A Complete Breakdown Of Donald Trump’s 74th Unpresidented Week As POTUS

President Donald Trump listens during an event on immigration alongside family members affected by crime committed by undocumented immigrants, at the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex, Friday, June 22, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

A Complete Breakdown Of Donald Trump’s 74th Unpresidented Week As POTUS

Donald the Depraved
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by: Ahmed Baba on June 24, 2018

This was a dark week in American history and by far the worst of the Trump presidency.

The three tenets of Donald Trump’s administration were on full display: depravity, dysfunction, and dishonesty.

Although many of us have known for a while, it’s finally become crystal clear what President Trump means when he says “Make America Great Again.” You see it in his calls to suspend due process rights for immigrants. You see it in his use of dehumanizing words like “animals” or “infest” or when he calls children crossing the border “not innocent.” You see it in his fear-mongering about the border despite crossing being at a 46 year low. You see it in his culture war with NFL athletes or his efforts to ban Muslims. You see it in his propaganda arms at Fox News and Sinclair Broadcast Group spreading racist rhetoric. President Trump’s political platform is white supremacy, and he’s quadrupling down ahead of the midterms.

This administration, through their own admission, separated children from their parents at the border to deter immigration. And these weren’t criminals, these were asylum seekers, seeking what they thought would be safety from cruelty only to have their children taken from them. It was panned as an illegal human rights violation by the United Nations. Once this administration had over 2,500 children in their possession, they then tried to use them as political hostages for their border wall. It didn’t work. The depravity with which his “zero tolerance” policy was implemented defines who Donald Trump is as a man, as an American, and as a President.

The decision to open this dark chapter in history was based on Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ bigotry, perpetuated by White House Advisers Stephen Miller’s idiocy, implemented by Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen’s complicity, and overseen by President Trump’s inhumanity. Trump’s compulsion to appeal to his base of supporters, no matter how inhumane the tactic, led the President of the United States to engineer a humanitarian crisis on American soil.

After this policy was hastily announced by Sessions, the Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Customs and Border Protection were caught off guard, without the resources to handle such a blindly broad policy. Prosecuting all undocumented immigrants at the border led to massive child separation, placing them in facilities that didn’t have the capacity to house them. Sessions framed it as being tough on the border, but in reality, it was reallocating resources better spent on drug smugglers.

What we saw next was unconscionable. Audio of children crying out for their parents. Reports of newborn babies ripped from their parents’ arms and placed in internment camps. Reports of forced injections, abuse, and descriptions of children in cages. Suddenly, all of Trump’s dehumanizing rhetoric about immigrants made sense. The only way he could convince his supporters this was right, was if they saw these immigrants as subhuman. And the only way to convince the rest of America was through disinformation. He failed.

So Trump lied, blaming the Democrats for the policy his administration implemented. Nielsen lied, claiming there is no child separation policy. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders spread their lies.

The Trump administration also tried to conceal these facts by limiting access to the facilities, but once details began to leak, they were overwhelmed. The administration put the onus on Congress to fix this. President Trump himself went as far as to say no executive order could solve this.

After a mountain of opposition, former Presidents and First Ladies speaking out, polling indicating its unpopularity (aside from Trump’s 20-27% base), organized protests, pundits crying on national TV, and the majority of journalists making it clear this must stop, Trump folded. Not because of the inhumanity of his policy, but because of its perception.

Within days, Trump had signed an executive order that would keep families together, but it’s far from over.

Families must be reunited. Reports of abuse must be addressed. Countless questions must be answered. And those responsible for this atrocity must be held accountable. But even then, it appears indefinite migrant internment camps is what comes next, with the Trump administration reportedly preparing to house over 100,000 migrants on military and naval bases.

America’s moral core is being tested and so is our resilience as a unified people. We must not let President Trump rob us of our decency. History smiles upon the decent and disgraces the depraved. We know where Donald will land. Decide to be one of the decent.

Prove it this November and in your daily actions. Inform a friend. Get someone to commit to vote. Help out the vulnerable. Prove that you are not what this President represents.

I’ve written this before, but it bears repeating. The beauty of America is that despite who we were in the past or who we are today, we as a people have the power to choose who we will be tomorrow.

Choose wisely.

