When rescuing people from the proverbial sinking ship, it used to be women and children first. Pero, as we struggle to survive in the wounded battleship that is the United States, immigrant women and children are the first to be thrown overboard.

A study released last week by the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) found that:

…more than 43,000 undocumented, unaccompanied children have been mistreated while in custody and denied access to representation by Customs and Border Protection (Border Patrol) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and then transported home unsafely.

The treatment of children reported is downright criminal and abusive. Pero since they are “illegals”, “aliens” , and potential criminals they don’t deserve basics like water, food, or a blanket to keep warm.

In clear violation of international and U.S. child welfare standards, our interviews with the Mexican and Honduran children uncovered troubling claims of child abuse and maltreatment by U.S. Border Patrol officers, including:
• Inattention to repeated requests for medical attention;
• No access to water while in the border patrol station;
• Having to sleep on the floor without a blanket in a heavily air conditioned cell;
• Not being given any or enough food;
• Not being allowed to contact family;
• Being struck and knocked down by agents;
• Being handcuffed; and
• Being transported “like dogs,” in kennel like compartments.

Homeland Security knew they were doing something wrong, why else deny or stall 6 Freedom of Information Act requests?

I personally know families who have sent their children over the border alone, not because they didn’t care as some would accusingly say but because it was the best option available from horrible choices. It was what would prevent their children from going hungry or being abused. None of those mothers would lock their children in bathrooms for hours, or laugh at them, or threatened at gunpoint, all things done to children by employees of the United States government.

So yes, women and children first please, as long as they aren’t brown immigrant women and children. In that case, they are the first, the first to be sacrificed.

Via / Latina Lista y Para Justicia y Libertad

Image Via / Social MediaSocial Media