You may think that the mistreatment of immigrant children is new, but newly released documents show that the government has been allowing the worst abuse imaginable to happen to migrant children since AT LEAST 2009. Ring of Fire’s Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins discuss this.
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Transcript:
Mike Papantonio: You know, you might think that the mistreatment of immigrant children is a new thing, but newly released documents, Farron, show that the government is really dropping the ball, where it comes to protecting these children. They’re trying to cross the border, truthfully they’re being caught, but once they’re caught illegally crossing the border, that doesn’t mean we have the right to mistreat them.
And this report is very, very sobering. Take it.
Farron Cousins: Well, what’s interesting about this report is, not just the abuses that it details, and we get to that in a second, but the fact that this information was obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests, American Civil, the ACLU, International Human Rights Clinic, couple other groups, finally got their hands on this information. And going back to at least 2009, rape, physical assault, mental abuse, all kinds of atrocities perpetrated against immigrant children, coming in to the United States.
And what’s interesting about it, again, is the fact that right now, we’ve got every liberal, and even some conservatives, up in arms about the fact that the Trump administration’s policy is to strip immigrant children, from immigrant families.
Mike Papantonio: Take them away from their parents.
Farron Cousins: Which is horrible, don’t get me wrong. It’s atrocious. But, do not think for a second that this government was not committing these horrible acts against children, during the Obama years, because that’s what this report shows.
Mike Papantonio: Well, that’s the problem here, okay? The problem is we’re trying to contrast the golden Obama years, I suppose, I mean, it’s just, they’ve taken it to such a crazy level-
Farron Cousins: They have.
Mike Papantonio: … of adoration, when we’re not being honest about it. This report clearly comes from the Obama administration, that by the way, there were complaints during the Obama administration, that the Border Patrol have turned into a bunch of monsters. I mean, the best way, the term that they used was, “The monstrous kind of activity, coming from the Border Patrol,” all during his administration.
So now, Donald Trump’s people are out there, and they say, “Okay, we got away with it, this last administration. We’ll sure be able to get away with it this administration.” But what we’re missing about is, who are these people? Okay, who are these folks, that they give Border Patrol jobs to? Most of the time, they don’t come from typical kind of law enforcement training.
The recruitment of it is, usually it’s bottom of the barrel kind of characters, that we’re gonna put out there on the border, because you know, it’s kind of private. Nobody really knows what they’re doing. Nobody sees what they’re doing. It’s kind of done in a, it’s done in a shroud. We don’t understand what’s going on out here.
But what you have is, you know, you’ve got specific, it’s report after report, 16 year olds, basically being raped, 14 years olds that are being manhandled, in a way that’s nothing less than sexual abuse. You have a report, I saw this 16 year old boy recounted that a patrol agent threw him to the ground, used his boot to literally smash the boy’s face, to where he needed medical care after that.
So I mean, I look at this, and I just wonder, how did that happen, for those years? And here’s what bothers me: it happened during the Obama years, because we were asleep at the wheel, because we were charmed by the fact that this man was a wonderful speaker. I mean, he was a charming character. He could’ve been an actor, really, probably would’ve been a wonderful actor.
And we were charmed by that. And this report … And I think the ACLU is reacting the same way. This report shows what happens, when we try to put too much of our faith in a character hero. This happens. All this happened during the Obama administration.
Farron Cousins: Tasers, batons, all kinds of weapons, that these officers carry, used against these children. Because again, at the same time, it may not have been the official policy, as it is today, but they were still stripping children from their parents, sometimes never to be seen again.
And let’s think about this for a second, too. When we talk about these people, illegally coming over the border, do you know what level of crime that is, coming from Mexico into the United States illegally? It is a misdemeanor. It is the same as trespassing, reckless driving, public intoxication, it’s all in the same level as walking down the street drunk.
This is not a felony. This is not … You don’t treat them like you would a rapist, or a murderer. And these are kids. But yeah, back to 2009, and with the Obama story there, it was because liberals unfortunately were Democrats.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah, Democrats-
Farron Cousins: You’ve gotta differentiate there.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah, I wanna correct you. Democrats of the liberal movement were so in love with this character, that it was like he could do no wrong. Now look, how many stories have we done pro Obama? Tons. But again, when we get tribal, when we don’t, when we’re not honest with who is really doing what, I mean, if we take a look at … This story brings to mind, I mean look, during the Obama administration, drilling was at an all time high. Fracking was increased, something like 70%, in the United States.
You had him wanting to increase NAFTA, and the power of NAFTA and CAFTA, through the trade agreements. You had Obama signing off on legislation that allowed pharmaceutical companies to rape and pillage the entire United States, along with, oh by the way, making us into dope addicts, where 190 people die a day, because of the conduct that took place in that administration.
So I guess what I’m really getting at, since I’m not a Democrat, and I’m not a Republican, is I’m pretty pissed, that we … Every time this man walks on a stage, it’s, “Oh my God. This is, this was the perfect politician.” No, he wasn’t the perfect politician. This story, if the media will actually tell this story, I doubt CNN is gonna tell the story. I doubt MSNBC is gonna tell the story.
But, social media found this story. And social media will talk about it. And that’s why I come back to the same point again, corporate media is dead. If you wanna get information, you really need to go to things like YouTube Television, because that’s where the information is.