The following was analysis written in real-time, as each day unfolded. I slightly edited it retroactively as to not repeat certain details. But this was how week 74 unfolded, in all its indecency.

Moments like these require unrelenting truthtelling. We take pride in being reader-funded. If you like our work, support our journalism.

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Day 515: Monday, June 18

Immigrant Children’s Cries Drown Out The Trump Admin’s Lies
Immigrant children crying out for their parents at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility (Audio via ProPublica)

Immigrant children crying out for their parents at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility (Audio via ProPublica)

At what point do we start calling this administration a regime?

President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy has indisputably proven to the world that his administration has zero decency.

With their systematic separation of immigrant children from their parents at the southern border, the Trump administration has proudly created a humanitarian crisis on American soil. Children are being held in cages (sometimes 20 per cage) and used in a hostage-like manner, all in President Trump’s scheme to leverage funding for his border wall and other hardline immigration proposals. Day-after-day, this administration is committing what the United Nations has deemed illegal human rights abuses on innocent children. And today, we heard a glimpse of what this inhumane abuse sounds like.

You can hear the pain. You can hear the trauma these kids are experiencing that they’ll remember for the rest of their lives. And they’ll always associate that pain with the United States of America.

In a press conference today, as the country listened to this audio, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen defended this policy with misleading statistics after the previous day claiming it didn’t exist. She then falsely put the onus on Democrats to change it.

Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) called for Nielsen’s resignation.

This inhumane policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the border (who are systematically prosecuted) is a Trump administration policy, not a Democratic law. The prosecution of all undocumented immigrants at the southern border is creating this systematic family separation. The President could end this right now, but instead, he is lying about who is responsible for it.

On May 7, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued an order, which DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen implemented, that requires all undocumented immigrants crossing the border be referred for criminal prosecution…including migrants seeking asylum from violence.

The move would also mean that even if immigrants caught at the border illegally have valid asylum claims, they could still end up with federal criminal convictions on their record regardless of whether a judge eventually finds they have a right to live and stay in the US.

Chief of Staff John Kelly (when he was head of the DHS) even touted this future proposal as a deterrent.

And Sessions did so again…today.

More than 700 children had already reportedly been separated from their parents at the border between October 2017 and mid-April, before Sessions announced the policy. After it was announced, this picked up speed.

According to Department of Homeland Security numbers obtained by the Associated Press, it appears there have been at least 2,000 additional children since then, between mid-April and the end of May. That’s at a rate of 46 children taken a day.

The U.S. is reportedly running out of room to house the children who are being separated from their parents at the border, and they are being placed into holding cells that don’t have adequate medical resources. They’re supposed to only be in there for up to 72 hours but hundreds are being detained for longer in these caged facilities.

The overstays at border stations are a result of a backlog at U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency responsible for sheltering migrant children longer term and matching them with relatives or foster parents in the U.S. The agency’s Administration for Children and Families has 11,200 unaccompanied children in its care and takes 45 days on average to place a child with a sponsor, according to a spokesperson.

And MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff gave us some of the first glimpses into where some of the children who leave the initial holding sells are placed once they make it to a shelter. It’s complete with an eerie mural of President Trump.

There are reports of children as young as 53 weeks old being taken. There’s a Washington Post story detailing a Honduran father killing himself after his child was taken from him. Once the kids are placed with sponsors, they are sometimes moved to different states, leaving the parents in the dark about their whereabouts. And some children are not being reunited with their parents once they’re deported.

Leaders past and present spoke out against this inhumanity.

Polling indicated the American people are disgusted by this.

States pushed back.

Republican lawmakers began to feel the heat.

But they still have not backed Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein’s bill that would end it.

In spite of the overwhelming backlash to this, the Trump administration doesn’t appear to be backing down…which could be to their detriment.

This policy doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it comes from a President who has made the dehumanization of Latino immigrants central to his political platform. Last month, President Trump said of unaccompanied minors who are crossing the border: “They look so innocent. They’re not innocent.” Trump said this in spite of the fact that only 56 out of 250,000 unaccompanied minors apprehended by border patrol were suspected or confirmed to have gang ties.

