Debatable Government Related Topic Essay

President Trump’s Controversial “Zero-Tolerance” Immigration Policy and Its Effects:

The Good and the Bad

Thousands of young children had embarked on a rough and rigorous journey with their

parents to the USA, hoping to find peace in a land which is so famously known as the “land of

the free”. These innocent children risked their lives to escape the tragedy and torment that has

engulfed their various motherlands. Sadly, their arrival to this independent nation has only been a

means of worsening their anguish and suffering. Within weeks of arrival, the hearts of thousands

of parents have been shattered into pieces as they became separated from their beloved children,

not knowing that it would be the very last time they saw their kids.

The concept of zero-tolerance was introduced in 2005 by President George W. Bush to

combat the influx of illegal immigrants crossing the US-Mexican Border. However, the Bush

administration used to apply exception for adults accompanied with minors. President Barack

Obama changed this immigration policy to release the parents and detained those who committed

crimes in US. During his time, family detention centers were built to keep the families together

so that the detained families are united. In 2015, Obama introduced Family Case Management,

which prioritized families with special needs such as pregnancies, nursing members, young

family members, medical conditions and mental health concerns, offering alternatives rather than

being held in detention centers while awaiting for legal hearings of political asylum cases which

usually takes several years. In addition, the Obama administration complied the ruling of the 9th

circuit court ordered in 2016, which released women and children within 21 days of detention.

But Jeff Sessions, AG of President Trump ordered, in April 06, 2018, to adopt the zero-tolerance

policy and to supersede any existing policy. As a result, in June 2018, almost 3000 children

including minors aging 5 and under, were separated from their families, with no plan for

unification with their families. Pictures of minors depicted crying when they were separated from

their parents went viral on social media, drawing the attention of the public. This heinous and

cruel act raises huge protest from people of all walks of lives including political leaders, social

activists, religious groups, doctors and people in general. As a result, Trump was forced to stop

this act by signing an executive order to end the zero-tolerance policy. However, there are still

hundreds of children who have already been impacted by this controversial policy, making their

fate still unclear. Thus, I strongly believe that the separation of young minor children from their

parents is extremely cruel and harsh and it clearly violates the fundamental rights of humans to

seek refuge for asylum.

Firstly, it is completely illegal to separate children from their parents while the parents

are awaiting for the legal process of political asylum. Since April 2018, Trump’s administration

strangely started enacting the zero-tolerance immigration policy to separate the children from

their parents while the parents are awaiting for the legal process of political asylum, cancelling

the exception implemented by the previous administrations. According to the class action

lawsuit filed by the ACLU, it is illegal to separate the children from parents. There have been

many lawsuits filed against the zero-tolerance immigration policy. For example, there was a

lawsuit that a 9-year-old boy was separated from his father while sleeping. They were fleeing to

the US from Honduras to protect their life from the threat of being murdered in their home

country just as their grandfather. Another lawsuit was filed on behalf of a 14-year-old girl. She

was fleeing from El Salvador due to political asylum. Unfortunately, she was separated from her

mother in a detention facility at Texas. Government officials took her away from her mother on

the notion that they were “…taking her to bathe” (Radelat).

In addition, the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy of the Trump administration are

responsible for traumatizing many of the young children that are accompanying their parents.

When separated from their parents, the children are experiencing emotional, psychological and

physical stress as they seek refuge into their dream land of the United States of America.

According to Julia Belluz, it is risky to separate mothers and infants for various medical reasons,

“as it is risky to the health” (Belluz). It is absolutely inhumane and against any civic sense to

traumatize innocent minors by separating them from their parents. Moreover, it is deemed

necessary that government officials and the president should take into consideration the

unfortunate fate of these young children, who came to the US with their parents to protect their

lives. AAP issued serious warning to the Trump administration to avoid traumatizing these

innocent, vulnerable and scared children including suckling babies by separating these young

ones from their parents, siblings, relatives, and other care givers. Through this, it is evident that

these firmly-enacted polices are nothing but harsh, cruel and counterproductive laws of society.

Moreover, the children separated by the Trump administration under the “zero-tolerance”

Immigration policy violated the fundamental human rights of children to be able to speak with

their parents and family members. Truly, it is unimaginable how these innocent minors, many

under the age of 5, are surviving, knowing that they will never be able to speak to their parents

ever again. Due to this very ethical concern, a federal judge in California decided to issue an

injunction to temporarily stop this “zero-tolerance” immigration policy across the entire nation,

hoping to end the separation of children from their parents at the border. Through this, he also

hoped to reunite the separated family members within 30 days. Moreover, the Federal District

Court judge Dana M. Sabraw ordered that children under the age of 5, must be reunited with

their parents within 14 days and all children must be able to speak with their family members

within a period of 10 days (Shear).

On top of this, the Trump administration has no intentions or plans of reuniting the

children with their parents under the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. Separation of the

children were made without any appropriate plans to reunite them or identify their “real parents”.

The parents and children detained should have the same A-file number issued by the immigration

authorities. According to BBC News, many active advocates against the immigration policy have

tried guessing “… the A-file number of the parent based on the number of the child” (Prasad).

