Liberty weeps - her lamp extinguished

The US is now separating parents and their children at the border.  AG Sessions has said that if parents want to keep their children, they shouldn't bring them across the border illegally.

Sessions does not know the law. Someone seeking asylum status MUST apply from WITHIN the country. That means they must cross the border. Most cross the border and immediately go to the immigration office to file their asylum request. THIS IS THE LEGAL PROCEDURE. 

Under US law, asylum seekers have one year in which to file their paperwork (form I-589). During that year, they are in the US unlawfully (a civil, not a criminal, offense). If they crossed the border without going through proper procedures, they have, at worst, committed a misdemeanor (which are not normally considered criminal offenses) - and since this IS the legal asylum procedure, they HAVE arguably gone through proper procedure.

From the USCIS website: (https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-asylum)

AsylumAsylum status is a form of protection available to people who:

1. Meet the definition of refugee
2. Are already in the United States
3. Are seeking admission at a port of entry

So these people, who have already suffered victimization, and are following the legal procedure for seeking asylum, are being treated as criminals and having their children ripped from them.

Sessions implies that separation is a deterrence and punishment for the parents. That assumes they know that the US has adopted this bizarre stance, and that the asylum-seekers have a choice. These are people who can't go home, remember; that's part of the definition of being a refugee or asylum-seeker. We also know from numerous studies that such a separation traumatizes the children, and can cause permanent psychological damage. And for what? For some dubious political score?

I am ashamed of this country, There is no excuse for that.
The Statue of Liberty no longer speaks for us.
The new colossus has proven to be a bully.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus
November 2, 1883