Also last month, President Trump once again conflated MS-13 with Latino immigrants, calling them “animals.” This fear-mongering rhetoric goes back years. But as we can see, this dehumanization has moved far beyond rhetoric and has gone even further than the inhumane ICE raids we’ve seen.

American history is peppered with moments that test the moral core of our collective humanity. Moments where there is a clear distinction between right and wrong. Moments that present stark choices between decency and depravity. Human rights and oppression. Truth and deceit.

You, reading this right now, are living through one of those moments in history.

What will you do? I have an idea.

Meanwhile…

A decades-long effort to keep politicians from drawing district lines that entrench themselves and their parties in power faltered Monday at the Supreme Court, as justices sidestepped the question of when extreme partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional.

In considering a Republican-drawn map from Wisconsin and a Democratic effort in Maryland, the court had raised the possibility of producing a landmark change in the way the nation’s elections are conducted.

Donald Trump directed the US Trade Representative to prepare new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports Monday as the two nations moved closer to a potential trade war.

The tariffs, which Trump wants set at a 10% rate, would be the latest round of punitive measures in an escalating dispute over the large trade imbalance between the two countries. Trump recently ordered tariffs on $50bn in Chinese goods in retaliation for intellectual properly theft. The tariffs were quickly matched by China on US exports.

President Donald Trump directed the Department of Defense and the Pentagon to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the Armed Forces in a meeting with the National Space Council today.

“We are going to have the Air Force and we’re going to have the Space Force, separate but equal. It is going to be something so important,” President Trump said. “Separate but equal” is an appalling turn of phrase given that it’s derived from Plessy v. Ferguson, the now-overturned Supreme Court precedent for segregation.

FBI Director Christopher Wray stood by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as Republicans asserted that the investigation he’s leading into Russian election meddling was tainted by anti-Trump bias from the start.

“I do not believe Special Counsel Mueller is on a witch hunt,” Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday, repeating his formulation before the same panel almost a year ago, as the politically riven committee reviewed a 500-page report issued last week by the Justice Department’s inspector general.

  • President Trump looks to make good on a promise…

Day 516: Tuesday, June 19

Baby Internment Camps
Lucia Ajas, middle, talks about her and her children, Regina Vargas, 7, left, Akemi Vargas, 8, second from left, and Trinidad Vargas, 5, right, being separated from their father during an immigration family separation protest in front of the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. District Court building, Monday, June 18, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Lucia Ajas, middle, talks about her and her children, Regina Vargas, 7, left, Akemi Vargas, 8, second from left, and Trinidad Vargas, 5, right, being separated from their father during an immigration family separation protest in front of the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. District Court building, Monday, June 18, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Today, the inhumanity of the Trump administration continued.

The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting all undocumented immigrants who cross the southern border unlawfully has resulted in at least 2,300 immigrant children separated from their parents, with at least 700 more separated before the policy was officially announced. The White House is doing this for political purposes, to rile up their base and to use the kids as ransom to leverage Democratic support for their border wall. The stories about this horrific humanitarian crisis at the southern border are rattling decent people around the United States, and today the depravity went to a new level.

The Associated Press published a heartbreaking story that should shake every human being to their very core. The Trump administration is running what are essentially baby jails, and the conditions are abhorrent.

Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three “tender age” shelters in South Texas, The Associated Press has learned.

Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday.

…

Decades after the nation’s child welfare system ended the use of orphanages over concerns about the lasting trauma to children, the administration is standing up new institutions to hold Central American toddlers that the government separated from their parents.

“The thought that they are going to be putting such little kids in an institutional setting? I mean it is hard for me to even wrap my mind around it,” said Kay Bellor, vice president for programs at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which provides foster care and other child welfare services to migrant children. “Toddlers are being detained.”

There you have it. The United States of America is systematically detaining babies and putting them in a traumatic state of distress. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow broke down while trying to deliver this news to the American people.

The Corey Lewandowski mention is referring to the former Trump Campaign Manager and current associate of President Trump, who had a disgraceful appearance on cable news today.

It’s time to call out the indecent among us who challenge our very humanity.

And it appears that is beginning to happen. Thread:

This day began with President Trump continuing his dehumanization of these Latino immigrants, claiming they are “infesting” America. This is white nationalist authoritarian talk.

