Robinson: How does kidnapping Make America Great Again?

In a statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Azar took credit for working “tirelessly” to reunite the children with their families — which is rich, given that the Trump administration cynically created this crisis in the first place.

“Our message has been clear all along: Do not risk your own life or the life of your child by attempting to enter the United States illegally,” the statement said. Given that the intention from the beginning was clearly to frighten and intimidate would-be migrants from Central America, why should anyone believe the administration is acting in good faith now?

This is an administration, after all, that conducts immigration court proceedings, or travesties, in which children too young to know their ABCs are expected to represent themselves without legal counsel. Imagine your 2-year-old child or grandchild in that situation. Now tell me how adopting child abuse as a policy is supposed to Make America Great Again.

And what about the children older than 5 who were taken from their families? Sabraw ordered that they be returned to their parents by July 26, but don’t hold your breath. We don’t even know how many there are, because the government doesn’t seem to know. Officials first gave the number as around 2,300, but the latest estimate is nearly 3,000.

Weighs on the conscience

I don’t think they know how many kids they ripped away from their families, and I believe that means it is inevitable that some children will never again see their parents. The fact that my government would commit such a crime weighs on my conscience as an American. President Trump and his accomplices, from all appearances, couldn’t be prouder.

“Judges run the system and illegals and traffickers know how it works. They are just using children!” Trump tweeted Wednesday. As usual, he was ascribing his own base motives to others: He is the one who is “just using children.”

Remember what this is really about. The main flow of undocumented migrants consists of Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans seeking to escape rampant, deadly gang violence that their home governments cannot or will not check. The Trump administration issued new instructions Wednesday to officers who interview asylum-seekers at the border, telling them that fear of gang violence, no matter how well-founded, is no longer grounds for asylum.

Kidnapping children. Failing even to account for them. Sending families home to be killed. Give us your huddled masses, this administration seems to say, and let us kick them in their little faces.