A Federal Settlement Has Been Reached over the Unjustified Separation of Children from their Parents

A settlement was reached in the federal case on behalf of migrant children who were unjustifiably separated from their parents at the United States border. A federal Judge had ruled against the practice of separating children from their parents in 2018, after the Trump Administration had stopped the policy, after a public outcry. The practice of punishing children was done not for reasonable reasons, which are still permitted, but strictly to deter migrants, including refugees with a credible fear of persecution who are following the legal process of entering American soil to claim asylum. Children were separated from their parents without linking them to their parents. The process has taken years to attempt to reunite them. Separation from parents is a psychological trauma that leaves a lifelong scar. The settlement bans the practice for eight years, provides mental health counseling to children, and legal representation for their immigration cases, among other provisions, but no financial awards. The Judge is an appointee of President George W. Bush, a conservative Republican. Conservative Republicans before the rise of Trump, who has championed nativism, mostly appreciated migrants for their economic contribution to America and especially refugees from tyranny for their greater appreciation for liberty. True conservatives still do and proudly recognize the contrast of people fleeing tyrannical regimes versus being attracted to America, in addition to those simply seeking to fulfill the American Dream. Refugees are currently coming especially from Socialist Venezuela, as well as Communist Cuba, Marxist Nicaragua, Communist China and Islamist Afghanistan. Nativists and xenophobes are bigoted or excessively fearful against people of other ethnicities (even though many Hispanics are Caucasian) or religions (especially Catholics, as well as Muslims fleeing Islamism) and fear competition for jobs, even though there is a labor shortage in America that has contributed to inflation. They think America is so weak that a few thousand migrants would destroy it. Pro-free market business interests favor more migration, whereas liberal labor unions historically opposed it. Regardless of reasonable differences on migration, there is no justification to harm children, as there is an already-difficult and lengthy legal process to screen out those who are undesirable or whose claims are dishonest, and to accept those who are desirable, which is the purpose of federal immigration law.