The Trump administration has refused to allow journalists to shoot video in these centers. They have refused so far to provide images of where the young girls are, leading to intense pushback from the press. All we have so far is the heartbreaking audio of little girls crying for their parents.

And this all came as the United States withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council…

What is happening in America right now is an inhumane disgrace of historic proportions. This White House has decided to stand firmly by this policy and on the wrong side of history. The cruelty President Trump and his administration are showcasing here is truly stunning, short-sighted, and downright evil. As these conditions get worse, we can only hope this ends before the inevitable worst case scenario. These children are about to be in unbearable heat in under-resourced facilities…

This is not simply blue vs. red America‬. ‪This is decency vs. depravity‬. Truth vs. deception‬. Good vs. evil‬. History is watching all of us‬. Neutrality is complicity‬. Pick a side‬.

President Trump. End this NOW.

See you there:

Meanwhile…

  • Rep. Elijah Cummings gave forceful condemnation of this inhumanity.

  • And so did Senator Hirono.

  • 600 members of the United Methodist Church, Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ church, signed a letter condemning the child separation policy and accused Sessions of child abuse.
  • President Trump met with his sycophants on the Hill.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross Jr. shorted stock in a shipping firm — an investment tactic for profiting if share prices fall — days after learning that reporters were preparing a potentially negative story about his dealings with the Kremlin-linked company.

The transaction, valued between $100,000 and $250,000, took place last fall after Mr. Ross became aware that journalists investigating offshore finances were looking at his investments in the shipper Navigator Holdings, whose major clients included a Russian energy company. The New York Times emailed a list of questions about Navigator to Mr. Ross on Oct. 26.

Three business days later, Mr. Ross, a wealthy investor, opened a short position in Navigator, according to filings released on Monday by the Office of Government Ethics. The company’s stock price slid about 4 percent before Mr. Ross closed his position on Nov. 16, eleven days after the articles were published by The Times and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists as part of the “Paradise Papers” project.

Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen has signaled to friends that he is “willing to give” investigators information on the President if that’s what they are looking for, and is planning on hiring a new lawyer to handle a possible indictment from federal prosecutors.

“He knows a lot of things about the President and he’s not averse to talking in the right situation,” one of Cohen’s New York friends who is in touch with him told CNN. “If they want information on Trump, he’s willing to give it.”

  • President Trump’s 2020 Campaign Manager gave the President some advice over Twitter.

  • The GOP prepared for another healthcare repeal effort later this summer.

Day 517: Wednesday, June 20

A Feeble EO
President Donald Trump holds up an executive order he signed to end family separations, during an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Looking on is Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, left. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Donald Trump holds up an executive order he signed to end family separations, during an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Looking on is Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, left. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Today, President Trump signed an executive order that trades one inhumane policy for another and doesn’t reunite the over 2,300 immigrant children already separated from their parents. Let’s break it down:

The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting all undocumented immigrants who cross the southern border unlawfully has resulted in at least 2,342 immigrant children separated from their parents between May 5 and June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security. At least 700 more had been separated before the policy was officially announced (a deep dive into the policy, fact-checks of Trump’s lies, and reaction to it here). Those children’s futures are still uncertain.

The executive order Trump signed today doesn’t end the “zero tolerance” policy, which is the real problem. After Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced “zero tolerance,” prosecutorial discretion was ended. That means officers who once had the ability to decide whether or not to prosecute immigrants at the border no longer have that ability and must prosecute all of them. The executive order still ensures all undocumented immigrants are prosecuted, but now the parents must be detained with their children. Apparently, this does not apply to the over 2,300 children (including babies) who have already been separated from their parents. The New York Times reported:

And a Health and Human Services official said that more than 2,300 children who have already been separated from their parents under the president’s “zero tolerance” policy will not be immediately reunited with their families while the adults remain in federal custody during their immigration proceedings.

“There will not be a grandfathering of existing cases,” said Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Wolfe said the decision about the children was made by the White House, but he added, “I can tell you definitively that is going to be policy.”

This is tragic, especially given the fact we’ve learned of some lawsuits alleging abuse and forced injections on the children.

This order came while we waited for the Department of Homeland security to provide details and images of where the young girls and infants are being housed (which the media should still demand). There is footage of what may be migrant girls being snuck into a shelter in New York.

