Methinks the children alone and terrified in his immigration tent cities will humble Trump bigtime

https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies

1. David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
   

Replying to @DavidRayAmos @FloryGoncalves and 49 others

Ray Stas "Separating children from parents (good parents) is evil" I wholeheartedly agree. Methinks everybody knows I published my opinion this out of the gate N'esy Pas?

http://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2018/06/methinks-children-alone-and-terrified.html



#nbpoli #TrudeauMustGo #cdnpoli #FBICorruption #rcmpns



http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/trump-border-families-1.4714860 

Read this if you think the media covered Trump's migrant crisis unfairly: Robyn Urback

I don't think you hate children or relish the thought of kindergartners sleeping under foil blankets

Robyn Urback · CBC News · Posted: Jun 21, 2018 9:00 AM ET

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to end his administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border. If everybody would have put partisanship to the side sooner, many kids might have been spared unnecessary trauma. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)


 

1538 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.

 
Ray Stas

Separating children from parents (good parents) is evil on so many levels that I am flummoxed by anybody who argues otherwise.

David Amos

@Ray Stas "Separating children from parents (good parents) is evil"
I wholeheartedly agree. Methinks everybody knows I published my opinion this out of the gate N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Sim Sim Kumar "applying for asylum is not illegal"

I agree

Jaymie Pastoor

@David Amos in is if you don't do it at a point of entry

David Amos

@Jaymie Pastoor Whats your point?

 
Dennis Brady

Trump has provide two important lessons to the world.

1. Shown that racism and bigotry is spread deep and wide through American society.

2. Confirmed that support for conservative ideology relies on hate, fear and compassion deficiency.

Scott Brown

@Dennis Brady,

Here is another take on this:

"If a man is not a Liberal at 20 be has no heart, but if he remains one at 30 he has no head."

David Amos

@Scott Brown Methinks I have heard right wingnut claim that so many times it causes me to ponder as to why they have turned it into a hymn for the GOP by now N'esy Pas?

 
Dwight Williams
This is a good column, but it misses one fundamental mark: Since this is all happening remotely from the majority of people who are talking about this on social media, and since the people who hold various political ideologies have a well-established variance in their level of empathy and compassion (as SHOWN by multiple psychological studies), it is a mistake to think that everyone involved in this debate would agree that the welfare of the kids comes first.

There are no shortage of people, and we all know who they support, who don't give a fig about the welfare of the kids.

David Amos

@Mark Mealing "Are 'all Republicans generally' speaking out against Trump's beastliness?"

Methinks there is confusion in the ranks now that their fearless leader blinked because the First Lady, her lawyer and the Pope did not approve of his latest game N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.4712417/melania-trump-s-immigration-lawyer-compares-family-separations-to-nazi-germany-1.4712428

 
Neil Austen

Trump is just an ugly human being and he is turning America into an ugly nation.

David Amos 

@Neil Austen This is just a circus brought to you by the latest ringmaster in the US Congress and the corporate media controlled by the left wingnuts. In my humble opinion at least the Yankees got rid of the Clintons and many of their malevolent deep state connections. The world can easily see "The Donald" for what he is. As long as he does not start another war or an economic collapse things should boil down just fine.

Methinks folks on both sides of the 49th and the rest of the world should be very wary of the clown in charge of the congressional circus being replaced by the very strange Mr Pence. That dude is not even remotely funny. Everybody knows the GOP does not respect Trump and never did and that Pence is their main man waiting in the West Wing to take command of the circus if and or when Trump makes a major faux pas N'esy Pas?

 

Joseph Adams

I wonder what Canadians who thought Donald Trump would be "Good for Canada" are thinking now.

Scott Brown

@Joseph Adams,

Let's try to imaging Trump policies if elected in Canada:

- kill carbon taxes
- kill gender-based posturing and hiring
- reduce business taxes and red tape
- close loop holes for illegal crossing from US into Canada
- worked on renegotiating trade agreements to Canada's advantage
- build pipelines

Would it benefit or hurt Canada, what do you think?

David Amos

@Scott Brown Methinks folks may be interested in what I said about such topics during the election of the 42nd Parliament a whole year before the Yankees elected Trump N'esy Pas?

Survey Says?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cFOKT6TlSE

 

Gary McGarry

America has lost what little heart it had and will be a long time finding it again after Trump and the GOP are done.

David Amos

@Gary McGarry "America has lost what little heart it had"

Methinks Mr Prime Minister Trudeau "The Younger' should remind you not to lose your faith in peoplekind N'esy Pas?

  

Kathy Altenhofen

Trump is only interested in making political points, for the 1/3 of Americans who actually support his retro policies. He doesn't care who he uses along the way.

@Kathy Altenhofen

David Amos 

 @Kathy Altenhofen Methinks the rate that he changes his mind on any topic dictates that Trump has no clue what he is doing for one day to the next. It appears to me that he is just reacting to events and trying to stick to the plan of cutting taxation promoting business for his pals, supporting buddy BiBi bigtime while not offending the Saudis and all at the expense of the decent relations with the Iranians, Syrians, Russians and Chinese. However we really should pity the poor immigrants just like Bob Dylan sung about in my younger days N'esy Pas?

 

Cameron Kernick

Another excellent piece from Robyn Urback. Unfortunately trying to reach into a world divorced from reality, facts or as we saw leading up to the reversal, one devoid of morals, compassion or empathy is pretty much a waste of time. That world regurgitates the party line ad infinitum, puts in some 'whatabouts', blames the media, makes sure to keep the intelligence level low, has a handful of short quips on hand and posts with evangelical delusion. There is no reasoning with the unreasonable.

David Amos

@Cameron Kernick "Another excellent piece from Robyn Urback"

Methinks not all would agree N'esy Pas?

Lou Parks

@David Amos

What's that "N'esy Pas" nonsense?
Have you tried to explain it yet?
It irritates people, does it not?

David Amos

@Lou Parks Trust that I grown weary of explaining it Methinks that even you must have figured out by now that you have worn out the silly lament about two words N'esy Pas?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-separation-policy-criticism-1.4713950

Trump signs executive order to keep families together at border

'The border is just as tough, but we do want to keep families together,' president says

The Associated Press · Posted: Jun 20, 2018 11:58 AM ET

4886 Comments 
Commenting is now closed for this story.

Page is closed to commenting.
David Amos
Methinks folks who truly care about the questionable actions of Trump should Google something ASAP N'esy Pas?

Try this

Trump Cohen NAFTA FATCA TPP David Amos

 

Sean Pendragon

Oh look, another executive order.
Remember when he used to decry this. ahhahahaaa

David Amos

@Sean Pendragon Methinks a lot of folks have got to love the circus as much as I do N'esy Pas?

Michael Murphy

@Colby Nug Aww if only the GOP had a majority in both houses, they wouldn't need Democrats

What, they do?

Total failures

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David Amos

@Michael Murphy Methinks you fake left dues are having a hard time making your comments stand the test of time today EH? Well turnabout is fair play N'esy Pas?

Matt Thuaii

@David Amos

No one with any sense is entertained by what’s currently going on in the United States, or in the rest of the world for that matter.

Sasquatch?

 

Lou Bell

How can anyone even look at anyone in Trumps mafia and think anything but what a bunch of self serving , narcissistic, ignorant o a fs who haven't the decency or common sense to make a rational decision for anyone ????

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moe Benn

@Lou Bell

Wow

The way you write you sound a lot like Trump

Gia Adams

@Michael Murphy

You're making me laugh way too hard. Thanks. :>D

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David Amos

@moe Benn Methinks a lot of people do N'esy Pas Lou?

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David Amos

@Gia Adams Methinks it must have been pretty funny because we can't see his comment anymore N'esy Pas?

 
Igor Nordham

America is becoming a third world nation.

Jason Tremblay (JasonDiggy)

@Igor Nordham

That's because they elected a third-world tinpot dictator as President.

David Amos

@Jason Tremblay (JasonDiggy) "That's because they elected a third-world tinpot dictator as President."

