GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is taking aim at the families of undocumented workers. On a recent appearance on O'Reilly Factor, the candidate said that children of "illegal" immigrants would just have to cry if their parents were deported as a consequence of breaking the law.
Even as Bill O'Reilly acknowledged that taking parents away from their children is cruel, Bachmann held fast to her belief that breaking up families is par for the course.
We find it interesting that a woman whose platform is largely based on the preservation of "family values" is OK with breaking up families if they include undocumented workers. The woman who is against abortion is for getting rid of "anchor babies" — her words, not ours. If families have to be broken up in the process of deporting undocumented workers, then so be it.
Jorge Rivas of ColorLines reports the following:
The reality is it’s already happening because one in four people detained for deportation have kids and sometimes they are separated forever. Last month a yearlong investigation by Colorlines.com’s publisher, the Applied Research Center, found more than 5,000 children stuck in foster care because their parents were detained by ICE.
Can you say hypocrite? Is it morally right to separate children from their parents, even if you have the legal right to do so? These kids are by definition U.S. citizens and should be afforded the rights of citizenship, including the pursuit of happiness, which for a child is tied closely to the parents.
Further, unnecessarily separating children from their parents sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to us. For someone so sensitive about a song, Bachmann's lack of sensitivity toward protecting families, especially children, is befuddling.
Read more at ColorLines.