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Separated
Separated: Inside an American Tragedy | Jacob Soboroff
33 posts | 9 read | 23 to read
From the award-winning NBC News and MSNBC correspondent comes a powerful and deeply reported journey to lay bare the full truth behind the defining moral crisis of the Trump years: the systematic separation of thousands of desperate migrant families at the US-Mexico border In June 2018, Donald Trumps most notorious decision as president had secretly been in effect for months before most Americans became aware of the astonishing inhumanity being perpetrated by their own government. Jacob Soboroff was among the first journalists to expose this reality after seeing firsthand the living conditions of the children in custody. His influential series of reports ignited public scrutiny that contributed to the president reversing his own policy and earned Soboroff the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Broadcast Journalism and, with his colleagues, the 2019 Hillman Prize for Broadcast Journalism. But beyond the headlines, the complete, multilayered story lay untold. How, exactly, had such a humanitarian tragedynow deemed torture by physicianshappened on American soil? Most important, what has been the human experience of those separated children and parents? Soboroff has spent the past two years reporting the many strands of this complex narrative, developing sources from within the Trump administration who share critical details for the first time. He also traces the dramatic odyssey of one separated family from Guatemala, where their lives were threatened by narcos, to seek asylum at the U.S. border, where they were separatedthe son ending up in Texas, and the father thousands of miles away, in the Mojave desert of central California. And he joins the heroes who emerged to challenge the policy, and who worked on the ground to reunite parents with children. In this essential reckoning, Soboroff weaves together these key voices with his own experience covering this national issueat the border in Texas, California, and Arizona; with administration officials in Washington, D.C., and inside the disturbing detention facilities. Separated lays out compassionately, yet in the starkest of terms, its human toll, and makes clear what is at stake in the 2020 presidential election.
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dariazeoli
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Ok. The rest of the year is icing. #readingchallenge

Soubhiville Whoohoo! Congratulations! 3y
kezzlou85 Well done. 🎉 3y
tracey38 Congratulations!! 🎉📚🎊 3y
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Jas16 🙌🏽 3y
merelybookish Congrats! 3y
DHill Congratulations! 🎉 3y
KristiAhlers Congratulations! 🎉 3y
fredamans Congrats!!! 3y
IMASLOWREADER congratulations 3y
DivineDiana 👏🏻👍🏻😲 3y
55 likes10 comments
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Addison_Reads
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Pickpick

#NonFiction2021 @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

I was reluctant to read this book because I knew the subject matter would anger me. Soboroff delivers a powerful, informative look into the tragedy occurring at the border.

I highly recommend this book to everyone if you'd like to be more educated on this subject.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa It was so informative wasn‘t it! 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Another update to my #Separated read group!

Fingers crossed for some good news on this front!!!

 @BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC

MallenNC I‘m glad to see Jacob is staying on the story. 4y
Ruthiella Wonderful! 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Awesome news!! I read this on Scribd and picked up a Kindle copy when it was on sale the other day. Gotta support authors! 4y
TheBookHippie 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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This is from a few days ago, but I forgot to post it (a lot happening lately), but I thought my #Separated reading group might find this update interesting.

 @BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC

MallenNC Good. This doesn‘t need to be forgotten. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Yes just 1000 times yes! 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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From the epilogue...

#Separated

Readergrrl Heartbreaking and morally corrupt. 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Leftcoastzen What a book . 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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So now all of them, even the asylum seekers who have proven credible threats to their lives, are made to wait in Mexico or in the country they came from (where the threat is) until their court date. Trump has used COVID to “immediately expelling virtually all asylum seekers” COVID allowed him to do what he had been trying to accomplish for the past 3 years. 😢

#Separated

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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We may never know how many they actually separated, because they willfully refused to keep track of those they separated, and deported some in the interim (separately). 😢

#Separated

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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And when the parents finally got transferred (this one out of a maximum security prison) to an immigrant detention center, finally got to apply for asylum, was approved by a judge...he still had to come up with $2,500 bond before he could be released....and then he could start working on getting reunited with his son. Thank goodness for great volunteers!

#Separated

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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As soon as they separated children from their families, they immediately labeled them “unaccompanied”, so the goal was to separate, label the kids as unaccompanied and then immediately deport the children ALONE back to their country of origin while indefinitely detaining the parents in US prisons for entering illegally.

