Deporting parents to win votes
In the first half of this year, the Obama administration deported 46,000 parents with U.S.-born children, said Ruben Navarrette Jr. at the San Jose Mercury News.
Ruben Navarrette Jr.
San Jose Mercury News
The Obama administration’s “heartless” immigration policies are tearing thousands of families apart, said Ruben Navarrette Jr. Illegal immigrants raising children born in the U.S. are being thrown out of the country at an unprecedented rate. In the first half of this year, the Obama administration deported 46,000 parents with U.S.-born children. This is a dramatic departure from the policies of past administrations, which rarely deported parents with kids who were born here.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What happens today when Mom and Dad are collared by the authorities? Often, their blameless kids are simply “dumped” into foster care. At least 5,100 U.S.-born children suffered that fate in the first half of this year. “What crime did they commit? Not a single one.”
The White House blames a broken immigration system. But the reality is that the president has quite intentionally deported 1.2 million people—tearing children away from their parents’ arms—to “score political points with voters.” That’s politics, cynics might say. “But for the families that have been destroyed, it’s all about pain.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Debate night barely moved needle'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 14 - 20 September
Puzzles and Quizzes Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Are we in the Mattel Cinematic Universe?
Podcast Plus can Japan crack its demographic crisis, and what does national debt actually mean?
By The Week Staff Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court rejects challenge to CFPB
Speed Read The court rejected a conservative-backed challenge to the way the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published