Methinks if the planet keeps getting warmer you can call the USA a Banana Republic soon N'esy Pas?

George Hobbs

@David Amos Eh?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/canada-detention-children-united-states-1.4709632

Canada also detains migrant children, sometimes for months at a time

McGill study finds 'psychiatric and academic difficulties long after detention'

Benjamin Shingler · CBC News · Posted: Jun 20, 2018 4:00 AM ET

2207 Comments 
Commenting is now closed for this story.

 
Alice P Lynne

This is a country governed by laws. There are rules, as in *most* countries, when it comes to immigration. Follow them, all is OK. Try to jump que and it is not OK.

David Amos

@Alice P Lynne This is a country governed by laws.

Methinks it would be a wonderful world if the laws were not selectively enforced N'esy Pas?

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David Amos

@david mccaig Methinks nobody should be surprised to see you smother the comments sections again today N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Alice P Lynne Methinks a lot of folks have got to love the circus as much as I do now that the worm has turned N'esy Pas?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-separation-policy-criticism-1.4713950

David Amos

@Allan Campbell "There are coming from countries in disarray because of u s meddling. Get informed."

Methinks one would be hard pressed to find a country that the USA and "TheDonald Mr Universe Trump" has not meddled with N'esy Pas?

 
Gerry Ferguson

Hey, if you don't want your children separated from you stop sneaking across the border at illegal areas Use a port of entry and do it the right way.

David Amos

@Gerry Ferguson Methinks you should check my work At the very least the Minister of Immigration would have to admit that I am not shy N'esy Pas?

Roy T. Gilroy

@David Amos Why N'esy Pas? What does it mean? It doesn't make sense.

Lou Parks

@david mccaig

David, you are ramming into us *half truths* only.
The full truth includes details on *which* families
are split up, the reasons why, and that Canada does it too.

David Amos

@Lou Parks Methinks you tell that to all the guys named David N'esy Pas?

Lorne Allen

There are approximately 67,000 children in foster care in Canada compared to these 151 detained. This is a nothing story, it is obvious there would have to be some children separated from parents who are sick, criminal, violent, abusive, drug addicted, incompetent or otherwise unfit or unable to care for their children according to the minimum standard required in Canada. Canada should be boasting about what a small number the 151 is.

David Amos

@Lorne Allen Methinks some folks would agree that if just one child is falsely imprisoned that is one child too many N'esy Pas?
 

Karen King

@Erik Duchene

of course newbie WB

David Amos

@Karen King "he's gotta be a WB as none of his posts contribute anything ever"

Methinks that to you everybody is a WB (whatever that is) However you don't contribute much about anything except insults N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Roy T. Gilroy "Why N'esy Pas? What does it mean? It doesn't make sense."

Methinks your friend Karen King can explain it to you N'esy Pas?

  
Steve Sax

Light bulb moment!!!

Don’t try to sneak in to a country illegally and you won’t get incarcerated.

David Amos

@Steve Sax Methinks the First Nations folks should have considered that when ol Chris Columbus landed on their shores, locked him up immediately and sunk his boats N'esy Pas?

Doug Lake

@David Amos You cannot just make up immigration rules now for something that happened hundreds of years ago.
Wow, talk about grasping at straws.
 

Doug Lake

@David Amos Yeah just like all living Caucasian people had something to do with slavery and should prosecuted and bullied for it now days. How political correct is that?

David Amos

@Doug Lake "You cannot just make up immigration rules"

Says who you?

Methinks you should ask the Minister of Immigration what happened between his office and I in 2006 N'esy Pas?

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David Amos

@Doug Lake "How political correct is that?"

Methinks there are lots of Caucasian men still alive today who were members of the RCMP that took far too many children from the arms of many a First Nation Mothers N'esy Pas?

Roy T. Gilroy

@David Amos Methinks your post make no sense, agree?

Karen King

@Roy T. Gilroy

he's gotta be a WB as none of his posts contribute anything ever

David Amos

@Roy T. Gilroy Methinks before you attempt to argue me or insult me some more you should Google something ASAP N'esy Pas?

Try this

Trump Cohen NAFTA FATCA TPP David Amos

Travis Ladwin

@David Amos

Hey David, it isn't 2006 anymore, it isn't 1980 anymore, and it isn't 1942 anymore. Enough with your passive aggressive racism and bigotry.

Lou Parks
@david mccaig

Your obsession with peddling half-truths has no bottom, David

David Amos

@Travis Ladwin Methinks its too bad that you could not have read my reply to Doug Lake before you insulted me Perhaps you can check my blog someday if you Google your name and mine N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Lou Parks "Your obsession with peddling half-truths has no bottom, David"

True

David Amos

@Travis Ladwin Methinks if you had Googled the following you would have seen that I am up to date N'esy Pas?

Trump Cohen NAFTA FATCA TPP David Amos

David Amos

@david mccaig Methinks you should change your tune because Trump changed his N'esy Pas?

 
Martin Chasse

So lets dodge the possible separations and dont cross illegally!

Will Webster

@Martin Chasse I strongly suggest you do some research. Chances are your family came here via a not traditional and illegal means, and not through a recognized port of entry.
In the US today, people who have lived there for decades, many who were born there, are being deported for no good reason.
As for the migrants from Central America, many of them have been displaced because of economics, and many more by oppressive regimes and decades of internal strife caused, in no small part, by American expansionism and meddling in the area. These people are taking the only route open to them.

David Amos

@Will Webster Methinks you need to do some research as well N'esy Pas?

Roy T. Gilroy

@David Amos Methinks you as well, agree?

Lou Parks

@David Amos

What's up with that "N'esy Pas" thing?
Did you finally explain it?
That's quite an obsession of yours, is it not?

David Amos

@Lou Parks Methinks I have explained it way too any times already perhaps you should ask your friend "mo bennett" and several others about it N'esy Pas?

 
Maxim Verite

At the end of the day ALL of these people have entered the country illegally. Every single one of them. Sorry to be cold about this, but if you don't want to risk being separated from your family members, don't break the law, it really is as simple as that.

Sam Malone

@Maxim Verite

Exactly what Trump said. If people entered legally, their is zero need for detainment. It's why a wall is needed, to keep children safe.

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David Amos

@Sam Malone Methinks folks should download and watch the old Pink Floyd Movie entitled the "The Wall" because it is coming true N'esy Pas?

Jim Clark

Why is no one blaming the parents who put their child in this situation?

Doug Lake

@Jim Clark It is "Political Correctness" fault!

David Amos

@Doug Lake Nope methinks you know its far worse than that N'esy Pas?

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David Amos

@Doug Lake Methinks some folks may enjoy knowing that I spoke with this lawyer personally yesterday and then there are many others who will enjoy calling me a liar N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.4712417/melania-trump-s-immigration-lawyer-compares-family-separations-to-nazi-germany-1.4712428

  

Sam Malone

Where is the faux outrage from the left? Oh, right, it's not Trump.

Brian Cohen

@Sam Malone
Where is your reading comprehension??
The article makes it clear the practice is an exception, not the rule.

Oh, right, you don't read articles before posting.

David Amos

@Brian Cohen "Oh, right, you don't read articles before posting."

Methinks you don't read other people's replies before posting N'esy Pas?

Travis Ladwin

@David Amos

It must be pleasant to be this ignorant, I wish I could stoop to this low a cognitive level to just once see what life is like for people like this.

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David Amos

@Travis Ladwin Methinks that by your logic I should be grateful that I cannot rise to the level of a snobby nomind troll N'esy Pas?

David Fuller

The parents that entered the US and Canada illegally are to blame for the condition of their children in isolation

Darrel Newman

@Will Webster

You got that right!! Most commenters here are blinded by political bias

David Amos

@Darrel Newman YUP

 
Robert Heck

Here's a thought.

ENTER THROUGH A LEGAL PORT OF ENTRY AND YOU WOULDN'T FACE THIS PROBLEM.

