Damning twitter thread gives LIE to Trump admin's claims about kidnapping kids being a "Dem" policy:

[CousinIT]

Original Twitter thread:

Link to tweet

URNROLLED version: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1008580714353348609.html

So I keep seeing people buying into the administrations bullshit that this is an old “law” that needs to be fixed. First off it is not and never has been a law: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/may/29/donald-trump/trump-blames-democrat-own-policy-separating-family/

Second off @TheJusticeDept announced the policy change referring all improper entry cases to DOJ: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-announces-zero-tolerance-policy-criminal-illegal-entry

By the way Improper Entry is a misdemeanor with civil penalties: 8 U.S. Code § 1325 - Improper entry by alien: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1325

The @TheJusticeDept itself even argued in a lawsuit brought by the @ACLU the splitting of families is discretionary:

Link to tweet

Here is @KellyannePolls admitting it’s an @realDonaldTrump policy: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-immigration-family-separation-20180617-story.html

.@jeffsessions is trying to use the Bible to defend it: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/bible-verse-jeff-sessions-used-defend-immigration-crackdown-once-also-ncna883676

Stephen Miller was behind it: https://www.rawstory.com/2018/06/trump-aide-stephen-miller-brags-policy-ripping-immigrant-kids-away-parents-simple-decision/

And possibly the most infuriating of any of the examples I have in this tweer @SecNielsen denies the policy everyone else is talking about and trying to defend even exists, a bold faced lie:

Link to tweet

Children are put in cages and traumatized: https://www.apnews.com/9794de32d39d4c6f89fbefaea3780769

Children are attempting suicide because of this policy:

'Prison-like' migrant youth shelter is understaffed, unequipped for Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy, insider says
A rare inside look inside the Southwest Key shelters where migrant children are sent after they're separated from their parents at the border under Trump's new "zero tolerance" policy.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-migrant-shelter-20180614-story.html

Children are being psychologically tortured by this policy:
Doctors Concerned About 'Irreparable Harm' To Separated Migrant Children
One pediatrician says the staff at a shelter facility told her that federal regulations prevented them from touching or holding a crying child to soothe her. The shelter says there's no such rule.
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/15/620254326/doctors-warn-about-dangers-of-child-separations

This is an @realDonaldTrump @jeffsessions policy and theirs alone. The @GOP is complicit and refuses to do a god damn thing. Trump tries to blame the @TheDemocrats and say it’s on them to fix, it isn’t. It’s on him and the @GOP as they hold the majority.

The only reason he’s doing this is he’s using the torture of children to blackmail the Democrats into giving him $ for the wall. This is what Nazis started with. This is a crime against humanity. This is the @realDonaldTrump administration in action.

[quickesst]

1. This is how stupid Republicans are

If As trump says the blame goes to the Democrats for making this policy which republicans support, shouldn't republicans be singing the praises of the Democrats, and showing some anger toward trump for declaring how much he hates the law? That is how stupid and willfully ignorant they are. They are devoid of common sense and logic.

[pangaia]

2. It USED to boggle the mind. No more, eh...

[quickesst]

8. Yep

Stupid has become the norm.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. RepubliConned are conned by the RepubliConners. None have joined Feinstein's Senate bill. . . nt

[forgotmylogin]

3. I'm tired of fighting this on Twitter.

One thing that's confusing is they say "This is Obama's Policy they're just following existing law."

This is technically true though it's not Obama's original policy: "...The law addressing unaccompanied children was passed overwhelmingly in 2008 and signed by George W. Bush, while the restriction on detaining families is a result of federal litigation."
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/11/17443198/children-immigrant-families-separated-parents

At my workplace, there's a term "tightening the screws" whenever management decides they have too many people on the payroll. They don't have to single out people to fire - instead they just stop being forgiving with the attendance policy and other things and anyone whose record isn't in order ends up falling victim to "tight screws".

This is how Trump is exploiting existing law. He's "tightened the screws" that have been left loose, creating this crisis to manufacture leverage for funding for his Big Beautiful Wall With His Name On It Stretching Coast to Coast.

A Twitter post apparently showed similar "cage/children in detention" images that I'm inferring Breitbart used to smear Obama in 2014:

Link to tweet

As much as it's cathartic to finger point, rather than going "No, this is a BUSH policy," this type of "you did it/no YOU did it" ultimately wastes time; it was wrong then and is still wrong now and Congress can fix this on their own without needing to cave to Trump's emotional blackmail and letting his "screw twiddling" work to his advantage.

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[notdarkyet]

5. If all this is over the wall, why don't the repubs pay for it? The have the votes. For some

Reason they want to pin it on dems, maybe cause they already blew A ton this year.

[msongs]

7. everything on twitter is true. nt