Cartoon image is by Lalo Alcaraz.
Chart reflects the results in the new Economist / YouGov Poll done between June 17th and 19th of a national sample of 1,272 registered voters, with a 2.9 point margin of error.Last Friday, Donald Trump was adamant about his policy of separating immigrant parents and children and sending children to detention facilities. He was beginning to realize that the policy was very unpopular with the public, and tried to pass off his horrendous policy as just following a federal law that had been passed by Democrats. He even said he could not change the policy -- even with a presidential executive order.
Of course, he was lying. There was no law (passed by Democrats or anyone else) mandating the separation of immigrant parents and children. The new policy had been ordered by Trump and carried out by Sessions -- and Trump could have rescinded it with just a simple phone call.
On Tuesday night, Trump met with congressional Republicans, and he evidently got an earful from them. They were horrified at having to run for re-election with the inhumane border policy in effect. It became clear finally that while many in Trump's base liked the horrific policy, most Americans did not (and that included congressional Republicans).
So, on Wednesday, Donald Trump did something he had never done before -- he knuckled under. He gave in to public pressure and rescinded his policy of separating immigrant parents and children at the border. He still didn't want to admit that it was his policy and a simple phone call would have changed it. Instead, he took the unnecessary step of issuing an executive order (which he had said was impossible just five days earlier).
He continued to lie even as he signed the executive order, claiming he was changing a policy that had been in effect for over 60 years. The inference was that other presidents had also separated parents and children at the border. NOT TRUE. If they were separated in the past (under both Republican and Democratic presidents), it was rare, unintentional, and immediately rectified.
The truth is that this inhumane policy was Donald Trump's, and his alone -- and the outrage of decent and caring Americans forced him to rescind it.
NOTE -- This is not necessarily over yet. The parents and children have not yet been reunited. And Trump's executive order is just temporary (meaning he could go back to separating parents and children). We must be vigilant, demanding reunification of those families, and insuring this policy doesn't happen again.
