Nicholas Kristof: At the border, Trump turns us into brutes

And it costs $775 per night per kid! View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, June 21, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Kristof »]( [When Trump turns us into brutes]( [At left, a Jewish boy with his family surrendering to Nazi soldiers in 1943. At right, a Honduran boy and his father seeking asylum were taken into custody last week near Mission, Tex., a border town.]( At left, a Jewish boy with his family surrendering to Nazi soldiers in 1943. At right, a Honduran boy and his father seeking asylum were taken into custody last week near Mission, Tex., a border town. Corbis, via Getty Images (left); John Moore/Getty Images President Trump says he is now changing his policy of family separation at the border. That’s a tribute to the outcry he faced, but it’s still very unclear how his plan for family internment camps will be legal under the [1997 Flores court settlement](. In any case, what has struck me since I began reporting on family separation in April is how this fits into [a long history]( of slave separation and even of Nazi separation (with the critical caveat that no one today is gassed or enslaved). So for [today’s column]( I gathered accounts of separation and of apologists for that separation. I think you’ll agree it’s [a powerful prism]( through which to see what Trump has made us. Almost as disturbing as the family separations have been the defenses of it. [President Trump repeatedly lied]( and said that he was forced to separate families by the law, or that Democrats were forcing him to pull kids from moms’ arms. Fox News host Laura Ingraham compared the children’s facilities to “[summer camps]( John Kelly said the kids would be put into “[foster care or whatever]( Cory Lewandowski mocked the concern for a separated autistic child with “womp womp.” (That had to be translated for me: It’s a sarcastic expression equivalent to a shrug and “Too bad.”) Grrrr. But it’s at least reassuring to see that solid reporting and broad-based outrage can force Trump to pivot and do something he had previously insisted was impossible. Oh, and you know how much the Trump administration was paying to house the kids it ripped from parents’ arms? [Some $775 per child per night!]( The administration is cutting budget requests for programs in Central America that would actually reduce the flow of refugees, it’s targeting lifelines for kids here in America — and yet it will pay $775 a night to house a terrified child in a tent after kidnapping the child from its parents. Bravo to the Los Angeles Times for [an excellent editorial]( on the need for Governor Jerry Brown to allow advanced DNA testing in the case of Kevin Cooper in California, following a similar editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle. Kim Kardashian also weighed in on Twitter calling for testing. But Governor Brown remains mute, and his spokesman won’t even tell me if he has opened Cooper’s appeal to him. I’ve written about U.S. complicity in the bombing and starvation of Yemen by Saudi and U.A.E. forces. An [A.P. report]( describes torture and sexual assaults by U.A.E. troops against Yemeni prisoners, again possibly with U.S. complicity. Finally, Ezra Klein has [a great podcast]( animal rights and eating meat. He suggests that some day we’ll all look back and wonder how we could have tolerated the cruelty implicit in modern factory farming. He also explores “carnism,” the doctrine that allows chickens to be tortured and golden retrievers to be loved. Now, back to [my column about family separation](. I hope you’ll read it and see how our latest policy of dividing families has been not just unsound but also truly evil. [Please share.]( ADVERTISEMENT Recent Columns [Trump Was Outfoxed in Singapore]( The United States made important concessions to North Korea, and got nothing tangible. [North Korea, Trump and Human Rights]( What’s at stake isn’t just warheads but also people. I welcome suggestions for what to include in this newsletter. You can connect with me on [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Google]( [Instagram]( and [Pinterest](. If you have friends who might enjoy this newsletter, forward this email; they can [sign up here](. Send feedback or tech questions to newsletters@nytimes.com. ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW NICHOLAS KRISTOF [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nickkristof]( [Instagram] [nickkristof]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »]( | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Nicholas Kristof newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2018 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018