The Associated Press obtained some details on the infants yesterday, which brought MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow to tears.

Even though newly detained migrant children will no longer be separated from their parents, the family internment is still unacceptable. In order to have the capacity to house them, President Trump ordered the Department of Defense to create room on U.S. military bases where these migrants can be indefinitely held during the prosecution process. They will likely create more tent cities, which are highly expensive to the U.S. taxpayer. We will effectively have migrant internment camps around the U.S.

This brings up the Flores settlement which ruled that children must not be detained for more than 20 days, which the Trump administration will be violating with their indefinite detention of the families. It seems almost certain that this will be struck down by the courts. But what happens then?

Will the Trump administration then try and continue the separation of children after that? Keep the pressure up and find answers.

One more point: when it comes to the motive behind President Trump’s executive order, don’t believe the White House spin.

President Trump owns this human rights abuse. This inhumanity is a stain on American history we’ll never forget. This is who this President is.

Donald the Depraved.

Meanwhile…

  • It appears prosecutors in the Southern District of New York are probing whether or not Trump’s personal fixer Michael Cohen, and now-former Deputy Finance Chair of the RNC, coordinated the hush money payment of Karen McDougal.

Federal authorities have subpoenaed the publisher of the National Enquirer for records related to its $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model for the rights to her story alleging an affair with Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.

The subpoena from Manhattan federal prosecutors requesting information from the publisher, American Media Inc., about its August 2016 payment to Karen McDougal is part of a broader criminal investigation of Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, they said.

The Trump administration plans to advocate a merger of the Education and Labor departments as part of a sweeping government overhaul, according to two individuals familiar with the proposal who declined to be named because it’s not yet public.

The new combined agency, if approved by Congress, would be part of a broader government reorganization plan that could be announced as soon as Thursday, POLITICO reported. Mick Mulvaney, director of the OMB, has been working on the reorganization plan since his confirmation more than a year ago.

A longtime US lobbyist for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska visited Julian Assange nine times at the Ecuadorian embassy in London last year, according to visitor logs seen by the Guardian.

Adam Waldman, who has worked as a Washington lobbyist for the metals tycoon since 2009, had more meetings with Assange in 2017 than almost anyone else, the records show.

It is not clear why Waldman went to the WikiLeaks founder or whether the meetings had any connection to the Russian billionaire, who is now subject to US sanctions. But the disclosure is likely to raise further questions about the extent and nature of Assange’s alleged ties to Russia.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has approved a Justice Department request to send 21 active-duty military lawyers to the southern border, the Pentagon confirmed to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Wednesday night.

The details: The DOJ wants the active-duty Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs) sent to six cities in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico to work as prosecutors for roughly six months on cases regarding illegal immigrants. The decision comes in the heat of the battle over the Trump administration’s application of a “zero-tolerance” policy to illegal border crossings, which refers all adults crossing illegally to the DOJ for criminal prosecution.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has decided to throw his political clout and personal fortune behind the Democratic campaign to take control of the House of Representatives this year, directing aides to spend tens of millions of dollars in an effort to expel Republicans from power.

Mr. Bloomberg — a political independent who has championed left-of-center policies on gun control, immigration and the environment — has approved a plan to pour at least $80 million into the 2018 election, with the bulk of that money going to support Democratic congressional candidates, advisers to Mr. Bloomberg said.

  • The U.S.’ exit from the Human Rights Council raised concerns in Israel, despite the U.S. claiming Israel as a reason to exit.

Former Ambassador Susan Rice responded.

Day 518: Thursday, June 21

Indefinite Internment
Ever Castillo, left, and his family, immigrants from Honduras, are escorted back across the border by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents Thursday, June 21, 2018, in Hildalgo, Texas. The parents were told they would be separated from their children and voluntarily crossed back to Mexico after trying to seek asylum in the United States. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Ever Castillo, left, and his family, immigrants from Honduras, are escorted back across the border by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents Thursday, June 21, 2018, in Hildalgo, Texas. The parents were told they would be separated from their children and voluntarily crossed back to Mexico after trying to seek asylum in the United States. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

The last few weeks have been harrowing. From reports of immigrant baby internment camps, forced injections on the children, and abuse at juvenile centers, it’s been very tough to keep up with the atrocities. The Trump administration’s separation of over 2,300 children from their parents at the US-Mexico border has tested the moral core of our nation. What happens next will test our resilience.

