Democrats are Responsible for Trump’s Immigration Policy myth


Trump Blames Democrats For His Policy / There is no Law Requiring Families to Be Separated

President Trump has claimed that Democrats are responsible for his administration’s policy of separating migrant families apprehended at the border. However, this is mostly false, as existing laws were passed by both parties, weren’t commonly enforced to their full extent in the past, and don’t actually require families to be separated.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

In short, although there is existing immigration policy from prior years, for example from 1997 when Clinton was in office (there was also rules passed under Bush and Obama), existing legislation doesn’t actually require separation and previous rules did not effectively require criminal prosecution of anyone crossing the boarder illegally.

The existing rules simply define the process for how separation works when it is required. There is no law that requires families to be separated (thus Democrats did not pass such a law).

Meanwhile, Trump’s administration are the ones who created new strict rules that, along with repealing Obama era rules, have resulted in more families being separated (this is specifically the part that is not logical to blame on Democrats).

The reality is it was Trump’s administration who enacted the current “zero tolerance” policy that has been resulting in an increased number of families being separated (about 17% of children in facilities are there from the newly enacted zero tolerance policy as of late June according to DHS).

That policy has “zero tolerance” for those crossing the boarder, even if they have kids, and detains any adult entering the country in a Federal facility while they await criminal prosecution.

This is different than under the Obama administration, as the Obama administration had been fast tracking families together and had enacted policies like the Family Case Management program for asylum seekers which Trump repealed by executive order.

The main problem, the one that is leading to family separation, is that children cannot be kept in the detention centers adults are being sent to for criminal prosecution due to the zero tolerance policy, and are thus they are being kept in a series of separate facilities for children (that is the sort of stuff that the Clinton era rule dealt with… things like how to humanely treat children who are separated).

Thus, due Trump’s zero tolerance policy in tandem with other policy changes AND the existing rules (some passed by Democrats), families are being separated.

However, the changes which Trump has been criticized for are mostly a result of new Trump administration policies and not existing rules passed by Democrats.

NOTE: Trump could be insinuating that the current family separation is a result of Democrats not rallying to pass Republican immigration policy in Congress (in fact some of his comments do seem to be in reference to this, he has criticized Democrats more than once regarding immigration in response to the outcry over family separation; see the citations below for some examples). The situation in Congress is messy. Both sides have put forward immigration bills. The Democrats bill, which does not contain a wall, won’t be entertained by the majority party in Congress (the Republicans), and the Republicans can’t agree on an immigration bill (and even if they did, Democrats have strict criteria of what they will back). Thus a lot of Trump’s agenda is stuck in Congress… and he may be blaming Democrats for that. His language is a bit confusing honestly. Still, even from that frame, this isn’t the fault of Democrats any more than Obamacare is “the fault” of Republicans.

Some Things Aren’t That Different Though

That said, a lot of what is going on is the same under Trump’s administration and past administrations and is sometimes presented in a confusing way.

For one, when there was an influx of children who needed to be processed in past years they would have to construct make-shift facilities. These can be partly built out of chain link fence. The current influx may be happening due to the new Trump administration policies (where in the Obama years it happened due to an influx of asylum seekers), but regardless that sort of process hasn’t changed.

Thus, although parts of the process and the way centers are run mostly the same as in the past, the zero tolerance policy alongside the cancellation of Obama era policies has led to more families separated, including those who would not have been in the past… and that is the main difference and also the reasoning why Democrats cannot be blamed for Trump’s immigration policy.

Meanwhile, this is all something Trump can change with a stroke of a pen or Congress with a vote (and in fact Trump signed an executive order to keep families together since this article was written).

Why Did Policies Get Changed, Who Changed Them, and Why?

Like many things that happened under the administration the new policies are a result of executive orders and executive and judicial branches of government. Specifically Trump’s orders and rule changes by the Department of Justice under Jeff Sessions.

