Readers React: The forcible separation of migrant children from their parents is an American disgrace

To the editor: I have never before read an article in the Los Angeles Times that has upset me as much as learning about the treatment of the children who are forcibly separated from their parents at our border by the Department of Homeland Security.

This is so traumatic for the child’s development, as pointed out by Dr. Colleen Kraft, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Any parent knows this is a terrible situation and the harm it will cause.

What kind of a society are we here in the United States to allow this to go on? And what kind of a president do we have who chooses to allow this terrible process as a means of keeping people from trying to better their lives? He has no regard for family life and no compassion for the people who struggle.

I am ashamed to learn that our government has reached such a low.

Marybeth Beck, Cypress

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To the editor: There is no moral excuse for the government practice of separating children from their parents at the border. Dr. Kraft says the American Academy of Pediatrics has repeatedly written to the Department of Homeland Security about this, to no avail.

Where is the public outcry? Where is the religious community?

Dr. Kraft writes, “We turn to the judicial system to right this wrong.” What about the court of public opinion? Have we lost all sense of individual and corporate responsibility for the cruel actions of our government?

Fred Fenton, Seal Beach

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