#Separated

*Katie Waldman, now Katie Miller

Megabooks Wow. Worse than I thought. 4y
CaraTK @Riveted_Reader_Melissa thank you for sharing these excerpts, I can‘t bring myself to read the book yet 🤬 (edited) 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Megabooks Exactly my thoughts...it was all so much worse than I thought! 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @CaraTK You‘re welcome...it‘s a tough read, but an important one. As disturbing as it was to see how much was intentionally done, it‘s important, I think, to see that and not just chalk things up to ineptitude...because that really lets them off the hook. Part of that whole understanding history so we don‘t repeat it, and in this case can‘t be lied to about it. 4y
CaraTK @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I wholeheartedly agree 💯 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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They couldn‘t even reunite them efficiently... leaving children under 5 waiting in vans all day and in some cases through the night.

#Separated

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Because they never bothered to keep track, or keep any records.

#Separated

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Pickpick

Such a good job reporting on such an important subject. I thought I understood it, but I definitely learned more. How much was neglect & how much was willingly & purposefully done. How much Trump tried to reinstate the policy after it ended, how many were still separated after the policy “officially” ended, how parents were coerced into signing away rights, all while the admin worked on deporting separated kids or parents without reuniting them.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa ↪️ sadly even at the end, this isn‘t a fixed problem, and he talks in the epilogue about some of the issues still occurring with these asylum seekers. 4y
TheBookHippie Yup. I‘ve been in it for decades but I‘ve never seen anything like the past four years... PURE EVIL. (edited) 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @TheBookHippie I agree! After reading this there is no argument left for stupidity or plain ineptitude...it was purposeful and malicious all the way around. (edited) 4y
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TheBookHippie @Riveted_Reader_Melissa YUP. We knew it I met with the ACLU December 2016 we knew what was coming ... but the evil of it all still shocked even me .. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @TheBookHippie And beyond just the evil of stealing kids...they separated them and sent some of the parents to max security prisons with the worst criminals, denied them legal counsel, coerced them into signing away rights to their kids (often in English which they couldn‘t read and again without legal counsel), never gave them asylum interviews, then sent them to immigration court separately, often deporting the parent or child and keeping the ⤵️ 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ↪️ other here separately (often still in jail), often with no contact with each other. And they didn‘t keep track when they separated people, even though people in the system warned about this being a huge problem, when an employee began keeping a spreadsheet, they wanted it destroyed, and on and on, and on...🙄 4y
TheBookHippie @Riveted_Reader_Melissa yup. My friend is an immigration lawyer. She is my hero I keep her in coffee and liquorice ... she‘s exhausted ... listening to her I just cried ... there are days she just threw up most of the day from it all... but she keeps fighting .. she amazes me 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @TheBookHippie She‘s my hero too, and it‘s ridiculous that even the lawyers have to go through this. 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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I finished last night and since I saw both @MallenNC and @BarbaraTheBibliophage post their reviews already, I know they‘ve both finished too....so I thought I‘d post this now and just leave it open through the weekend for any discussion.

#Separated

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Such a good job reporting on such an important subject, and so much to unpack...I thought I understood it all, but I definitely learned even more. How much was neglect and how much was willingly and purposefully done. How much Trump tried to reinstate the policy after he ended it...and was talked back first by his daughter and then his wife (I may have to grudgingly give them more credit than I have in the past)... and how many were still ⤵️ 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ↪️ separated after the policy “officially” ended. And how the parents were coerced into signing away rights, while the administration worked on deporting both separately...and did, and didn‘t reunite even when they were approved for asylum, ugh!!! 4y
MallenNC For me the indifference of the administration to this suffering was so strongly on display throughout the book. I had heard some of the quotes from Katie Miller before but it was still shocking to read. I also didn‘t know that there were attempts to reinstate the policy after it dropped out of the headlines. The signing of documents not in their native language was so terrible, but it was another example of the cruelty of deterrence as a policy. 4y
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MallenNC It was good for me to have read this in a sequence with We Are Displaced and Just Mercy because this book had some of the same threads of policies that don‘t take humanity into consideration. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC Yes, we definitely read them in the right order, and I‘m glad I read this after We Are Displaced too. I still need to read Just Mercy though. And yes! It was so telling, I think it‘s a must read book. As much as you hear cruelty was the point, I think in some ways I still chalked up some of it to ineptitude or miscommunication, but reading this you can clearly see that it was all a plan, and well executed one, that was their goal... (edited) 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ... they weren‘t mismanaged, they managed it exactly that way on purpose....don‘t make a check box, they didn‘t keep any records or lists, they didn‘t reunite them even once they got approved for asylum, their hope was to apparently deport the kids so the wouldn‘t have to care for them and ship the adults straight to prison with no lawyer or judge...and the end about how he‘s used COVID to basically ship them all back to their countries anyway... (edited) 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ...or to Mexico, where they are in more danger is just disheartening on so many level. 4y
MallenNC Just Mercy is a great book. It took me a long time to pick it up, but I‘m so glad I read it. I thought of it while reading about Juan and Jose, because if they hadn‘t had attorneys to help them, they‘d probably have remained as they were. Just Mercy is of course about a different type of justice but it shows how much of a difference resources (or a lack of them) make. 4y
MallenNC I came across this story yesterday. The Bullwark is run by anti-Trump republicans. It‘s not something I read often but I thought this really shows the purposeful damage done by Stephen Miller and Trump. https://thebulwark.com/uninstalling-stephen-miller/ 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC Yes, I felt that way when I read The New Jim Crow too. Such a difference in lawyer and resources and what the outcomes are. 4y
MallenNC And I do agree that cruelty was the point of this policy change, and I also think indifference by some in the departments enforcing the new policy. The changes to the forms were so terrible! 4y
MallenNC I have The New Jim Crow, but still need to read it. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC Just read that article, that‘s a great summary! 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC We have so much work to do! 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC Soboroff was on MSNBC today talking about kids still not reunited, because their parents were deported (I couldn‘t help thinking about the kids deported alone), and the mental services now available to the separated families (those reunited & in the US) apparently after refusal by the administration it was court ordered, and a database that was out of date was given to a non-profit, so they are going through it... 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ...line by line and trying to track down the families and offer services. Except some of the info is bad, wrong numbers old numbers, etc...and a bunch of them are afraid to talk to anyone at all because they are afraid the government my get involved again and retraumatize them more. 4y
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MallenNC
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Pickpick

