Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

T R E 4 5 O N

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

After roe, women are no longer free.

I was promised a recession.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / An ER Pediatrician Explains What She’s Observed Examining Babies Separated from Their Asylum Seeking Parents Who are in Foster Care

An ER Pediatrician Explains What She’s Observed Examining Babies Separated from Their Asylum Seeking Parents Who are in Foster Care

by | 67 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tara Neubrand, MD is a pediatric emergency specialist in Denver. She has recorded her observations of the toddlers separated from their asylum seeking parents and placed into foster care who she has treated. Dr. Jennifer Gunter has posted the letters in her twitter feed.

Click to bring up the different parts of the letters.

 

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

67Comments

  6. 6.

    Chet Murthy

    @MobiusKlein: Not that you should ask them, but are they sort of libertarians who would say that slavery should be legal? That is, that a person should be able to sell themselves into slavery? I’m guessing *not*. Perhaps they’re not as libertarian as you thought they were? Or maybe their libertarianism was …. an intellectual pose?

    [In case it’s not obvious, I’m not throwing shade at them — quite, quite, quite the opposite.]

  8. 8.

    lamh36

    Seeing more and more outlets headlining the AP story about the “Tender Age” shelters…

    Lawd…people will be waking up to this news tomorrow are gonna be sometthing.

    I’m off to try to get to bed. Hopefully I can get my mind to settle so I can get some rest…smh

  11. 11.

    Yarrow

    Wow. Look how they’re trying to spin the protesters who confronted Nielsen’s dinner at the Mexican restaurant.

    While having a work dinner tonight, the Secretary and her staff heard from a small group of protestors who share her concern with our current immigration laws that have created a crisis on our southern border.— Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS) June 20, 2018

    Cool story, bro. But that’s not what happened.

  12. 12.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    This whole fucking thing is just so unutterably sad for me. I have a whole lot of Honduran friends down there. Luckily, I lived in a small town when I lived there, so most of the people I know are fairly safe. It’s safe enough that my wife (a gringo) and I go down each year with our two children (now 11 and almost six). But I know how hard life is in the bigger cities. People are fleeing for their lives because the government is too weak to help them–and this president is corrupt, and doesn’t really give a shit about the people of his country anyway, even if the government had the wherewithal to help. I can’t begin to think what these people, the mothers and fathers who have lost their children and the children themselves, are going through. This can’t end soon enough. I don’t know how we even go about trying to make up for this as a country.

  13. 13.

    Brickley Paiste

    Did she reveal how many girls she had examined and what had happened to them?

    WHERE ARE THE GIRLS???

  14. 14.

    J R in WV

    These people, ICE, Reichsleiter K. Nielsen [Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security] and all her minions down to people welcoming new children into their cages, are all monsters who are guilty of a crime against humanity.

    They are too stupid to understand that they have crossed that line, but cross it they have, all of them.

    Ignorance of the law is no excuse, “Orders we are following” are no excuse, “It’s the law now!” is no excuse.

    Monsters. Wearing human disguises. I saw that Reichsleiter K. Nielsen was harassed out of a restaurant in DC earlier this evening. Perhaps that will shine a tiny shard of light in her mind on what’s she is doing, and how wrong it is? I hope she is followed around by activists for the rest of her life… at least.

    FYI, Reichsleiters reported directly to A. Hitler up until 1945. Since then they pop up randomly, apparently, almost everywhere.

  15. 15.

    Brickley Paiste

    @Yarrow:

    Yes, because Shame, Shame, Shame is how you share concerns!!!!

    Nothing says “concerned” more than that word. Which is the opposite of concern.

  22. 22.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Trump, Kelly, Miller, and Kristensen need to be punished for these crimes. Severely.

  23. 23.

    Timurid

    We’re at the decision point right now. Trump, in broad daylight, is doing things worse than anything that could theoretically be uncovered by Mueller. If he’s not checked on this, then firing Mueller or openly tampering with elections is right there on the table. Because after concentration camps for babies, those things will seem tame.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    It is really odd that no one in the Trump Administration gets this- that the issue is the separation from their families.

    I don’t know what kind of people these people are, but they should be figuring that out. Everyone else seems to get it immediately. These are some really odd ducks, who can see and hear these kids and not figure out that they want their families. That audio of the kids keening is grief- they’re grieving.