The goal is the same as the wall, DACA repeal, and “Travel Ban” essentially. In each instance it is meant to 1. reform the immigration system, and 2. to show strength [for lack of a better term] and act as a deterrent. The idea being that Trump and the GOP believe that we need strengthen our immigration policy and deter certain types of immigration.

Jeff Sessions says, for example [paraphrasing], that the measure is meant as a deterrent and others in the administration like Kirstjen Nielsen have pointed out this only applies to those entering the country and not those seeking asylum (although that is its own complex issue as there aren’t many immigrants being offered  asylum or given a chance to seek asylum currently and some are reporting asylum seekers being separated too).

No One Actually Disagrees With What I am Saying

All that covered, If you really listen to what officials and serious reporters are saying, no one denies what I’ve said above [put aside any slight inaccuracies in the way I’ve presented the information, in general what I’m saying is correct].

In a way, a lot of what is really happening is some talking heads and politicians are twisting the truth and confusing everyone in the name of politics. Trump is using very confusing language, like where he blames Democrats for the current situation with immigration, and the media is reporting “children in cages” (where this is perhaps the weakest point given the similarities between overflow centers in Trump’s years and Obama’s and given the fact that a chain link fence is not really “a cage”).

Why Are We Arguing About Non-Facts When There are Facts to Discuss?

The focus on emotional issues and half truths rather than the whole truth is likely because our ongoing immigration issues and how Trump’s rules augment the current rules is complex and nuanced (while pictures of children in cages and blaming “Trump” or “Obama” is simple).

In short, it’s true that you would find children separated from their families or in federal facilities in the past and that Democrats helped to craft rules for how that works when it was needed, but Trump and his administration’s zero tolerance policy have replaced the fast tracking and keeping families together with a strict policy that is breaking up families in an effort to instil fear in anyone who considers entering the country illegally.

Some Proofs

Moving on. Below are just a few excerpts that help back up my above claims and better frame things.

First, here is Trump making the misleading claim (it isn’t a flat out lie, because you can read it to mean that his policy is the fault of the existing law and the fact Democrats won’t support his immigration policy in Congress specifically… tricky):

Separating families at the Border is the fault of bad legislation passed by the Democrats. Border Security laws should be changed but the Dems can’t get their act together! Started the Wall.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2018

Now, consider the following excerpt from the New York Times:

In fact, there is no law that requires families to be separated at the border. There is a law against “improper entry” at the border, as well as a consent decree known as the Flores settlement that limits to 20 days the amount of time that migrant children may be held in immigration detention, which a federal judge ruled in 2016 also applies to families. A 2008 anti-trafficking statute — signed into law by a Republican president, George W. Bush — also requires that certain unaccompanied alien minors be transferred out of immigration detention in 72 hours. None of those laws or precedents mean that children must be taken away from their parents.

It is the Trump administration’s decision this year to prosecute all unlawful immigrants as criminals that has forced the breakup of families; the children are removed when the parents are taken into federal custody. While previous administrations have made exceptions to such prosecutions for adults traveling with their minor children, the Trump administration has said it will not do so.

Now, consider the excerpt from Fox News:

There is no law that dictates children must be separated from their parents when caught crossing into the country illegally, and there was a time when ICE policy didn’t call for detaining all families.

There are, however, laws against entering the U.S. illegally, and a decree regarding how long children can be held in immigration detention. A 2008 anti-trafficking statute dictates that certain minors must be taken out of immigration detention within 72 hours.

Now, although some may scoff at this, I think it is well written, so consider this excerpt from Snopes:

The rumors correctly suggested that “family detention” as a whole came before the Trump administration, but as of August 2015 intact families at the border were rarely separated. Other iterations of the rumor held that the Obama administration separated  more children from their parents than the Trump administration, a claim stemming from an inaccurate retelling of the fact that an influx of unaccompanied minors from Latin America crossed the border in from 2014 onward. In those instances, minor children primarily traveled without their parents.

