It’s pretty safe to say that the Trump administration’s new immigration policy that has seen at least 1,995 children separated from their family is not going down super well. The policy has received criticism from politicians from both the Democrats and the GOP and there have been protests ranging from signs outside churches to the head of Homeland Security having her dinner at a Mexican restaurant interrupted by protesters.
Regardless of the strength of someone’s convictions in regards to curbing border crossings, it’s difficult to imagine that anyone would feel comfortable with endorsing or enacting the policy when forced to reckon with the actual realities of ripping children from the arms of their parents and placing them in cages – but that’s how politics works. People make and act on decisions without fully having to come to terms with the consequences of their actions. Critical health services can be slashed and welfare payments cut but the lawmakers in charge won’t have to see the people languishing in poverty or suffering due to untreated illness. In this instance, Republican policymakers can sign off on this while being completely insulated from the horrific experience of a mother and father having their five-year-old taken away from them by border agents.
This is something political organising group American Bridge is attempting to address with a very specific protest: blasting recordings of children in detention centres crying for their mothers and fathers outside a Trump hotel playing host to a Republican fundraiser.
Heads up: the audio is pretty confronting.
We’re here at the Trump Hotel playing the @ProPublica audio of child migrants being separated from their parents. https://t.co/9x6rXdbs1I
— American Bridge 21st Century (@American_Bridge) June 19, 2018
The recording, obtained by Pro Publica, contains the sounds of ten Central American children who had been separated from their parents last week crying out for their mothers and fathers as a Border Patrol agent jokes about how they have an “orchestra here” and just need a “conductor.” It is completely fucked.
The recording was played outside as a number of high-level Republicans arrived at the Trump International Hotel in DC for the fundraiser. The Hill is reporting that reporters saw former White House communications director Sean Spicer and Trump’s oafish son Donald Trump Jr enter the event. Trump himself was reportedly also in attendance at the event.