If I come home, and you broke in and are sitting on my couch eating a sandwich, am I going to invite you to stay or am I going to call the police?

David Amos

@Robert Heck Methinks you should not wonder why your comment did not warrant a reply N'esy Pas??

Roy T. Gilroy

@David Amos Methinks you should wonder why you have one dislike, agree?

  
Billy First

I LOVE IT

The Liberals will scold Trump but say it is fine in Canafa.

Obama did the same thing but Trump enforcing the rules is bad.

The Leftist drama continues...but impacts nothing.

David Amos

@Billy First Methinks there is nothing to love about children being abused for political reasons or any other reason N'esy Pas?

 
Fred Rogers

Canada isn't perfect, but this story compares apples to bricks.
Not sure what the point of it is, or if it even has one.

David Amos

@Fred Rogers "Not sure what the point of it is, or if it even has one"

Methinks you answered yourself "Canada isn't perfect" So who are we to judge another country and its laws N'esy Pas?

 
Bob Mccown

"The U.S. is the focus of international outrage for its policy of separating children from their parents and detaining them after they cross the border in search of asylum."

According to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, the US doesn't separate asylum seekers only economic migrants who cross illegally. And I have feeling no one will be calling Trudeau an evil monster or nazi for this, so hopefully we can avoid the over the top hyperbole when it comes to Trump and act like adults.

Michael Brown

@Bob Mccown Canada only detained 151 were detained and they were with their parents. Only 11 without parents or guardians were detained, and then only for an average of 13 days. In the States, that number is closer to 2,500, and it is for months. See the difference?

David Amos

@Michael Brown Nope One is too many

 

Emmanuel Rochon

No matter how you spin it, holding migrant children hostage until you get funding for a wall, is wrong.

David Amos

@Emmanuel Rochon YUP

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/border-wall-separating-families-1.4711582

Children's distress may help Trump bargain for his border wall

It's about showing his base just how tough he can be over immigration

Keith Boag · CBC News · Posted: Jun 19, 2018 4:00 AM ET

3867 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story

 
Neil Gregory

I hope that this crime against humanity is remembered by the American people next November, and that they act accordingly.

David Amos

@Neil Gregory "I hope that this crime against humanity is remembered by the American people next November,"

Methinks the Yankees have just proven that they have no understanding of the meaning of the term "crime against humanity" N'esy Pas?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-united-nations-human-rights-1.4713021

 
Brent Grywinski

The children are bargaining chips for Trump. You think Trump can't go any lower but then he does.

David Amos

@Brent Grywinski
If anyone truly cares about the children please Google the following and tell your MP that I said Hoka Hey to Trump's lawyers.

Trump Cohen FATCA NAFTA TPP David Amos

 
Andrew Farmer

It's up to you America. Condone the abuse of children for political gain or vote in some checks and balances on the office of the president like your constitution intended. The world will be watching in November.

Rick Wier

@Valerie Mueller first of all your name is obviously fake so you should be tossed from the site, secondly everyone is tired of haters spewing bile, go find a blog where your venom will be welcomed and leave the adults to make comments

David Amos

@Rick Wier Methinks it is a Fed teasing other Feds. The RCMP and the FBI etc know that I crossed paths bigtime with Valerie Caproni when she was the General Counsel of the FBI and Bobby Mueller was its Director.

The evidence of what I say is true has been on the Internet for 15 years and in the public record of the docket of Federal Court since 2015. Logic commands that many Feds must have read it by now N'esy Pas?

 
Scott Wilson

Nazis separated me from my parents as a child. The trauma lasts a lifetime
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/18/separation-children-parents-families-us-border-trump

Valerie Mueller

@Scott Wilson Pay attention CBC, Scott here with his usual Hate Speech.

David Amos

@Valerie Mueller Methinks you should try to argue me N'esy Pas?

 
Stan Cox

There is so much spinning, twisting, cajoling, outright lye ing, manipulating, half-truth telling, dishonesty and deception in the way this president does business, it is destroying anything good about the USA and putting relations with allies at an all-time low.

If this is "making Amerika great", then I don't know what he means by 'great'.

Valerie Mueller

@Stan Cox Great means Great but a leftist like Cox here will never get it, he's on Cbc's payroll and has to push his leftist propaganda and narrative, his pension is too small.

David Amos

@Valerie Mueller Methinks a lot of folks are wondering who is paying you N'esy Pas?

 
Harold Peters

A country it not defined by one person, however it is now time for American to define itself and end this mans dominance over them...how about a never again movement.

Gregory James (Political Junkie)

@Steve Cowell

You do realize the Dems have done the exact same thing...saying the conservatives are out to destroy the country. They are all bigots and racists. etc etc.

The polarization has been caused by both sides.

David Amos

@Gregory James (Political Junkie) I agree

  






Art McCarthy (Key Bored)

45 is punch-drunk on power and the fawning of his administration and his base.

David Amos

@Art McCarthy (Key Bored) YUP

Art McCarthy (Key Bored)

Why is 45's pen so suddenly stilled?
He had no issue speedily writing not 1 but 2 bans of peoples of a certain faith from selected nations.
Those were certainly law relating to immigration. Why is he suddenly suffering debilitating writer's cramp, claiming no power to affect law, and blaming the Democrats for this current immigration crisis?

The hypocrisy and is palpable and it smells of ... cheeseburgers. And the confusion is making it worse.

David MacKinnon

@Art McCarthy (Key Bored)
seems the censors agree with you

David Amos

@David MacKinnon True

 
Layton Bennett

#AmericaAlone

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David Amos

@Layton Bennett

#ParadiseLost

http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/trump-immigration-1.4711365

This is not America? Oh, yes, it is: Neil Macdonald

Trump has sensed that his voters want ruthlessness, and he's delivering

Neil Macdonald · CBC News · Posted: Jun 18, 2018 4:56 PM ET

3847 Comments 
Commenting is now closed for this story.

 

"POOF"
Dennis Brady

The true nation of "Christian compassion" is being exposed in America.

Robert Paul

@Dennis Brady

Actually, they were a nation of heretic "Christians" who had great disdain (to put it gently) the mainstream Christians in Europe, Latin America and Canada.

Even back in the 19th Century, British Canada and Catholic Quebec saw them as weird.

The American Revolution was inspired very much by disdain for Catholic Quebec.

David Amos

@Robert Paul Methinks you read some interesting history books Most folks think such as I believe the Yankee revolt it was about taxation kinda like the Carbon Tax has upset a lot of Canadians N'esy Pas?

Robert Paul

@David Amos

Oh boy. Read "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine. It's all in there. Next, read "The Declaration of Independence" by Thomas Jefferson. Taxation without representation was one gripe, but another major one was Canada, French and Catholicism.

 
Ron Smith

Ahh, it looks like CBC’s army of true believers are out in force today.

 
David Amos

If anyone truly cares about the children this article is about please Google the following and tell your MP that I said Hoka Hey to Trump's lawyers.

Trump Cohen FATCA NAFTA TPP David Amos

 
Rudy Baker

Right on. This is not the America I grew up knowing. I used to travel there very frequently, key phrase being ‘used to’.
No more. I’ll do my business and spend my vacations right here in Canada.

Robert Paul 

 @Rudy Baker

I've always felt a certain distaste for the USA. I like some aspects of culture and technology, but overall, I'm about as interested in the USA as any other country.

Canada has always been at some odds with the USA, but we were relatively speaking a lot weaker back in time. Now we're a bit more robust vis a vis them, and we're able to assert ourselves a bit more rather than merely giving in on every point.

The USA was invading Canada even back in colonial times in the 17th Century.

Ah, if only Canadians read their own history. It's very interesting and has a lot to say about the geopolitical realities of North America!

Bill Mooney

@Rene Tremblay Sunshine and warmth in the winter and cheap junk at Walmart. We're generally a pretty shallow bunch easily tempted.

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David Amos

@Robert Paul "I've always felt a certain distaste for the USA."

Methinks I will make my Yankee children aware that they should feel more that a certain distaste towards you Perhaps this comment will do the trick N'esy Pas?

