PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Here I go again writing about a travesty involving Donald Trump.

This time it is about immigration.

But, forget Trump as he exits the stage as a loser.

Just focus on one of the most heinous acts of the Trump Administration (there’s that inaccurate word again, “Administration,” which does not belong to Trump).  It was to separate immigrant children from their parents at the U.S-Mexico border.

Imagine that for a moment.

“Kidnap” children from their parents at the border, do so intentionally, and then forget about them.  If the kids cry, no problem.  If the parents wail, don’t listen.

And the fact is that Trump and his sycophants performed this tragedy intentionally out of some apparent belief that immigrants were all criminals.

So, the point of this blog:  New President Joe Biden and his allies should work immediately to undo this tragedy.

As difficult as it will be, reuniting parents with their children should be at the top of the Biden’s “new policy” list.  Achieving this would be an act of humanity as part of an overall reform of the American immigration system under Biden.

Trump began separating children from parents as part of a pilot program in El Paso, Texas, in 2017.  By the time Trump announced his “zero tolerance” policy against immigrants the following year, the practice of separating children and parents had been implemented up and down the U.S.-Mexico border.

Incredibly, according to a study by the Washington Post, 1,500 separations occurred in 2017 and 2,800 in 2018.

The practice included holding migrants for possible criminal prosecution — even if they were just seeking asylum — and eventually deporting them while their children remained in facilities located around the U.S.

The plan was devised by White House adviser Stephen Miller, an incredible figure in his own right, someone who put in place incredibly inhumane policies, such as parent-child separation without any regard for the long-term deleterious effects.

Miller’s work for Trump rested on several principles, if you can call what motivated his hatred “principles.”  He maintains immigrants are primarily a threat and should above all be feared.  Immigrants, he contends, are largely driven by nefarious motives, looking to scam their way into the United States. 

According to Miller, efforts to migrate must, above all, be crushed by maximum cruelty and hardship, including by separating children from their parents.

According to the Post, Biden officials don’t fear Miller who, fortunately, is on his way out.  Biden and appointees intend to “expand legal pathways for migration,” including “allowing people to apply for refugee resettlement.”

The Biden team accepts the principle that most migrants actually do have a plausible case to seek protection and that because of this, the U.S. should facilitate immigration, not make it harder.

“That’ is,” writes the Washington Post, “a decisive break with Miller-ism.  Indeed, it would begin to restore a core commitment that the U.S. has made to international laws and ideals dictating a human right to a fair and just hearing.

“Biden is also signaling efforts at regional solutions that are sane and humane.  Biden officials say they will pursue a $4 billion plan to combat corruption and foster economic development in migrant-origin countries, another sign of recognition that migrations are driven by root causes that can be addressed through internationally negotiated solutions.”

Unwinding Trump’s horrors will be extremely difficult.  But the effort to reunite children with parents is worth it as a key tenet of Biden’s approach.

The fact that such an intentional policy existed at all will rank as one of the major stains on Trump and his cronies as they leave the White House.  Only ONE of the major stains, because are so many over the last four years.