I am all for doing a better job of securing the border. I think we ought to do a better job of cracking down on employers that hire illegal immigrants. I also think that our immigration system should be more skills based like what is typical in other high income countries, but there is a reason why only Trump could implement such a cruel policy. I would not sleep at night knowing that I put in place a policy that separating families like this. Years ago I used to do CASA volunteer work. Sometimes you would have piece of **** parents or parents that may not be able to care for their kids and their kids would be removed from the home. However, that was an absolute late resort, and it was an absolute last resort for a good reason. It is extremely traumatic to kids to be taken from their parents. It is horrible for them.
I mean god damn. I know the president is incapable of empathy, but I would imagine most of yall are capable of it. Think about what we are doing here. Yeah, the parents are coming here illegally. They are going to do that anyway. This cruel policy is not the answer.