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David Amos

@Bill Mooney Methinks many Yankees are enjoying the circuses in Congress and Parliament as much as I am N'esy Pas?

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David Amos

@Robert Paul "I've always felt a certain distaste for the USA"

Methinks the Yankees feel the same towards the likes of you N'esy Pas?

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David Amos

@Rudy Baker Methinks the children alone and terrified in his immigration' tent cities will humble Trump bigtime N'esy Pas?

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Stephen George

@David Amos

"Methinks many Yankees are enjoying the circuses in Congress and Parliament as much as I am N'esy Pas?"

Speaking of circuses I hear they're looking for a clown.

@Allison Burgers MASA, Make America Sane Again

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David Amos

@Stephen George Methinks the circus ringmasters "The Donald" and "Trudeau The Younger" are doing a fine job of keeping us entertained N'esy Pas?

Trust that serious political people know I would rather have fun commenting from the peanut gallery in CBC while chucking peanuts to mindless elephants in the GOP much to the chagrin of Jackasses in the Fake Left before I run for public office again in New Brunswick this summer.

Robert Paul

@David Amos

Yup.

And learn French.

Content disabled.

David Amos

@Robert Paul Methinks you must be talking to the ghost of comments past N'esy Pas?

Jim Palmer

"As journalism professor Jay Rosen has persuasively argued, Trump is clearly winning his war against the media, an institution Trump has described as a great danger to America. Fact-checking, the essence of journalism, no longer matters much, says Rosen, because it carries no consequence. Politicians, caught lying, used to at least stop repeating the lie, even if they wouldn't admit having lied. Being a proven liar was just too uncomfortable. No longer. Trump lies easily and overwhelmingly; he couldn't give a toss about fact-checkers, and neither do his supporters. The brazen lie is now of no more consequence than serial philandering or consorting with foreign enemies who want to corrupt elections"

Wow.
America is so, so broken.

David Amos 

@Jim Palmer Methiinks it is the media that is broken particularly when their pick of the litter didn't get elected president. Trust that most folks don't care what the journalism professor Jay Rosen has to say on the topic. I bet many folks on both sides of the 49th would agree that the average Yankee is still the same person they always were and are laughing at the circus in Congress just like I am.

However we should feel empathy towards the innocent children caught up in this Yankee madness N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Mark Baker "Scary times indeed"

Methinks you should relax and see the circus for what it is N'esy Pas?

Mark Baker

@David Amos

I do not see child abuse as relaxing.

David Amos

@Mark Baker Nor I but Trump's nonsense is. Methinks the children alone and terrified in his immigration' tent cities will humble Trump bigtime N'esy Pas?

Matt Thuaii

@David Amos

The fact that you keep going on about meth, ink and the Lochness Monster should be all anyone needs to know.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my samples of amirite.

David Amos

@Matt Thuaii Methinks for the benefit of the children this article is about you would Google a few things and call your MP N'esy Pas?

If anyone cares Google the following and tell the MPs that I said Hoka Hey to Trump's lawyers.

Trump Cohen FATCA NAFTA TPP David Amos

 

Yves Marchand

The thin veneer that separates an open democracy from strong-man fascism is thin indeed. We believed ourselves impervious to the influence of megalomaniacs and those that baldly seek to impose their will through calumny and deceit. Recent events have shown how important it is to remain involve and resist / overturn such negative forces.

Rick Wier

@Yves Marchand You are correct, the veneer of civilized behavior has shattered in the USA. Donald Trump has clearly indicated that torture and abuse of children is now okay in America as long as they are refugees seeking protection. There is no mercy in the US now, abuse of others and division is just a tool to score cheap political points and blame someone else for the economy that is still failing the deplorables that voted for Trump. This is a standard tactic of repressive governments, find some weak outsider who is not able to defend themselves, blame the failings of your government on them, abuse them, and wrap yourself in the flag while doing it. The US, as Mary Gauthier sung, the USA has fallen into a poison pit that it will take forever to get out; charity, Christian or otherwise is not a value in the world of Trump.

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David Amos 

@Rick Wier "There is no mercy in the US now, abuse of others and division is just a tool to score cheap political points and blame someone else for the economy that is still failing the deplorables that voted for Trump"

HMMM

Methinks "deplorables" is an interesting word for you to employ N'esy Pas?

Lets read CBC and check the facts

2015

Canadian Frank Giustra's partnership with Clinton Foundation under scrutiny

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/canadian-frank-giustra-s-partnership-with-clinton-foundation-under-scrutiny-1.3049903

2016

Like Trudeau, Hillary Clinton promises gender parity in cabinet

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/clinton-trudeau-cabinet-1.3553840

Clinton Foundation won't accept foreign, corporate donations if Hillary is elected

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/clinton-global-initiative-president-changes-1.3727199

Hundreds of Canadian residents contributing to U.S. candidates

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-trump-clinton-u-s-election-1.3837993

2017

FACT CHECK: Is Canada Donating Taxpayer Money To The Clinton Foundation?

http://checkyourfact.com/2017/07/19/fact-check-is-canada-donating-taxpayer-money-to-the-clinton-foundation/

A recent Toronto Sun editorial criticized the Canadian government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for donating $20 million Canadian dollars to the Clinton Foundation.

Verdict: True

Canadian government filings reveal Canadian tax dollars are indeed financing a foreign health initiative by an organization under the Clinton Foundation.

David Amos

@Rick Wier "only sick people would think that is okay"

Methinks you must have read my reply to you before it went "Poof" N'esy Pas?

Yves Marchand

@Valerie Mueller That rant doesn't even make sense.

David Amos

@Yves Marchand True

 

 

Dale Sullivan

It doesn't take long for a country to become a dictatorship.

Clayton Allen

@Dale Sullivan good thing America has elections every 4 years! Or is it only a "dictatorship" when the left loses?

David Amos

@Clayton Allen "Or is it only a "dictatorship" when the left loses?"

YUP

Robert Paul

@David Amos

When the Left gets their dictators in power, they don't see them as dictators. True.

David Amos

@Robert Paul When the Left gets their dictators in power, they don't see them as dictators. True.

Methinks you know who is in charge on my native land right now N'esy Pas?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/justin-trudeau-s-foolish-china-remarks-spark-anger-1.2421351

 

Richard Sharp

America is "exceptional" all right. Exceptionally evil.

David Amos

@Richard Sharp Methinks a wiseguy long ago once advised "Judge not lest ye be judged" N'esy Pas?

Stephen George

@David Amos
"Methinks" .....something you never do.

N'est pas?

David Amos

@Stephen George Methinks folks should say the same of you if they bother to read what you are responding to N'esy Pas?

Stephen George

@David Amos

I think you are capable of understanding what I've said. Not much else, n'est pas?

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David Amos

@Stephen George Methinks I would be foolish to try to reason with a fool N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Stephen George Methinks its rather interesting that your buddies in CBC block my replies to your insults N'esy Pas?

Robert Paul

@Richard Sharp

That shining light on the hill is the same rhetoric used in North Korea, Saudi Arabia and other awful dictatorships.

I don't know why Neil thinks this empty rhetoric means anything.

Robert Paul

@Stephen George

Wow, you got the French right finally!

David Amos

@Robert Paul Wow, you got the French right finally!

Methinks that is not impressive considering his message N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Stephen George "I had the French right all along. It is Amos who keeps spelling it the "Scottish" way."

Methinks I should acknowledge the fact that you finally clued in N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@ Chris Maurier "Thats it regardless if I agree with you or not .. You will remain on permanent Mute ,, Until you get rid of that ridiculous...N'est pas and .."Methinks' ..Grade 2 much?"

Methinks an old bard or two would take issue with N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Stephen George "I'm glad you've got me muted. There's no point in talking to you anyway."