Claims that the “law to separate families” was passed in 1997, those claims originated with a February 2018 Department of Homeland Security statement referencing “[l]egal loopholes [that] are exploited by minors, family units, and human smugglers.” The DHS statement claimed existing immigration policies “create a pull factor that invites more illegal immigration and encourages parents to pay and entrust their children to criminal organizations.”

In Conclusion

In short, there is only one truth and responsible reporting from both sides and officials agree on it (meanwhile, Trump and some other politicians dance around it without denying it)… However, when it comes to spin, there has been massive confusion created by those who are trying to make political points (the President included on this one).

The misleading language on the right [according to some Democrats] is meant to put pressure on Democrats to pass Trump’s version of immigration reform and take heat off of his administration’s policy changes.

Meanwhile, the misleading language on the left [according to some Republicans] is meant to create an emotional issue and to take attention off the fact that Democrats won’t support Trump’s immigration agenda (and to take attention off the fact that parts of the current system were voted on and enforced by Democrats in the past).

Lastly, it is important to note that both parties have immigration bills in the Senate, but Democrat’s bills won’t be considered by the Republican controlled Senate and the Republicans can’t agree on a bill. Meanwhile Trump’s agenda, which requires Congress to act, isn’t getting passed… and that is largely what he is upset about (which is why, like with ObamaCare, he is trying the blame it on Democrats tactic).

If you want the full story, you can check out the citations below. The main point of this page is to clear up the general talking points going around that on the right claim Trump is fully and clearly telling the truth (he is at best being misleading about essentially everything he has said on this issue) and on the left that claim Democrats had no part in the existing policy or never separated families (that isn’t true, existing policy comes from both parties and although it was uncommon families were separated in the past).

Article Citations
  1. White House falsely insists Democrats to blame for family separations, even as some in GOP urge Trump to reverse course. WashingtonPost.com.
  2. Fact Sheet: Zero-Tolerance Prosecution and Family Reunification. Dhs.gov.
  3. Trump Again Falsely Blames Democrats for His Separation Tactic. NyTimes.com.
  4. What Trump’s ‘zero-tolerance’ immigration policy means for children separated from families at border. FoxNews.com.
  5. Was the ‘Law to Separate Families’ Passed in 1997 or ‘by Democrats’? Snopes.com.
  6. Trump Has Lied And Twisted Facts To Justify His Harsh Immigration Policies. HuffingtonPost.com.
Conclusion

Trump is at best being misleading when he says he is enforcing a law written by Democrats (above) and Tweets “Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S. Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go with it and we MUST continue building the WALL! DEMOCRATS ARE PROTECTING MS-13 THUGS.”

It isn’t that he is flat out lying, it is that he is framing the truth in a very confusing way that is not getting translated to people properly and thus is causing massive confusion.

The simple truth is that while past laws have both parties to blame (as our national immigration policy isn’t one law, it is a collection of policy changes throughout the years) Democrats are currently upset about the new zero tolerance policy and other Trump immigration planks (like the wall and “ban”) and Trump is upset that Democrats won’t support his immigration agenda. Trump is then twisting the fact that they wont’ support his agenda by blaming Democrats for his current zero tolerance policy as “he wouldn’t have to do that if they would just pass his agenda.”



The problem here is that while the quality reporting of the left and right is getting the story right, there are a lot of opinions and rhetoric, including from the President, which has confused many on social media.


Author: Thomas DeMichele

Thomas DeMichele is the content creator behind ObamaCareFacts.com, FactMyth.com, CryptocurrencyFacts.com, and other DogMediaSolutions.com and Massive Dog properties. He also contributes to MakerDAO and other cryptocurrency-based projects. Tom's focus in all...

Leave a comment

Your Vote: Click Your Vote

We'll never share your email with anyone else.

Jay Sigal Supports this as a Fact.

While I am not certain that all that I have read here is the “truth”, I certainly believe that the sources used to validate these claims, i.e., WAPO, NYTIMES, SNOPES, & HUFFPO as listed in the “Citations” are all seated squarely on the left, and in many cases on the far left. The single exception here is the FOX network, and over the years, I have come to believe that they too have slid off to the left and as a result have become untrustworthy by half.

