Pondering the Pundits

Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from> around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Laura Bush: Separating children from their parents at the border ‘breaks my heart’

On Sunday, a day we as a nation set aside to honor fathers and the bonds of family, I was among the millions of Americans who watched images of children who have been torn from their parents. In the six weeks between April 19 and May 31, the Department of Homeland Security has sent nearly 2,000 children to mass detention centers or foster care. More than 100 of these children are younger than 4 years old. The reason for these separations is a zero-tolerance policy for their parents, who are accused of illegally crossing our borders.

I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.

Our government should not be in the business of warehousing children in converted box stores or making plans to place them in tent cities in the desert outside of El Paso. These images are eerily reminiscent of the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, now considered to have been one of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history. We also know that this treatment inflicts trauma; interned Japanese have been two times as likely to suffer cardiovascular disease or die prematurely than those who were not interned.

Americans pride ourselves on being a moral nation, on being the nation that sends humanitarian relief to places devastated by natural disasters or famine or war. We pride ourselves on believing that people should be seen for the content of their character, not the color of their skin. We pride ourselves on acceptance. If we are truly that country, then it is our obligation to reunite these detained children with their parents — and to stop separating parents and children in the first place.

Laura Bell Cooper: Sessions holds safety beyond the grasp of abuse victims

The Guatemalan woman’s husband beat her weekly. He threw paint thinner at her, burning her breast. He raped her. She tried to hide within Guatemala, but he found her and threatened to kill her. She called the police, but they did not arrest him. He beat her again. And again. Finally, she fled and sought refuge in the United States. She received safe haven after years of legal battles. Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions took that protection away from other women like her. In doing so, he is echoing those in her home country who believe domestic abuse is a private matter. [..]

The many flaws in the attorney general’s decision may lead to it being reversed, and there are other avenues that allow some women fleeing domestic violence to prevail despite this ruling. Still, thousands of women will be turned away in the meantime, denied refuge and sent back to their fates — beatings, rapes and for some, death. For too many, safety is now beyond their grasp. Instead, the U.S. government has revoked the refuge once offered to women who dared to demand that their worth be recognized. These women rejected the premise that they were their husbands’ by fleeing their home countries. They fled because their home country governments looked on while they suffered. Now the United States too looks on, undisturbed, unmotivated to intervene, unwilling to protect them.

Charles M. Blow: Trump and the Baby Snatchers