Too too funny indeed

Methinks you just joined a club of Grade 2 mutants N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Mark Baker I agree as well

 

Samuel Spade

I am always bemused by those, of the Christian Right who support Trump and advocate an America that does not embrace peace, does not forgive their enemies, does not love neighbours especially the Latin Americans, does not embrace social spending on the poor, and does not believe they have a responsibility towards “the least of their brethren.”

Clayton Allen

@Samuel Spade So what? It's all made up. If you're gonna worship your invisible friend why not pick and choose how and why. I mean you're starting with people who defy every scientific discovery in the past .... Ever!

David Amos

@Clayton Allen Good point. Methinks that every army in every war in history had some invisible friends on their side no matter what side of the dispute they were on Many times they had the same gods N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Mark Baker YUP

David Amos

@Michael Murphy Methinks most folks be they religious or not or left or right or not see nothing amusing about this issue N'esy Pas?

 

Danny Tanker

Trump is the worst President America ever elected and he is a first class monster to boot.

Lou Parks

@Danny Tanker

Very far from the truth.
Clearly, you don't know other presidents
Others have carried out illegal aggression of foreign countries,
costing hundreds of thousands of lives.
Trump *has not*

David Amos

@Lou Parks True

David Amos

@Mark Tynthof "Trump is also fueling war in the Middle East by moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem"

YUP

David Amos

@Danny Tanker What are you doing about it?

  

Jane Watson

Trump is not the problem.

He was painfully forthright about his personality and plans all through the election process and, sadly, he has been one of the most honest and consistent elected officials before and after the election.

The problem is that Trump gained and sustain enough support to get elected, and continues to sustain his authority by the collective will of the people.

The problem is the United States of America that elected Trump. Look in the mirror America for their you will see the problem.

If you bring an angry dog into your home, who is to blame for the damage?

It may not be all of America.. but Trump would not empower the dangerous demon within if the demon were not there.

Robert Paul

@Jane Watson

A good wakeup call for Canadians who often say "we" when discussing things the USA does.

Canadians who think they are Americans need their heads checked.

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David Amos

@Robert Paul Methinks the only real Americans are the First Nations folks N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Robert Paul Methinks that you and CBC are upsetting a lot of Yankees for no reason they will ever understand N'esy Pas?

Robert Paul

@David Amos

No. The Americans would find it terribly odd that so many Canadians think they are Americans.

Joe Smithson

@Jane Watson

They are both the problem

David Amos

@Joe Smithson YUP

 

Richard Sharp

It is CRAZY that this one man can so upset the world order ALL BY HIMSELF. His party, the Democratic opposition, the corporate media and Americans in the street can't muster beans worth of protests so far. He's running roughshod over everyone. The emperor has no clothes but no one has the guts or power to make the point.

Foreign leaders? Same thing. Way too polite with this monster, including our own PM.

David Amos

@Richard Sharp Methinks you should relax Never mind I am jesting because I know for a fact that you enjoy the circus as much as I You are just fishing for a debate N'esy Pas?

Stephen George

@David Amos

Good news. Check with the circus because I hear they're looking for a new clown.

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David Amos

@Stephen George Methinks you are being rather redundant even for a troll N'esy Pas?

John Smith

@Richard Sharp he's not doing by himself. He was given a mandate to do just what he's doing by the millions who voted for him. Remember just because you screech the loudest doesn't mean your the biggest group.

David Amos

@John Smith Methinks if just one soul whispered something in defense of the children being abused somebody's god should hear it. Perhaps that god would pay attention to what far too many politicians are ignoring but I ain't betting on it.

In the "mean" folks should keep screeching about the abuse of children no matter if they are the biggest group or not N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Richard Sharp Methinks I should feel honoured that your friends think I am crazy N'esy Pas?

 

Dionne Albert

Nailed it again as usual, Neil. Excellent piece. I recently visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History and was both impressed by the in-depth presentation and disgusted by its content. "America" agressively stole land more than they defended their own. Their treatment of the First Peoples was shocking, not to mention how they "built" their country on the backs of the inhabitants they stole from Africa. They have a lot to answer for, both then and now!

Robert Paul

@Dionne Albert

They still work the lower classes to death.

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David Amos

@Dionne Albert Methinks your buddy Neil only impresses his fans and his liberal bosses N'esy Pas?

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Brent Christianson

@David Amos

David, you should try to get out more. take a walk, enjoy the neighbourhood. Do a world of good for you.

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David Amos

@Brent Christianson Methinks you stay home and should learn to read N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Dionne Albert "Nailed it again as usual, Neil. Excellent piece."

Methinks I was the guy who got nailed merely because I disagreed with you and your associates N'esy Pas?

Robert Green

@David Amos It's the way you start and end every comment that gets you thumbs down.

Mark Baker

@Robert Green

And often what is in the middle.

David Amos

@Robert Green Methinks that you should have taken some time to try to understand what was in the middle N''esy Pas?

Gary McGarry

The America you see today has always existed beneath the surface. It took a Donald Trump to unleash it on the world. When empires collapse they tend to do so over a long period for various reasons. American empire appears to be collapsing very quickly and in spectacular style and all because of internal dysfunction. It has failed to come to terms with its inherent racism, misogyny and religious differences. If only they would do it, quietly, without affecting the rest of the world.

Gary McGarry

@Gary McGarry I think I should have said “religious intolerance”

Mark Tynthof

@Sam Malone "America is entering another golden age."
Fool's Gold, the kind that covers the lettering on Trump hotels.

David Amos

@Mark Tynthof YUP

Read this if you think the media covered Trump's migrant crisis unfairly: Robyn Urback

I don't think you hate children or relish the thought of kindergartners sleeping under foil blankets

Robyn Urback · CBC News · Posted: Jun 21, 2018 9:00 AM ET

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to end his administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border. If everybody would have put partisanship to the side sooner, many kids might have been spared unnecessary trauma. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

There is a tendency in opinion writing — especially opinion writing in the social media era — to preach to the converted: to write columns designed for "shares" and "likes" and emails that tell the writer how perfectly he or she articulated what the reader was already thinking. Most every columnist, myself included, has been guilty of writing these sorts of pieces. I'm going to try my best not to make this one of those columns.

If you think the media, or Democrats, or small-l liberals have unfairly covered the way the Trump administration has separated kids from their parents at the border — a policy President Donald Trump overturned by executive order on Wednesday — hear me out. I don't think you hate children or relish the thought of kindergartners sleeping under foil blankets. Absent the noise of partisanship and politics, all of us (save for a sociopathic few) would agree that innocent children should not be made to suffer because of decisions out of their control.

So let's get one thing out of the way here: the children caught up in the adult-made mess (we can talk about which adults another time) at the U.S.-Mexico border are indeed suffering. They are in a new country where they don't speak the language, kept in tents — some in cages — and separated from their parents. That is unquestionably traumatic.

• What's real, and what's not, about the U.S. border crisis
• U.S. airlines refused to transport migrant kids separated from parents

There have been reports of children sobbing uncontrollably, refusing to eat, wetting their beds and worse. In one case, a detained teenager had to teach other migrant children how to change babies' diapers. Even if you believe that this separation is an appropriate punishment for the parent who entered the U.S. illegally (though the notion of "illegal entry" becomes murky when we talk about asylum seekers, but we'll also leave that alone), it does not justify what amounts to torment for kids who, in most cases, have already experienced extreme poverty, violence or persecution, or some combination thereof.

That's why opposition to this policy — and future policies of profound humanitarian importance — should be a non-partisan exercise. There are times when we need to put aside our "whataboutism," our political allegiances, our personal biases and our need to be right, and unite for the sake of a kid in a cage pleading for his mom. This was one of those occasions.

At the same time, I can understand why a plea for everyone to just come together would be unsatisfactory to readers who, for example, genuinely perceive a double standard when it comes to how the media treated the issue of detained migrant children under Barack Obama. Or those who think the U.S. needs to take extreme measures to stem the flow of migrants across the U.S./Mexico border. So I'll address those points here.