    They don’t seem to speak some universal language, these adults. I don’t know that it’s something that can be learned, either.

  27. 27.

    MoCA Ace

    I find myself vacillating between rage, hopelessness, and anger at myself for feeling these things. over the last few days rage is definitely winning out! I was raised a christian but I don’t think I can ever forgive these monsters or those who support them… and that includes some family members.

    My son is in college and while I typically talk current events and politics with him on a regular basis I find that lately I have been holding back and even avoiding the topic. I remember my college days fondly and I think some part of me wishes he could experience the same thing and not have to deal with all this shit.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    @Yarrow:

    I have to say, watching a crowd of jeering people surround Nielsen’s table while she tried to pretend to ignore them made me feel a little better.

    I wonder if Pence is going to cancel his trip to Philly now. They have raucous crowds mastered in Philly.

  29. 29.

    hilts

    @Kay:

    Trump and his minions are depraved and devoid of any humanity. They are a malignant cancer in our national soul.

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    It is really odd that no one in the Trump Administration gets this- that the issue is the separation from their families.

    They’re sociopaths. They literally do not understand human emotions. They can attempt to fake it if they can pick up on the cues, but they genuinely don’t care that those children are crying. As far as they’re concerned, it’s like hearing a fan blowing. Not even something human to them.

  33. 33.

    sukabi

    @Kay: that’s easy, Drumpf didn’t want anything to do with his kids when they were young, not sure if they went to boarding school, had nannies for most of the messy work…treated as possessions not people, put away when not on display.

    As for the others I’d guess the same kind of attitude toward kids as Drumpf. Probably not a healthy parent / child relationship among the lot of them.

  34. 34.

    khead

    @MobiusKlein:

    No they don’t. They just don’t want to take the heat right now.

    I’ve been railing on FB at dumbasses all evening. This shit has legs with far too many white folks.

  35. 35.

    Yarrow

    @Mnemosyne: It made me feel better too. I would like every member of Trump’s cabinet confronted in public. They can speak out against it. They aren’t. They do not deserve a moment’s peace.

    @Kay: Mnemosyne is right. The reason is that they are sociopaths. They do not recognize normal human emotions. Trump is their leader in this regard.

  36. 36.

    sukabi

    @Mnemosyne: I couldn’t watch it to the end, really fucking annoying???…did they really get her and her detail to leave? (I assume that was who the 2 suited men standing facing the protesters were….quite the smirking they were doing. ☺)

  38. 38.

    jl

    So, the GOP Congressfinks meet with Trump to iron out the ransom, and Trump rants like a loon.

    Trump Rants And Roars At House GOP Meeting, With No Clear Immigration Plan
    By Cameron Joseph | June 19, 2018
    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-rants-and-roars-at-house-gop-meeting-with-no-clear-immigration-plan

    I hope their scheme blows up in their faces.

    There doesn’t need to be any damn legislation. The Trump administration needs to stop lying, and stop committing criminal acts.
    Anybody see any corporate media bullshitting about this obvious fact, they need to hear from us and be told to cut the crap.

    Unbelievable that Sessions and Trump have been running around the countryside yelling that it is really their clever scheme to inflict collective punishment on people as a deterrent. Any worthless media talking head who doesn’t point that out in every story needs to get another cushy job.

    Edit: only thing Congress needs to pass is legislation forbidding Trump from committing human rights violations, specifically, separating families.

  40. 40.

    Mary G

    @khead: me too, on Twitter. Not useful but it’s what I can do right now and it makes me feel a tiny bit better.

  41. 41.

    Yarrow

    @Mnemosyne: I remember hearing an interview on some NPR show with people who were studying sociopaths in prison to understand how sociopaths’ minds work. The part I remember is that they showed them pictures of people who were completely terrified and asked them if they knew what emotion the person was showing. The sociopaths would say they recognized the look on that person’s face. “It’s the look people make right before I stab them.” They literally had no idea it was fear or terror. It meant nothing to them.

  42. 42.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @sukabi:

    Drumpf didn’t want anything to do with his kids

    That’s a little unfair. He definitely took an interest in Ivanka as she got older.

  43. 43.

    dm

    I keep expecting Trump’s numbers at FiveThirtyEight to change as the news has time to percolate through the pills, but if anything Trump is edging up as the days go by.

