Trump Cuts Legal Aid To Unaccompanied Minors In Latest Act Of Pure Villainy
As Adam Serwer says, the cruelty is the point.
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The Trump administration has decided to cut services to migrant children being held in detention by the U.S. government. The stated reasons — a so-called “budget crisis” at the Southern Border — do not warrant serious analysis, given the macroeconomic policies of this administration. The cuts are being made so that Trump can appear more cruel to brown children, as cruelty to brown children is one of the things that excites the collection of assholes and dickheads who still support him. From the Washington Post:
The Trump administration is canceling English classes, recreational programs and legal aid for unaccompanied minors staying in federal migrant shelters nationwide, saying the immigration influx at the southern border has created critical budget pressures.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement has begun discontinuing the funding stream for activities — including soccer — that have been deemed “not directly necessary for the protection of life and safety, including education services, legal services, and recreation,” said Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Mark Weber.
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Some people will actually support the president and the party who denies playtime to kids, and then will turn around and claim to believe in a Christian God. It would be worth it for there to be a literal Hell just so these people would have some place to go for eternity.
Because the cuts to childhood recreation have received the most outrage, I want to focus on the cuts to legal aid. It’s hard to think of a more vulnerable community in need of legal services than unaccompanied minors being held against their will in a foreign land.
Lawyers said denying migrants access to legal services could put them in danger, because they will lack the ability to defend themselves against possible deportation to the countries they fled.
“We are deeply troubled that these services are being cut for children, who are among the most vulnerable population of immigrants in detention,” said Kica Matos, director of the Center on Immigration and Justice at the Vera Institute of Justice, which manages the legal-aid programs for the federal government. She said HHS had not notified the organization about the cuts.
A key issue here is going to be access. Even without federal funding, there are organizations willing to do this work. There are people willing to fund this work. The legal community can come together to provide the legal services this administration would cruelly deny.
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But the government must give the lawyers access to their would-be child clients. Too often, that access is denied or obfuscated to the point where lawyers can’t reach the children.
Nobody needs Trump’s say-so to provide legal services to migrant children. What we need is people at the gates of these detention centers, demanding that lawyers — AND GODDAMNED SOCCER BALLS — that have been paid for by non-Trump America be given to these kids.
Trump is evil. His supporters are evil. But there are good people willing to provide these services. We just need to get through the gates and get the services to the children.
Trump administration cancels English classes, soccer, legal aid for unaccompanied child migrants in U.S. shelters [Washington Post]
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