While I speak for no one but myself, I have to believe that I am not out on a limb with this (Fox) observation.

To suggest that President Trump has initiated the use of political spin to further his policy intentions does not constitute any deep revelation, nor even a hint of deep newsworthy insight. Spin, or being “misleading” is part and parcel of the game of politics and employed every moment of every day in the life of every politician down to the level of local school board members. Therefore what you’ve presented here to decry the president for doing is in itself spin.

The facts in the matter of immigration policy and the manner in which that issue is implemented in this country has become fractured over the years. As I see it, the lack of integrity with which the Democrat leadership has operated consistently since pulling the rug out from their agreement(s), specifically the “no amnesty” agreement with President Reagan, et al, since ’82 has done nothing but weaken the sovereignty of the United States.

It has worsened in each succeeding administration. Strengthening the ranks of potential democrat voters by weakening our sovereignty is simply not the answer. A stringent immigration policy is a necessary and correct response to a present threat to all U.S. citizens on two fronts. First the economics of that practice are unjustly taking more and more tax-payer dollars, and secondly, the undeniable criminal element sliding freely into the country alongside those seeking a better life. Many of whom have often been deported multiple times only to return to continue their pursuits to the detriment of the country.

Of course, the Democrats have done so with the intention of swelling their likely voter base as a result of such policy. That result engenders an automated allegiance by virtue of the fact that they’ve not only been allowed entrance illegally, but that allowance brings with it the implicit promise and satisfaction of immediate if somewhat limited (and growing) funding, healthcare, drivers licenses, voting rights, etc., etc. for doing so. And in the majority of cases that has proven to be true, including the expectation of their vote when exercised. Which is the “quid pro quo” here.

Certainly it is clear, and proudly held that I am firmly seated on the political right. I have been for 60 years. It is also without reservation that I have stridently supported and spoken out on behalf of President Trump and his approach to governance, and the successes his administration managed to create over the past four years. I will continue to do so while praying that he wields considerable influence over the GOP as well as his base of 75M voters across the country.

Therefore, when it comes to your concluding assertion that President Trump has been “misleading”, since when has that ever not been the case under any administration? Have you listened to anything the current administration has stated since their takeover of the White House. Clearly, “being misleading” as an activity hasn’t come to an abrupt halt in any way. Nor shall it ever.

Reply
John Wells Supports this as a Fact.

That is true, Trump never said democrats passed a law requiring families to be separated. Democrats set a precedent by separating families.

Reply
Kira Supports this as a Fact.

I appreciate both the authors and the two commentators level headedness in the discussion. Albeit from different sides of the aisle. I wish common discourse was this civil. That being said, I think your view on the issue can be summed up by two sentences (one from each side).

PRO TRUMP:
“Trump wants jobs brought back to USA . Trump only President in my life to not sell out the poor and low middle class . everybody else just wanted to put them on food stamps and disability”

ANTI TRUMP:
“Especially the poor, they are for sure better off under the liberals and progressives in my opinion due to the assistance programs that group advocates for.”

The first commentator doesn’t want to be put on food stamps and disability and wants a job instead. The second commentator thinks the poor would be better off under liberals and progressives thanks to the assistance programs they advocate for.

Ultimately, it comes down to whether you would rather give a man unlimited meals for life (as well as their children, and their children’s children), or teach them how to fish.

Reply
Rich Swells Supports this as a Fact.

Socialist party wanted open borders for more votes and to get more people sucked into the mother nipple of government (Liberals)

the capitalists centrists (republicans) want open border for cheaper labor

Trump wants jobs for Americans not China India Africa Europe he wants at the very least equal trade laws and an equal trade balance

Our trade balance has been we buy their stuff they don’t buy ours . we ship low end jobs over seas because of minimal lawsuits and lower wages

Trump wants jobs brought back to USA . Trump only President in my life to not sell out the poor and low middle class . everybody else just wanted to put them on food stamps and disability

Reply