Many of these migrants are asylum seekers, fleeing violence and cruelty from Central America only to be welcomed by more cruelty from the country that has “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” enshrined on its Statue of Liberty. After President Trump yielded to the public pressure and signed an executive order on Wednesday ending this separation, there has been much confusion about what comes next for those already separated and the immigrants yet to cross the border. Today, reports began to paint a clearer picture of what the executive order means and what’s next.

No concrete plans for reunification appear to be in sight for the families who have already been separated, with the Associated Press reporting only 500 total have been reunited. And it appears indefinite internment camps for immigrant families and unaccompanied minors on military bases are in the future. But a Washington Post report indicated the U.S. Border Patrol will stop referring immigrant families to the Justice Department for prosecution. So what does it all mean? Here’s the rundown:

So, as we know, the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting all undocumented immigrants who cross the southern border unlawfully has resulted in at least 2,342 immigrant children separated from their parents between May 5 and June 9, according to the Department of Homeland Security. At least 700 more had been separated before the policy was officially announced. Trump’s executive order did not end “zero tolerance,” which is the real problem.

The Trump administration has reportedly filed papers seeking permission for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold the families together during prosecution, in spite of the Flores settlement.

In order to have the capacity to house them, President Trump has ordered the Department of Defense (DOD) to create room on U.S. military bases where these migrants can be indefinitely held during the prosecution process. Today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection told The Washington Post that they would freeze criminal prosecution referrals for families at the border, but the Justice Department said the prosecutions will continue but the discretion of referral is in the hands of Border Patrol. This decision was reportedly made for logistical reasons because prosecuting all 400+ families that cross the border each day would create an unsustainable detention nightmare. Let’s see how this Border Patrol discretion policy plays out, and whether or not it will drastically decrease prosecutions.

In order to house the families that are prosecuted and the ones already in custody, the U.S. government will likely create more tent cities, which are highly expensive to the U.S. taxpayer.

This undated photo provided by HHS’ Administration for Children and Families shows the shelter used to house unaccompanied foreign children in Tornillo, Texas. (HHS’ Administration for Children and Families via AP)

This undated photo provided by HHS’ Administration for Children and Families shows the shelter used to house unaccompanied foreign children in Tornillo, Texas. (HHS’ Administration for Children and Families via AP)

The DOD has also agreed to house up to 20,000 unaccompanied minors on military bases. The Washington Post reported:

HHS has about 12,000 migrant children in its care, nearly 10,000 of whom arrived without their parents. It was not immediately clear why HHS had projected a need for 20,000 temporary beds, given that Trump’s executive order will reduce the number of children taken into government custody.

HHS officials had no immediate comment.

We will effectively have migrant internment camps around the U.S. The Washington Post has created an interactive map in an effort to crowdsource the current location of some of the children who are currently separated.

There is still a lot up in the air, but don’t worry, the White House is reportedly just as confused as we are.

With reports of abuse like what the Associated Press reported today, we need answers fast:

Virginia’s governor ordered state officials Thursday to investigate abuse claims by children at an immigration detention facility who said they were beaten while handcuffed and locked up for long periods in solitary confinement, left nude and shivering in concrete cells.

Gov. Ralph Northam announced the probe in a tweet hours after The Associated Press reported the allegations. They were included in a federal civil rights lawsuit with a half-dozen sworn statements from Latino youths held for months or years at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center. The AP report also cited an adult who saw bruises and broken bones the children said were caused by guards.

…

Children as young as 14 said the guards there stripped them of their clothes and strapped them to chairs with bags placed over their heads.

“Whenever they used to restrain me and put me in the chair, they would handcuff me,” said a Honduran immigrant who was sent to the facility when he was 15 years old. “Strapped me down all the way, from your feet all the way to your chest, you couldn’t really move. … They have total control over you. They also put a bag over your head. It has little holes; you can see through it. But you feel suffocated with the bag on.”

Meanwhile…

  • Melania Trump visited immigrant children during an unannounced trip to the US-Mexico border. Her choice of wardrobe…took many by surprise, to say the least.

President Trump sought to “clarify” this.