I'll grant there was not, for example, this level of widespread concern for migrant children who were detained in the Obama era. But there is an important difference between then and now: the migrant children detained alone under Obama were by-and-large unaccompanied minors, meaning they were older — old enough to make the journey to the States alone. They might have had a chance to say goodbye to their parents and were capable of understanding what was happening to them.

The suddenness of the separation of children from their parents at the border is what made the situation especially traumatic. (ACF/HHS/Reuters)

The kids separated from their parents over the past several weeks did not have that chance to say goodbye. Some were removed under the pretence of being taken to have a bath and were never returned to their parents. The suddenness, lack of subsequent contact, and nonexistent information on what happened to their parents is what makes the experience especially traumatic. Those conditions also differentiate this type of separation from, say, the separation American children endure when their parents are incarcerated for other reasons.

But OK, maybe you still believe these sorts of tough measures are necessary to deter potential migrants from making the journey to the U.S. But there are two things to remember here.

First, fleeing your home country is typically a last resort — a response to imminent danger or conditions that have become horrendously dire.

For many parents, the idea of having a child safely in the U.S. — even if he or she is taken away — is likely preferable to risking death or persecution at home. The fact that the numbers of people crossing the border illegally has not decreased since the policy of separating families came into effect in April seems to reflect that.

Secondly, even if this policy was successful in deterring migrants, it doesn't make the suffering it imposes on children here and now morally justifiable. These are real kids — with favourite toys and hobbies and memories they share with their parents — not sacrifices for state policy objectives. If we couldn't conceive of looking a child in the face and telling him he's been taken from his mother for the "greater good," we should not be trying to defend it behind his back.

Despite the White House's insistence that only Congress could change the child-separation policy, President Donald Trump was always just a pen stroke away from scrapping it. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press)

Which brings me back to my original argument. Maybe I haven't convinced you (alas, I need 2,500 more words), and you still feel that the media, Hollywood, Democrats and so forth have been unfair in their portrayal of this border crisis. That is your prerogative. But that feeling is less important than the suffering endured by real children at the hands of the state.

And if you agree first and foremost that children should not be traumatized because of the decisions the adults around them made — no matter who is to blame — then the "whatabouts" need to be shelved for the sake of clear, overwhelming opposition. Kids should not be ripped from their parents and kept in cages. Period.

• After outcry, Trump signs order that will stop separations and detain families together 

Bipartisan pressure can move policy swiftly, as Trump's signing of an executive order to keep families together in detention (hardly ideal, but certainly better than disappearing children into the system) demonstrates. Had that pressure been unanimous from the start, it might have spared many children who have been separated from their parents in the time it's taken for reluctant Republicans and others to slowly get onside. Despite the White House's insistence that only Congress could change the policy, Trump was always just a pen stroke away from scrapping it.

Making a political point is less important than correcting an inhumane policy. That should have been the focus all along here. Yes, there is discomfort in temporarily aligning with your political enemies, but it is surely nothing compared to what the more than 2,500 kids separated from their parents have been made to endure.

This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ.

About the Author

Robyn Urback

Columnist

Robyn Urback is an opinion columnist with CBC News and a producer with the CBC's Opinion section. She previously worked as a columnist and editorial board member at the National Post. Follow her on Twitter at:

• @RobynUrback

Trump signs executive order to keep families together at border

'The border is just as tough, but we do want to keep families together,' president says

The Associated Press · Posted: Jun 20, 2018 11:58 AM ET

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Republican members of Congress on immigration in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Wednesday. (Associated Press)



U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to keep families together at the border, but a "zero-tolerance" prosecution policy will continue.

"The border is just as tough, but we do want to keep families together," Trump said at the signing Wednesday.

The effort marks a dramatic departure for an administration that has been insisting, wrongly, that it has no choice but to separate families apprehended at the border because of the law and a court decision.

• What's real, and what's not, about the U.S. border crisis

• 'We want no part of it' : U.S. airlines refuse to transport migrant kids separated from parents

​

The president noted there may be some litigation over the executive order and that he still plans to work with Congress toward broader changes around immigration.

"We have to have strong borders and ultimately we want to see it done right," he said, adding that his administration "will get the wall done."

About 2,300 children have been separated from their families since April after the U.S. announced a new "zero-tolerance" policy that refers all cases of illegal entry for criminal prosecution even though traditionally most would ultimately be deported, with some serving short jail sentences.

Republicans in the House, where every seat is up for grabs in the November midterm elections, are desperate to move on from the controversy.

U.S. Speaker Paul Ryan said the House would vote Thursday on a pair of Republican-driven immigration bills amid mounting criticism over the forced separation of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Ryan and fellow Republicans have found themselves on the defensive, scrambling to craft legislation as videos of youngsters in cages and an audiotape of wailing children have sparked anger from groups ranging from clergy to influential business leaders, as well as condemnation abroad.

Democrat congressman Juan Vargas of California protests outside meeting where Trump met with Republicans on Tuesday. (Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images)

"We do not want children taken away from parents," said Ryan. "We can enforce our immigration laws without breaking families apart."

Ryan said families would remain together under Department of Homeland Security custody under the proposed legislation, the passage of which is in doubt.

• 'Toddlers are being detained': Youngest migrants held in at least 3 shelters in Texas

• Updated
  World expresses outrage at Trump policy on separating migrant families

Ryan's announcement came after emotional speeches from the floor by Democrats, who were joined by about two dozen immigrant children.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas said the detaining of children separately from parents who have crossed the border illegally is child abuse. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois said he was heartened by the debate because he is seeing Americans "standing up for children, standing up for those who are in need."

As Gutierrez spoke, his microphone was cut off because lawmakers and children gathered around him as he spoke, which is considered a breach of decorum.

U.S. Homeland Security secretary driven out of restaurant by protestors

00:00 00:43

Kirstjen Nielsen dining in Mexican restaurant is set upon by vocal group of people opposing the detention of migrant children 0:43

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who vigorously defended the administration with reporters at the White House the previous day, was confronted by protesters as she ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant Tuesday night.

Criticism has even come from within the party over both the policy and the statements of Trump surrogates in its defence.

Veteran Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, who helped lead John McCain's presidential campaign in 2008, said he is renouncing his membership in the Republican Party, in light of the political tempest over the Trump administration immigration policy that separates children from their parents.

• Trump meets with Republicans amid furor over separating immigrant children

• Distraught child migrants heard in audio published by ProPublica

Schmidt's tweet came not long after many were horrified by the reaction of former Trump presidential campaign chair Corey Lewandowski in a Fox News segment on Tuesday night.

While another panellist recounted a story about a girl with Down syndrome affected by the policy, Lewandowski let out a derisive "Wah wah."

Condemnation abroad growing

Trump has made a habit of criticizing American allies Britain, Germany and Canada over perceived faults in their domestic policies, but the tables have turned on this issue.

British Prime Minister Theresa May criticized the U.S. policy after being challenged by a Labour MP on Wednesday.

"The pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing," said May. "This is wrong, this is not something we agree with, this is not the U.K.'s approach."

(Google)

May did say a planned Trump visit to Britain was still on as it was important for the two nations to discuss a host of issues.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who declined an opportunity to criticize the American shift earlier this week, was emphatic in condemning the practice on Wednesday.

"What's going on in the United States is wrong," he said. "I can't imagine what the families living through this are enduring. Obviously, this is not the way we do things in Canada."

Asked Wednesday about reports of American officials separating migrant children from their parents, German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said "in our opinion two things always belong together in migration policy: respecting the law, and respecting the dignity of every single human being."

Seibert did reject comparisons drawn by some U.S. critics between the policy and those of Nazi Germany. He told reporters: "Before anyone speaks of concentration camps they should recall what concentration camps in German history were; what unspeakable, criminal regime used them and what enormous suffering it caused to millions of people."

Conservative opposition

Some business leaders have condemned the policy, including the CEO's of Facebook, Google and Apple.

While opposition from Silicon Valley — perceived as largely liberal — was not overly surprising, several conservative business groups and think-tanks have also weighed in with a negative reaction.

