Trump's Failed Immigrant Family Policy: Now Morphed Into Job Creation Nightmare

One place, two views: Policy, planning, costs, outcome = lousy results 

Trumpenstein view of his immigration creation vs. the public view 

Wow – talk about Trump “jobs creation plan” – man oh, man this must be it … a pool a labor in the making for decades. Cite this startling story from here (Daily News via MSN) – so what’s in your wallet, Mr. and Mrs. Tax Payer?

This story is so complex and shocking I don’t know where to begin except with this short introduction from the article summary. 

Sadly, this newest and supposed  “good intentions initiative” is by any standard from this administration for whatever weak-ass reason they give almost always ends up in a mess – a total disaster just like this one. 

They will probably try and spin it as “a long-term immigration solution” to sustain the talking point: Make America Great Again, right – just my hunch.

How we got here: Back in April, the AG Jefferson “Jeff” Beauregard Sessions III announced a “zero tolerance policy” directing authorities to arrest, jail, and prosecute anyone illegally crossing the border, including people seeking asylum and without previous offenses. As a result of that new policy (spun as just like Obama’s) more than 2,300 children were turned over to HHS for safe-keeping I guess?

In a recently released report, the State Department decried the general principle of holding children in shelters, saying it makes them inherently vulnerable, saying in part in a report: “Removal of a child from the family should only be considered as a temporary, last resort. Studies have found that both private and government-run residential institutions for children, or places such as orphanages and psychiatric wards that do not offer a family-based setting, cannot replicate the emotional companionship and attention found in family environments that are prerequisites to healthy cognitive development.”

Some in the Trump administration describe the new policy as a “deterrent to future would-be immigrants and asylum-seekers fleeing violence and abject poverty in Central America, Mexico, and beyond.” 

(I note: Wow – a deterrent – so, I guess Trump’s immigrant family (including German grandfather and two wives from Europe were never deterred, or GOP Sen. Leader Mitch McConnell’s wife born in Taiwan, either, um? And, other posts related to this same view here and here (more GOP-Conservative hypocrites on this subject).

Steven Wagner, acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families — an HHS division — said the policy has exposed broader issues over how the government can manage such a vast system saying: “It was never intended to be a foster care system with more than 10,000 children in custody at an immediate cost to the federal taxpayer of over $1 billion dollars per year,”

Now the punch line – the long term impact and harm of this asinine Trump-Sessions-GOP policy from Dr. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics:

“The longer a child is in government custody, the potential for emotional and physical damage grows. The foundational relationship between a parent and child is what sets the stage for that child's brain development, for their learning, for their child health, for their adult health. 

“You you could have the nicest facility with the nicest equipment and toys and games, but if you don't have that parent, if you don't have that caring adult that can buffer the stress that these kids feel, then you're taking away the basic science of what we know helps pediatrics.”

So, what is the story we are addressing – here in part from the link above:

SAN ANTONIO — Detaining immigrant children has morphed into a surging industry in the U.S. that now reaps $1 billion annually — a tenfold increase over the past decade, an Associated Press analysis finds.

Health and Human Services grants for shelters, foster care and other child welfare services for detained unaccompanied and separated children soared from $74.5 million in 2007 to $958 million in 2017. The agency is also reviewing a new round of proposals amid a growing effort by the White House to keep immigrant children in government custody.

Currently, more than 11,800 children, from a few months old to 17, are housed in nearly 90 facilities in 15 states — Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. They are being held while their parents await immigration proceedings or, if the children arrived unaccompanied, are reviewed for possible asylum themselves.

In May, the agency issued requests for bids for five projects that could total more than $500 million for beds, foster and therapeutic care, and “secure care, which means employing guards.” 

More contracts are expected to come up for bids in October. HHS spokesman Kenneth Wolfe said the agency will award bids “based on the number of beds needed to provide appropriate care for minors in the program.” The agency's current facilities include locations for what the Trump administration calls “tender age children, typically under 5.”

Three shelters in Texas have been designated for toddlers and infants. Others — including in tents in Tornillo, TX, and a tent-and-building temporary shelter in Homestead, FL — are housing older teens.

Trump's ongoing PR campaign of goodwill and political spin: Dispatch the First Lady for her latest fashion and photo op:

My 2 cents: Boy, I bet the GOPers in office in the regions are delighted at the money flow from this new source of “job creation” by Trump and just time for the midterms, too. They will without doubt spin it into their reelection campaign Ads and speeches, with passion for the kids and full cofferers, too. That is a sure thing – bet on it

As far as Trump goes he will as always take his pile of crap and make a delightful crap sandwich and sell it to his base: “The best sandwich ever, trust me, believe me. You're gonna love it, believe me.”

I am so disgusted at this new twist in this lousy immigration policy that I’m beside myself.

As I’ve said a thousand times in the past and again now, this is not the way solve any problem – these kinds of solutions only makes things worse and that my friends is NOT the role of government to make things worse. 

However, with this Trump administration, comprised of fools and greedy corrupt incompetents, it's SOP. 

Thanks for stopping by.