By a razor-thin margin, the House of Representatives passed its version of the farm bill Thursday as Republican leadership was able to round up just enough support from members of its conservative wing to clear passage.

The GOP-backed measure, which covers farm and food policy legislation, passed 213-211.

The $867 billion package renews the safety net for farmers across the country, but also includes tougher work requirements for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Program or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.

  • There was more movement on the GOP’s next attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

States will be able to force more people to pay sales tax when they make online purchases under a Supreme Court decision Thursday that will leave shoppers with lighter wallets but is a big financial win for states.

Consumers can expect to see sales tax charged on more online purchases — likely over the next year and potentially before the Christmas shopping season — as states and retailers react to the court’s decision, said one attorney involved in the case

President Trump hopes to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in the next few weeks even as the American leader increasingly clashes with European allies over how to counter Moscow’s assertive actions in Europe and the Middle East.

Mr. Trump is sending his national security adviser, John R. Bolton, to Moscow next week to discuss a possible meeting. Mr. Trump is already scheduled to attend a NATO summit meeting in Brussels next month, followed by a long-delayed visit to Britain. He could presumably add a stop in another country like Austria to see Mr. Putin.

Day 519: Friday, June 22 (With a little from the weekend)

Depraved Spin
Donald Trump waves as he leaves a campaign rally, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, in Altoona, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Donald Trump waves as he leaves a campaign rally, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, in Altoona, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Today was when the Trump administration decided that their strategy to deal with the fallout of this policy was racism and crying fake news. First, President Trump proved once and for all that the sad images didn’t move him to sign the EO, by calling the images phony.

President Trump also called on Republicans to stop pursuing immigration reform until after the midterms.

The President also used angel families as props.

President Trump continued over the weekend.

And from Tucker Carlson claiming liberals want to change our country’s demographics to Mike Huckabee essentially creating racist memes, the right has effectively gone full white supremacist.

Trump doesn’t care how depraved this is, as long as base loves it…

While this was occurring, we discovered that newborns were being ripped from their mother’s arms.

It also became clear how this policy is not only inhumane but ineffective if their goal really is to reduce crime.

The Administration is claiming they’ve reunited 522 of the separated children and that HSS only has about 2,053 left in custody, but CNN reported that their plan for reunification may result in attempts to reunify after parents are deported.

We also learned that TIME obtained a memo that claims the Navy may create space to detain over 100,000 migrants…

This is only the beginning.

Meanwhile…

  • Normally I’d be way more on top of these Micahel Cohen stories but will do further details next week. Here’s yet another bombshell. The Washington Post reported:

>During the presidential campaign, National Enquirer executives sent digital copies of the tabloid’s articles and cover images related to Donald Trump and his political opponents to Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen in advance of publication, according to three people with knowledge of the matter — an unusual practice that speaks to the close relationship between Trump and David Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc., the Enquirer’s parent company.

Although the company strongly denies ever sharing such material before publication, these three individuals say the sharing of material continued after Trump took office.

  • And then there was the Tom Arnold ridiculousness. NBC News reported:

President Donald Trump’s embattled personal attorney, Michael Cohen, retweeted a photo of himself with comedian Tom Arnold — who happens to be working on a show with Viceland that features him hunting for unflattering video of Trump.

Arnold told NBC News early Friday that Cohen ― who is under investigation by federal prosecutors ― talked to him about the show, which is expected to air later this year.

“We’ve been on the other side of the table and now we’re on the same side,” said Arnold, an outspoken Trump critic.

“It’s on! I hope he [Trump] sees the picture of me and Michael Cohen and it haunts his dreams.”

  • And there was this stunning report:

Buckle up for another wild week ahead. Stay vigilant. Stay hopeful. Stay focused.

Unpresidented // Donald Trump / Government / Human Rights / Immigration / Journalism
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by: Ahmed Baba

Ahmed Baba is the Co-Founder and President of Rantt. Writer of Unpresidented, Ahmed documented and analyzed every day of the Trump presidency. He's also a columnist at The Independent and his work has been cited in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed, The New York Post, The Huffington Post, Yahoo News, Blavity, Newsweek, The Telegraph, and more. He can be reached at [email protected] or found on Twitter @AhmedBaba_.

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