Due to absence of proper planning, most of the children become separated from their parents

before the process of A-file numbers are issued. Due to the lack of proper planning, family re-

unification has become more complicated and challenging than ever before. Through the court

order issued by the district judge and 9th circuit court, the cruel immigration policy came to a

halt, but the authorities are still trying to adopt various methods to identify the parents of the

respective children. In some cases, they might have to match the DNA of the children, including

infants and babies. This “zero-tolerance” immigration policy has not only been responsible for

creating extreme chaos in the administration of immigration policy, but will also cost lots of

money, exceeding the cost of keeping the children and parents in family detention centers as

Obama’s administration had done in the past.

Lastly, the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy is completely unjust as it violates the

fundamental human rights law by detaining and prosecuting political asylum seekers. Currently,

many of the children separated from their parents fall under the category of refugees. According

to the treaty signed by US along with 145 nations in 1968, it agreed to provide shelter to

refugees. According to an article regarding the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy and its

violation of human rights laws published by author Jeffrey Davis, he states that “These treaties

define a “refugee” as a person fleeing her or his country of origin because of a well-founded fear

of persecution on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group

or political opinion” (Davis). Trump’s administration is treating asylum seekers as criminals, not

only denying their fundamental human rights but also prosecuting and imprisoning them under

the umbrella of zero tolerance policy.

In April 2018, the attorney General of the United States of America, announced the

enforcement of “zero-tolerance” immigration policy in which minor children were separated

from their parents in the name of border security, while detaining illegal immigrants. Many

supporters of the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy strongly view the enforcement of the

policy as a justified and correct decision for the common benefit of society as they argue that the

policy aims to catch tens and thousands of criminals trying to enter the US border illegally.

However, this is not always true as the immigration policy has been primarily responsible in

netting more innocent refugees trying to seek political asylum rather than actual criminals. This

policy was enforced without any proper analysis or thought. As a result, the “zero-tolerance”

immigration policy has led to various violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms of

minors and infants as they were brutally separated from their parents.

On May 7, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that “... If you're smuggling

a child, then we're going to prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you, probably, as

required by law “. Proponents of the firmly-enacted “zero-tolerance” immigration policy strongly

believe that it is extremely beneficial as it helps to protect the best interest of the minor children

crossing the US border by separating them from children traffickers. In addition, The

Department of Homeland Security claims that this policy will achieve its desired outcome of

protecting and saving the children from criminals who are engaged in trafficking these innocent

minors. However, despite their visions of success that would be achieved through this

immigration, within 2 months, more than 2300 children were detained, including minors and

suckling babies. Due to this horrific tragedy, some judges decide to rule against this inhuman law

and ordered temporary stoppage of the enforcement of the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions witnessed that the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy

tried to support the controversial policy by citing the Apostle Paul that in Roman 13, Paul was

clearly commanded to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the republic to

obey the law of the land. Many supporters of the strictly-enacted immigration policy claim that

from a religious standpoint, there should be no questioning the commandments of God, who has

deemed it necessary that the governed should follow the laws of the government to avoid

upheaval, chaos, and turmoil within society. Despite appealing through a religious viewpoint, it

was rejected by most walks of life when thousands of individuals witnessed horrific images of

the cruelty as crying minors were separated from their parents went viral on social media. In

general, the media, judges, and the public expressed grave concern about the controversial

policy, causing President Trump to issue an executive order to stop the separation of these

innocent children from their parents.

Overall, the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy failed miserably as it violated the

fundamentals rights of minor children by separating them from their beloved parents. The

Federal District Court and 9th circuit court not only issued an order which stopped the

enforcement of such a controversial immigration policy but also ordered to reunite the families

of the children within 30 days and minors with 15 days and allowed them to speak with their

parents and relatives within 10 days. Clearly, President Trump himself was embarrassed by the

result of his strictly-enforced policy. Rather than ensuring the protection and security of the

nation, it brought more torture, pain, and sorrow to the lives of thousands of children and parents.

As a result, to end the chaos and bitter hostility between millions of American citizens, President

Trump was forced to issue an executive order which ended the separation of children from their

parents.

Works Cited:

Belluz, Julia. “It's Not Just Cruel to Separate a Breastfeeding Baby from a Mom. It's Medically

Dangerous.” Vox, Vox, 15 June 2018, www.vox.com/science-and-

health/2018/6/15/17465306/children-immigrant-families-separated-breastfeeding-baby.

Davis, Jeffrey. “US 'Zero-Tolerance' Immigration Policy Still Violating Fundamental Human Rights

Laws.” The Conversation, The Conversation, 27 July 2018, theconversation.com/us-zero-

tolerance-immigration-policy-still-violating-fundamental-human-rights-laws-98615.

Prasad, Ritu. “Undocumented Migrant Families Embark on Chaotic Reunion Process.” BBC News,

BBC, 25 June 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44581240.

Radelat, Ana. “Two Immigrant Children in Connecticut Sue over Family Separations.” The CT

Mirror, 6 July 2018, ctmirror.org/2018/07/05/two-immigrant-children-connecticut-sue-trump-

administration-family-separations/.

Shear, Michael. “Federal Judge in California Halts Splitting of Migrant Families at Border.” The

New York Times, The New York Times, 27 June 2018,

www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/us/politics/family-separations-congress-states.html.