Like so many Americans, I am horrified that the US government has been separating children from their parents and caretakers when they cross the border. At a loss for how to talk about the atrocity, I turned to a spate of current news articles and the dictionary for ideas. This is what I found.

If that’s what immigration is, that is certainly not what these policies are about. Fortunately, I found a few more apt descriptions:

Reminiscent of the Holocaust.

A chilling article in the LA Times features Holocaust survivors’ own descriptions of the horror they faced and the parallels they see in the current policies.

Taking children away from their parents will affect them for the rest of their lives in ways we cannot yet know. It’s like the radiation that lingers after a bomb goes off: These people can never return to the safety of their home or themselves. The ground has been damaged permanently.

-Gene Czap, former resident of a German “displaced persons” camp

Reminiscent of the zoo.

AP describes what it’s like inside one of the cages detaining migrant children at the Texas border https://t.co/gPMChwdl9T pic.twitter.com/wpnHv35PGQ — Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) June 17, 2018

Dehumanizing.

A sharp article in the by Philip Rucker in the Washington Post opens by stating: “President Trump this week likened Hispanic immigrants to vermin. He warned that they would ‘pour into and infest our country.’”

Immigrants are people. I can’t believe that actually needs to be said.

“Zero-tolerance” and family separation practices are not “immigration” policies. They are racism. They’re inhumane. They’re dehumanizing. These policies are turning America into a shithole country, and we should should fight against them until that is no longer the case.

Featured photo by Cole Patrick on Unsplash