Immigrants recently processed and released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection wait at the the Catholic Charities RGV on Wednesday in McAllen, Texas. (Eric Gay/Associated Press)

The Business Roundtable, which represents the CEOs of Walmart, General Motors, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase, Mastercard and others, urged an immediate end to the policy. So did the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than three million small and large businesses.

The Cato Institute, founded by billionaire Republican donors the Kochs, has said it is a disproportionate response that will not deter the migration northward from Central America, where often desperate circumstances are prompting people to leave.

Refraining from criticizing Trump were Christian organizations Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. Asked to comment on the matter by U.S. media organizations, spokespeople focused on the illegal border

Sen. John Cornyn from Texas told reporters that Democrats "are conflicted, because they like the narrative" of blaming Trump for separating families.

Canada also detains migrant children, sometimes for months at a time

McGill study finds 'psychiatric and academic difficulties long after detention'

Benjamin Shingler · CBC News · Posted: Jun 20, 2018 4:00 AM ET

A guard stands outside the gates of the immigrant holding centre in Laval, Que. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)

The U.S. is the focus of international outrage for its policy of separating children from their parents and detaining them after they cross the border in search of asylum.

But Canada also detains migrant children — and in some cases, restricts access to their asylum-seeking parents — despite the fact its stated policy is to do whatever possible to avoid it.

• What's real, and what's not, about the U.S. border crisis

Last year, 151 minors were detained with their parents in Canadian immigration holding centres.

Eleven others were held in custody unaccompanied by an adult, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.

CBSA holds people who are considered a flight risk or a danger to the public, and those whose identity cannot be confirmed.

'Frightening experience'

The holding centres, which are off limits to the public, resemble medium-security prisons. They are surrounded by razor-wire fences and surveilled by guards.

There are three such facilities across Canada, in Vancouver, Toronto, and Laval, Que. In some provinces, asylum seekers are detained in prisons.

A recent McGill University study found that detention can be a "frightening experience" for children, leaving them with "psychiatric and academic difficulties long after detention."

Inside, boredom is "pervasive," as children are often left "idle, sleeping or lying on the couches for long periods during the day."

A 16-year-old boy and his father, immigrants from Honduras, wait for assistance with travel plans after being released from detention in Texas earlier this month. (Loren Elliott/AFP/Getty Images)

The study examined the experiences of 20 families who were detained in the Toronto and Laval holding centres and found that, in nearly half the cases, children ended up being separated from their parents at some point in the asylum-seeking process.

In detention, mothers are normally permitted to stay with their children. Fathers, on the other hand, are kept separate and only allowed to visit their spouse and children twice a day for about 15 to 30 minutes, according to the study.

In some cases, detained asylum seekers have lived in the country without status for years. In detention, they are given the option of keeping their Canadian-born children with them or sending them to live with extended family or in the custody of provincial youth protection services.

• Canada tracking Trump's border crackdown to see if U.S. remains safe for asylum seekers

The minors detained last year spent an average of 13 days in custody, but the time period can vary significantly.

The study recounts how, in one instance, a six-year-old girl detained for more than six months asked her parents, "Are they gonna keep us here permanently?"

Feds aim to keep families together

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said earlier this week that children of immigrants and refugees are detained in Canada only as a last resort.

"Obviously, anyone looking at the human images [from the U.S.] would be very, very concerned," Goodale said.

"Children are very precious creatures, and we all, I'm sure, need to have their safety, their security, their well-being first and foremost in our minds, and that is what lies at the very basis of Canadian policy."

Last November, Goodale issued a directive to CBSA to keep children out of detention and keep families together "as much as humanly possible."

The number of children in detention has dropped slightly under the Liberal government, though it's on pace to rise again this year.

(Roberto Rocha/CBC)

Jenny Jeanes, a co-ordinator with the refugee advocacy group Action Réfugiés Montréal, said she still regularly sees children at the Laval detention centre she visits once a week.

"I'm not sure how well the directive is being applied in some cases," she said.

Addressing reporters earlier this week, Goodale said new measures will soon be rolled out to offer alternatives to detention.

'They have to show up'

Chantal Ianniciello, a Montreal immigration lawyer who represents clients in detention, said families would be better served by the regular process for asylum seekers, rather than being stuck in detention while they get the necessary documentation to identify themselves.

"The way I see it is that those people have an interest in going to court," she said. "If they want to get status and get anything out of the system, they have to show up."

Another study, produced last year by the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto's faculty of law, called on the government to find better alternatives to detention, including community housing.

Maru Mora leads a march outside a federal detention centre in Seattle, Wash., to protest the policy of separating children from their parents seeking asylum. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times via Associated Press)

Denise Otis, a protection officer in the United Nations Refugee Agency, said she's hopeful the Canadian government will work toward that goal.

"We imagine [the government] could find other ways to house them while they are trying to identify themselves."

• Distraught child migrants heard in audio published by ProPublica

About the Author

Benjamin Shingler

Journalist

Benjamin Shingler is a journalist with CBC in Montreal. Follow him on Twitter @benshingler.

Children's distress may help Trump bargain for his border wall

It's about showing his base just how tough he can be over immigration

Keith Boag · CBC News · Posted: Jun 19, 2018 4:00 AM ET

Children interact with members of the Presbyterian church in Sunland Park, U.S., at a new section of the border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border on May 3. President Donald Trump is determined to show he's tough on immigration. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)



The Trump White House tacitly acknowledged Monday that it needed a more coherent argument for why government agents are snatching children from their parents and holding them in cages.

So it rolled out Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to make that case, even though Nielsen, just 24 hours earlier, had denied that such a thing was even happening. "We do not have a policy of separating families at the border," she tweeted. "Period."

What she meant, apparently, is that the government does not separate families seeking asylum if they go through the proper channels. If they arrive at designated ports of entry, she told reporters, they can stay together.

If they don't — if they cross over the border illegally — it's a different story, just as Attorney General Jeff Sessions promised that it would be.  In May, Sessions warned that he had put in place a "zero tolerance" policy for illegal entry that could mean children would be separated from their parents. He was crystal clear that it was a Trump administration policy.

A woman who lives in the U.S., hugs two children, who live in Mexico, during the Hugs Not Walls event on the border between Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, U.S., on May 12. Trump officials can't keep their story straight on who's responsible for separating children from their parents. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)

But even that truthful statement was problematic because the president essentially disavowed it. On Friday Trump said "I hate the children being taken away," and denied it was his administration's policy.

Blaming the Democrats

He said the problem was a law made by the Democrats. "The Democrats have to change their law — that's their law," he said.

That doesn't fit the facts either.  First, because of what Sessions said and second, because the president, who has found every way possible to roll back Barack Obama's policies, surely knows he has the power to stop border agents from breaking up families if that's what he wants to do.

In any case, the next day Trump's domestic policy adviser Stephen Miller volleyed back in the New York Times: "It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry."

• The truth about the 'lost' children and Trump's immigration policy separating kids from parents

• 'They are incarcerated': Reporter describes conditions at U.S. shelter for immigrant boys

But much of the country is aghast at the images of kids in cages. Even Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz  is introducing an emergency bill to keep illegal immigrant families together. And it's never been clear how much stomach Trump really has for reckoning with the consequences of his own actions.

Claim that children are 'actors'

Ann Coulter, the shock columnist who already has Trump's ear, tried to put some steel in his spine Sunday by declaring the distressed youngsters are, in fact, a bunch of phonies who are just play acting.

"These child actors weeping and crying on all the other networks 24/7 right now — do not fall for it, Mr. President," she said to Trump via Fox News Sunday night. "I get very nervous about the president getting his news from TV."

President Donald Trump was avowing Monday that the U.S. would not be a 'migrant camp.' (Leah Mills/Reuters)

Not that long ago it was possible, and arguably wise, to ignore Coulter. But then we learned that her book, Adios America, had profoundly shaped how Trump thinks about immigration as an election tool.  It was Coulter who came up with Donald Trump's infamous line about Mexicans in 2015, "They're rapists."

