Sadly, I too feel that something is going on with the children right now. While some of them are safe with their relatives, others are being held isolated away from their parents.
I recall that Trump and his cronies made news a few months ago where they were trying to get out of having to give out necessities such a soaps and toothbrushes. And recently, Trump refused to give out flu shots to the immigrants, including the children.
When I learned about the flu shots, I felt physically sick. It wouldn't surprise me if an epidemic broke out and children died.
Worse, due to the documented racism of several ICE agents, it would not surprise me if several children were sold off per human trafficking or even being sexually abused in those facilities. Sadly, such a place would be a sexual predator's dream. Hundreds of children stuck in cages, unable to communicate with their families or even able to speak English. Demonized by a good portion of this nation by simply being immigrants.
Sadly, even if something as awful as this came out (either hundreds of children being systematically abused or dying), I think the Republicans would still justify it. I'm sorry, but they will. Just wait and see.
Sadly, (devastatingly), there have already been reports of sexual abuse in these detention centers: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/27/us/immigrant-children-sexual-abuse.html
As for human trafficking— So far I am not aware of any news stories of Trump-organized human trafficking of migrants. I hope that by opening a thread on this subject that some reliable investigative stories will show up to explain why children go missing and shed some light. ProPublica would be all over it if they had any leads. Has anyone found any reliable reporting on this subject?
Sequestering children from the protection of their parents opens them to abuse but that is not organized by the administration. Where I have lived —New York and Massachusetts—Child abuse in government foster care has scandalized many of the most well intentioned administrations. Trump hangs out with some unsavory people especially the Saudi prince but so far no stories or even hints of stories connecting migrant children and trafficking.
@vestralux also wrote in the forum a month or two ago (not sure which thread) about something politically explosive happening with children, and that that would be the spark that finally taps into the American psyche and brings down T.
Like several of you, I have difficulty lingering on the extreme suffering the federal government may be inflicting on these children. But if our worst fears are confirmed in the next few months, then that disclosure will force all of us (as in, all Americans) to grapple with our collective cultural shadow like we never have before.
The UK is having their own migrant child issue right now.
Who could be against children joining their families?” Few questions better capture the cruelty of the Conservative government’s approach to child refugees than that posed by Labour peer Alf Dubs this week. Dubs was protesting against the government’s decision to scrap a commitment from the Brexit withdrawal agreement that allows unaccompanied child refugees to reunite with their families in Britain. The House of Lords struck down the measureon Tuesday – only for the government to promptly overturn its changes. Dubs’ question pinpointed the confusing priorities of Boris Johnson’s hard-right government: why did it pick this fight?
The government’s position is riven with contradictions: it publicly supports protecting family reunification, but argues that including the commitment within the Brexit withdrawal bill ties its hands in EU negotiations. How can your hands be tied by something you’ve publicly supported? Vulnerable children should not be made bargaining chips, but the row over child refugees plays into a culture war that has proved a winning electoral formula for the right.
Read more here at this link.
Two articles that informed my earlier query re: Trump's migrant detention, children being taken from families and being lost into a foster system, possible connect with Betsy Devos' family ... the "whitewashing" of children of color due to white, Christian adoptions:
https://www.theroot.com/3-black-adoptees-on-racial-identity-after-growing-up-in-1790858603
The adoption issue was something I came to personally, having gone to a Christian college and knowing several families who adopted children from Haiti, Ghana, etc, and how they are raising those children "color blind" vs being aware of the realities of being a person of color living in a white world.
Thank you for starting with some news sources. I also did some searching. I could not find anything recent on missing kids. But there are first hand accounts as recent as six months ago on inhumane conditions for children that could leave marks on them for years to come. The Trump Administration has gotten more secretive and the news reports have slowed or stopped.