, Columnist
No Good Will Come of Separating Immigrant Families
Trump's policy is morally indefensible, and history shows it will only get worse.
Photographer: LOREN ELLIOTT/AFP/Getty Images
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The Donald Trump administration’s policy of stripping immigrant children from their parents at the southern border is already a moral nightmare. History suggests the situation will only get worse if it doesn’t end soon.
About five years ago, Australia started holding undocumented immigrants in “offshore processing” camps, David Fickling points out. One rationale was to deter people from making dangerous boat trips to Australia. But these people now live in increasingly grim conditions. Some have become so hopeless they’ve committed suicide. It is, David writes, “a stain” on Australia.