I found a series of tweets from a journalist who was the first to gain access to one of the buildings where unaccompanied minors are being held. But his complaints illustrate the facile outrage that makes these people look like their complaints seem ridiculous.
This shelter, Casa Padre, is the largest licensed childcare facility of its kind in the country. Nearly 1,500 boys 10-17 in here now. They’re supposed to sleep four to room. Nearly every room has 5. They’ve received a variance from the state because of overcrowding.
— Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) June 13, 2018
The People for Bernie Sanders said that if these conditions happened anywhere else it would be called an internment camp. But these internment camps sound like a vacation compared to places I stayed in during my military career. The first complaint says that five people sleep in a room designed for four. Anybody who has ever slept on a roll-out bed at a motel, or on the couch at a friend’s house has experienced this. A five-to-four ratio is rather benign.
It was pointed out to me that temperatures are already in the triple-digits in Tornillo, Texas — where the Trump administration will build its first tent city for migrant kids.
Here’s our exclusive @NBCNews report — with @ckubeNBC and @JuliaEAinsley. https://t.co/0kqNXcBqH7
— Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) June 14, 2018
Another complaint is that the children have to live in tent cities in areas where the temperatures can climb to well above 100 degrees. I’ve had my air conditioning break down while living in Las Vegas, and nobody from the government came and provided me with help. As a Marine, I trained along with many others to defend my country in the scorching desert. From a practical standpoint, most of the areas in which migrants who enter the country are from are not vacation zones with nice weather. If they want to be housed in a nice climate they should illegally immigrate to Bermuda.
Moments after we walked in a shelter employee asked us to smile at hundreds of detained migrant kids in line for a meal because “they feel like animals in a cage being looked at.”
— Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) June 13, 2018
According to personnel at the facility, the children don’t like being looked at by reporters. The exact verbiage was, “they feel like animals.” I don’t like cameras either, which is one reason why I’m a writer and not a movie star. The reporter goes on to say that the “former Walmart” is aesthetically unpleasing and the children there only get two hours of outside time a day. In every military installation I’ve ever visited, my barracks were rather underwhelming, old, in need of a paint job, and probably had asbestos (I tried not to think about that one); and during boot camp I only got an hour of free time.
Kids here get only two hours a day to be outside in fresh air.
One hour of structured time.
One hour of free time.
The rest of the day is spent inside a former Wal Mart.
— Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) June 13, 2018
But even after that, these children are provided with free room and board plus health care from the greatest country on Earth. I’m a hard-working citizen and I don’t get those things for free. In fact, due to the genius of Obamacare, healthcare is now more expensive than ever.
It’s sad that children are separated from their parents. But the outrage seems less than sincere and joins the story halfway through. The beginning of the story is that parents choose to put their children in a position where they could be separated, leave their country for often specious reasons, bypass safe areas that could be a good new home, and instead come to the country that explicitly tells them they will be separated if they do. In spite of all that, when they come here, they get housing, food, and healthcare provided for them.
Everybody cares about children, but when they are strapped to the hood of politicians trying to ram Trump it is very unseemly. I want to see a world where children are kept safe with their parents, and there is no need to flee their countries in the first place. Instead of attacking Trump and severely exaggerating the nature of these camps, every American should be working to help solve the root problems of giving potential refugees and asylum seekers an alternative that lets them stay in their home countries.
