Is Trumps Child Separation a Tool to Turn Family Expulsion into a benefit? Conversations on a Train.

Evening reflections on the Cam

A mixed bag for President Trump today. There is growing dismay and anger in the US about the administration's policy to criminalise illegal immigrants, thus leading to the separation of parents and children.  Indeed, Attorney Jeff Sessions has come under fire from 600 members of the United Methodist Church have have issued a formal complaint against memberof the church Attorney General Jeff Sessions, charging that he is violating church rules with his zero tolerance on immigration and possibly being responsible for abuse.

The president has initially refused to back down, even stating that it is necessary to separate children from their parents whilst simultaneously, and inaccurately, blaming the democrats for the consequences of what is in reality an effect of his administrations policy. He also charged the atmosphere further by stating that immigrants "infest our country".

The most recent comment is that he will be seeking to be able to deport illegal immigrants as families. This now begs the question whether the extreme and cruel nature of the child separation issue might have been a policy to shift public perception of immigration in the direction of a hardline policy. Then when he speaks of deporting whole families, it appears as a benefit, not a hardening of rules/actions.

Traveled to London today for a Quekett Committee Meeting and a Gossip meeting, the latter on hand-lenses and suitable subjects for them. The journey there was leavened by chatting to a family taking a young child to St Ormond Street Hospital for a checkup; the journey back shortened by learning of the gentler side of a couple who were both with the police and in the throes of renovating a future dream home.

Arriving back at Cambridge North, I unlocked the bike and rode home by taking the slightly longer road and path along the rivcer/