I’m writing in regard to an issue that has concerned me for some time: that is, children being separated from their parents. This includes during illegal border crossings as well as during a parent’s incarceration for crimes committed.
From my research, the government has been put into an impossible position because of the January 1997 agreement in Reno v. Flores that explicitly bars children from staying with parents who have been detained or jailed.
In my opinion, our governmental leaders should seek to pass a law that would allow nonviolent parent and children to live together in special prisons designed to educate the child and rehabilitate the parent(s) or, in cases of illegal crossings, house the family unit until their case can be judged.
As far as violent parents, they should be separated from their children, as the child’s needs far outweigh the parents'. I understand that this is a complex problem, but with what our government leaders waste their time on currently, surely they can find time to help the children of the future; otherwise, more children’s lives will be lost to crime or poverty.
Charles Taylor
Highland