  44. 44.

    Peale

    @Kay: it’s really rather easy to rationalize it away, though. Family Values voters do it all the time. A person just needs to deny that other people’s families are natural and therefore aren’t important. You see crying children; they see gang members and drug runners.

    I think they know on some level that families are important to immigrants. That’s why they are attacking “chain migration”. But these aren’t natural families. Immigrants don’t have children for the same reasons white Christians have children. They only have them to gain unfair advantages and subvert the laws. They don’t actually love kids. And of course they want to reunite with their parents and siblings to steal things…not because as you know, being poor kind of sucks when you don’t have family around to help take care of kids while working 2 jobs with unstable schedules. No, these aren’t children. They are landmines and those families aren’t real and don’t matter.

  46. 46.

    Dan B

    I disagree that the people supporting Sessions, Nielsen, etc. are sociopaths. They’re ideologues in some areas at least. Part of their psyche is thoroughly terrified of the stranger and the other. They believe that empathy is weakness and there must not be any chink in the armor.
    There certainly are sociopaths among the bunch but the majority are people who hide their fears from themselves and others with great militancy.

  47. 47.

    sukabi

    @Viva BrisVegas: fair enough, but that kind of “interest” is why she’s all “But Daddy, what can we do about this?”

    She’s a deeply damaged person.

  48. 48.

    Brickley Paiste

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I know., man, but that was what 3 or 4 outrages ago where any of them would have been enough to bring down an administration in the past but now they are a daily event?

    It is a cycle and it is getting faster.

  49. 49.

    Mandalay

    @dm:

    if anything Trump is edging up as the days go by

    That is exactly what 538’s poll of polls is showing; over the past week Trump’s approval is up, and his disapproval is down.

    And don’t let your increased loathing for Trump lead you to conclude that the nation must agree with you; the general trend in 2018 has been for approval for Trump to rise by several points. See How popular/unpopular is Donald Trump?

    Anyone who thinks it is impossible for Trump to be re-elected as president is clueless.

  52. 52.

    Mandalay

    @Platonailedit:

    hitler was also ‘popular’. What’s your point

    The point is pretty obvious, so if you can’t understand that post then further explanation really can’t help you.

    Go pick a fight somewhere else.

  53. 53.

    Platonailedit

    @Mandalay: Hey dunce, you are the one that implied we should just give up since twitler is sure to get elected. Just because some stupid poll said so. Despite all the dem wins even in red states.

  54. 54.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mandalay:

    That is exactly what 538’s poll of polls is showing; over the past week Trump’s approval is up, and his disapproval is down.

    I looked at the link and it doesn’t seem to be nearly as definitive as you think. Comparing the two Ipsos polls as apples-to-apples, his disapproval stayed the same but his approval went down by 4 points.

    There’s 2 more years and a midterm election before 2020. I wouldn’t call his re-election a done deal just yet.

  55. 55.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    I said this in an earlier thread about the kids who will not be reunited with their parents but it bears repeating. Can we just start calling them Los Desaparecidos now? Of course Trump would be thrilled to know he’s joined the ranks of Pinochet. Now we’re hearing that they’re taking babies away from their mothers and it’s just all too much for me. I’m in tears and just exhausted from the news. Seeing Rachel breakdown was awful.

  58. 58.

    MisterForkbeard

    @khead: That’s my impression with a LOT of libertarians and republicans right now. Most of them don’t really seem to have an actual problem with it, at least the ones I’m seeing. (Anecdotes != data, I know). They just don’t want to get jumped on by the people who’d rightly see them as monsters.

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne

    @MisterForkbeard:

    It’s the authoritarian in them (and libertarians are just as authoritarian at heart as Republicans are). They think that the people who are seeking asylum have no excuse for committing a small crime to reach US soil. As far as they’re concerned, there is never any excuse for a powerless person to commit a crime, and letting a low-status person get away with even a misdemeanor upsets the natural hierarchy.

    They’re all little Javerts at heart, always looking to find the criminal who stole a loaf of bread while ignoring the larger crimes of the upper class.

  60. 60.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mandalay:

    Anyone who thinks it is impossible for Trump to be re-elected as president is clueless.