She's right about one thing, though, the president does get his news from TV, and Fox News is his favourite. So Coulter's warning  — "Don't fall for the actor children" — likely did not fall on deaf ears.

The callousness of the comment is beside the point. The point, Coulter is reminding the president, is that he should stay focused on the political fight and not be distracted by the humanity or inhumanity of the policy.

Defining moment for the presidency

Until the last couple of days it was still possible to believe that the administration had allowed what's happening on the border to develop because of their own ineptitude; that the left hand simply didn't know what the right hand was doing.

But now it looks as though Trump set it up to be a defining moment for his presidency. He got where he is largely by promising to be tougher on immigration than anyone else would be, and six months ahead of  midterm elections he has manufactured a crisis to prove it.

 Protesters hold signs against the government separating asylum-seeking parents from their children outside the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, Wash., on June 9. It's not clear yet how much stomach Trump has for pushback on the issue. (Alan Berner/The Seattle Times/Associated Press)

"The United States will not be a migrant camp, and it will not be a refugee holding facility, won't be," he said yesterday. "A country without borders is not a country at all." It was familiar stuff to anyone who listened to him during the 2016 campaign.

• Timeline: Trump presidency and the Mexico border wall

• Opinion
  This is not America? Oh, yes, it is: Opinion

This week Republicans will consider a pair of immigration reform bills either of which would probably need Democratic support to pass and both of which include funding for a border wall. The bills would also fix the practice of separating families at the border, so the outrage of the current moment makes it that much harder to vote against them.

It comes back to the border wall

If either one passes, Trump will have kept his promise on the wall. If neither passes he will blame the Democrats for not caring about families. Either way he will campaign on the wall again.

Many of the kids who've been taken from their families are under the age of four, according to New York Times data. Too young, obviously, to understand that when their parents crossed the border illegally they were stumbling into the White House's calculus for the midterm elections.

Children have their breakfast at the Vina de Tijuana AC migrant shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, on April 28, before preparing to cross the border. Children have been separated from their parents at the border under the 'zero tolerance' policy. (Hans-Maximo Musielik/Associated Press)

This is not America? Oh, yes, it is: Neil Macdonald

Trump has sensed that his voters want ruthlessness, and he's delivering

Neil Macdonald · CBC News · Posted: Jun 18, 2018 4:56 PM ET

Along the southern border, families with the will and the heart to flee misery and seek asylum are being torn apart — the parents charged, prosecuted and deported. (CBP/Reuters)

So here is America, Puritan John Winthrop's shining city on a hill, an example to the world and "a model of Christian charity," to cite the title of his sermon aboard the Arbella, as England's first settlers approached New England in 1630.

Centuries later, American presidents would return repeatedly to Winthrop's hilltop-city metaphor, the first invocation of American exceptionalism. JFK. Barack Obama. And Ronald Reagan, adding his own words: "a tall, proud city … teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here."

Go ahead, read that again. Then read today's news headlines.

• Separation of parents, kids at U.S.-Mexico border: How the Trump administration got here
• Republicans on defensive, but Trump digs in on separating parents and children at border

Like most foundational myths, the shining city was always more aspirational than real. Its citizens would eventually hunt Indigenous people to near-extinction and import slaves and use military power to impose their self-interest on other nations, usually in the name of God.

But it was an ideal, and during most of my lifetime, at least, America inched closer to it. Its biggest cities became increasingly multiracial, then increasingly interracial. It showed the world what rule of law really meant. The nation elected a black president. And in the last century, America pushed successfully for rules-based trade, reasoning that nations with interlaced economies don't make war on one another.

Reagan's vision of free ports humming with commerce, surrounded by walls with doors open to courageous, exhausted new arrivals actually took form.

But it was never real. The changes were always grudging, and, it turns out, easily dismantled by a man never as elegantly articulate as JFK or Reagan or Obama, but who nonetheless better represents the true soul of America.

Along the southern border, families with the will and the heart to flee misery and seek asylum are being torn apart — the parents charged and prosecuted and deported, rather than welcomed through open doors. Their children, alone and terrified, sit numbly in tent cities erected by ICE, Donald Trump's freshly empowered immigration enforcers, who keep visiting do-gooders away, even papering over windows to hide what's going on within.

A woman sent back to Guatemala without her son tearfully wonders if she will ever see him again.

A former Republican first lady compares the detention centres to the Japanese-American internment camps of the Second World War.

A former military general, and former CIA and NSA director, noted that other governments have separated children from parents, tweeting a picture of Auschwitz-Birkenau's railroad spur.

Most of the criticism has invoked morality, or Christian values. But this president is clearly uninterested in either, despite his closeness to evangelical Christian leaders and his own avowal of faith.

He's sensed that his voters, which are really what count, want ruthlessness, and that they can easily be persuaded to see it as patriotic: a notion he eagerly promotes.

Any criticism he treats as just politics, the easiest course of action in a country where even Supreme Court decisions are regarded as partisan.

The stated purpose of his policy is to make it clear to the world that having the "will and the heart" to get to the shining city on the hilltop will leave you in prison and your children at least temporarily orphaned. Trump wants to build an actual wall around the hilltop city, one with no doors, topped with concertina wire. Judging from his successes so far, he likely will.

U.S. immigration detention policy comes under renewed fire

00:00 02:03

Government criticized for separating children from parents and placing minors in cage-like conditions 2:03

As for America's race issues, suffice it to say that white America has not had so bold a champion since George Wallace and Strom Thurmond. Take a moment and look at Virginia's new Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, Corey Stewart, backed and praised lavishly by the president.

Which brings us to the hilltop city's free ports, humming with commerce. Trump is single handedly putting an end to that, too, making something else clear to the world: rules-based trade and commerce is for chumps.

To him, America's allies are weak fools – he actually taunts them publicly – who need to understand that what counts is American power, against which they cannot prevail. Either they accept his terms, or he crushes them. Already, he's labelled their exports a threat to America's national security.

His protectionist tariffs are already sending shocks through the interconnected global economy, and have prominent economists disbelievingly calculating the costs.

There's some irony here, of course. The political left has denounced globalization and the lowering of trade barriers for years. Well, they're about to get what they wanted, from a most unlikely hero.

Rationally, you'd expect unimpeded information and serious analysis about the consequences of Trump's rampage through the hilltop city to fuel a backlash so immediate as to stop him in his tracks.

But, as has been demonstrated repeatedly in the year and a half since Trump's victory, facts don't matter anymore, and neither do the journalists and experts who struggle to put them forth.

Trump blames Democrats for child separation at border

00:00 00:39

The U.S. president said the Democrats are 'obstructing' an immigration bill that would be 'good for the children.' 0:39

As journalism professor Jay Rosen has persuasively argued, Trump is clearly winning his war against the media, an institution Trump has described as a great danger to America.

Fact-checking, the essence of journalism, no longer matters much, says Rosen, because it carries no consequence.

Politicians, caught lying, used to at least stop repeating the lie, even if they wouldn't admit having lied. Being a proven liar was just too uncomfortable. No longer. Trump lies easily and overwhelmingly; he couldn't give a toss about fact-checkers, and neither do his supporters. The brazen lie is now of no more consequence than serial philandering or consorting with foreign enemies who want to corrupt elections.

Donald Trump, who loves winning, is winning. He is beating America's allies, he is crushing America's media, he is demonizing and desiccating American law enforcement, and hinting that in the end, he might even use his pardon power to sweep away rule of law. He has in fact already done so.

In her op-ed for The Washington Post, Laura Bush asked for compassion, kindness and morality. This is not America, she argued.

Well, yes it is. Trump is America, and America, it turns out, isn't so exceptional after all.

This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ.

About the Author

Neil Macdonald

Opinion Columnist

Neil Macdonald is an opinion columnist for CBC News, based in Ottawa. Prior to that he was the CBC's Washington correspondent for 12 years, and before that he spent five years reporting from the Middle East. He also had a previous career in newspapers, and speaks English and French fluently, and some Arabic.