    The economy is good, there are no problems. If Trump just STU and played golf tell 2020 he would get re-elected. All the problems we have are shit Trump deliberately created just to be a twat. Trump is quite likely to lose a sure thing because he’s an idiot.

  61. 61.

    lowtechcyclist

    This is a crime against humanity. Everyone associated with this policy, from Trump on down to the border guards enforcing it, should die of old age in prison. And preferably in cells infested with an abundance of rats and cockroaches.

    @Dan B:

    I disagree that the people supporting Sessions, Nielsen, etc. are sociopaths. They’re ideologues in some areas at least.

    If someone’s ideology trumps their humanity to the point where they’re OK with the inflicting of this sort of trauma on thousands of kids, I’m gonna call them sociopaths.

  62. 62.

    J R in WV

    @MoCA Ace:

    My first year at college, a liberal arts school in Carlyle, Pa, First Martin Luther King was killed, then Bobby Kennedy was killed, then I aged into the draft. My sophomore year I mostly spent organizing against the war, hitched into and back from DC to meet. Once got a ride from a big diplo limo, it was seriously the Military Attache for the S Vietnam Embassy, he wanted to talk about the antiwar movement, I had long hair and a beard.

    For the first big Moratorium March, It was cold as a bitch, so November 1969, the first day I organized buses from a church that was a HQ for meeting and learning where to go. The tear gas wasn’t really bad, but it was there, so I was slathered with Noxema skin cream, which was supposed to prevent burns on your face.

    That night I walked to the site of the performances, and they needed help putting up the speaker towers, so I climbed the towers, and guided speakers in from the crane, fastened them in, hooked up cables all night. When I got too tired, I went into one of the buses – perhaps the Mystery Tour bus, I dunno. The dancers from Hair were resting in there, and we kept each other warm.

    Since I worked on the stage, I had a back stage pass, and it got me into the small area between the stage and the audience, and I went back and forth. So many great performers, Joan Baez, Ritchie Havens, It was quite a day – weekend, I don’t remember how I got back to school, must have caught a ride with someone. Then I spent some time in Philly, ,which was the only big city I knew much about. That’s when I got my draft number, which was 72, which meant you were in the first 1/4 of that year’s draftees.

    So March 1 1970 I became part of Tricky Dicky’s military machine. A Sailor.

    So long ago, fuzzy memories I didn’t want to remember because the movement failed at first, succeeded so slowly I was nearly discharged before the war ended. The big down-size as they withdrew from the Nam I got discharged, I was still pretty rowdy against the war, made no secret of my opinions. Did my job well, as it was hauling torpedoes with a crane I had to do it well, but when they made the tender over to support Nukes they didn’t need a guy who loaded old-style torps…

    Right now those memories and the more recent horrible memories are all conjoined in my head. This is bad, and it’s right here, but it was so much worse in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam back then. But I was here, state side then. Too confused to sleep well, like so many of us.

    Will try again, have no need to get up early, so will shoot for 6 more hours, then do housework, dog hair, laundry, light bulbs…. ordinary bits of life. And call some people about this bullshit going on.

  63. 63.

    Aleta

    @J R in WV: Amazing piece of real-people history. Thanks.

    I have a small personal collection of stories from friends who were draft age during the war. Some went to lengths to fail at being inducted. One had (and still has) Fuck You tattooed on the side edge of his salute hand.

  65. 65.

    Gex

    My Mom went on a 6 week vacation when I was a year and a half old. I was left with my grandparents.

    When my Mom returned she noticed I wouldn’t look at her. For weeks. She thought it was funny because, well, she doesn’t have very good Mom instincts. My attachment system was really damaged and I still to this day suffer consequences. At the age of 47 I see a therapist twice a week to fix the emotional and relational damaged caused by a lengthy separation from my primary attachment figure.

    What we are doing to these children is monstrous.

  66. 66.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    Somewhat on topic, how private prison/detention center contractors exploit detained immigrants:

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/04/geo-forced-labor-lawsuit/

    “The GEO Group, the private prison company that operates Aurora, allegedly forced more than 50,000 immigrants like Ortiz to work without pay or for $1 a day since 2004”

    See if they force the detainees to do all the cleaning, cooking, admin/office work for no pay they don’t have to hire people(at $10.40 per hour) who might want those jobs.

Comments are closed.