I thought I knew the story of family separations from following news coverage, but it was even worse. The author, an NBC News corespondent, continues to follow this story as even more has been uncovered about what he rightly calls an American tragedy. He talks in this about his journalistic decision making too, which was interesting as he learned how bad the situation really was. It is horrifying, and the impact will be long lasting.

BarbaraTheBibliophage Great review! I know I heard much (but not all) of this in the news. But reading it all compiled together just makes it more devastating. 4y
MallenNC @BarbaraTheBibliophage I think that‘s what it was for me, reading it all in a row instead of the way news trickled out in real time. And then the confirmation of the administration‘s indifference to the suffering. 4y
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BarbaraTheBibliophage
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Pickpick

Oh my, this book broke my heart. And it made me mad! The story of U.S. immigration policy under Trump is one that must be told, no matter how cruel the story is. Soboroff makes the complex details clear, and deals well with the emotional aspects too. The story isn‘t over, so I also recommend following him on Twitter for updates.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2020 #nonfictionchallenge2020 #abouthousing

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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“... most separated children get sent to HHS custody without information indicating “whether or not they were with a parent or adult,” there was in no way, shape, or form “a central database which HHS and DHS can access and update.” There were only simple spreadsheets that, earlier that day, both ICE and HHS admitted they couldn‘t complete. Americans were lied to about the existence of a family separation policy....”⤵️

Riveted_Reader_Melissa ↪️... “Now they were being lied to about the plan to undo it.” #Separated 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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The HOPE was: it would allow them to detain “families” (he was shipping the separated parents to federal prisons without access to lawyers, a new prison pipeline) & then deport unaccompanied minors directly.

*What‘s unsaid here, is that once children were separated, they were labeled “unaccompanied” so he would have been sending minor children back to their dangerous homelands ALONE - WITHOUT THEIR PARENTS who were in US prisons indefinitely!!!🤯

22 likes2 comments
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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How are you doing @BarbaraTheBibliophage and @MallenNC ? I‘m caught up this week, and I had a hard time stopping this week after our part. It‘s still a tough read, but I‘m still surprised by how much they knew it would be illegal (their lawyers told them) and that there was no space to care for all those children (but they didn‘t listen), that they hoped the law would be changed to instantly deport them, that they cut off ⤵️

Riveted_Reader_Melissa ↪️ funds to war torn and draught areas making the number of people needing asylum becoming more desperate. It‘s like the perfect storm of bad decisions that they knew wouldn‘t work or would make it worse and were told by the experts, but then did it anyway in some magically thinking that it‘d all be fine. #Separated 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Plus that they had no system AT ALL to connect the kids with parents later, because they just never bothered to write down when they separated them, and the immediately sent the separated parents to federal prison without access to a lawyer. It reminded me of the Kids for Cash scandal here in PA @BarbaraTheBibliophage because of their agreement with federal pens to take care of them, but without a conviction first! (edited) 4y
MallenNC This section was still difficult to read but I think once we got to the part where Jacob became aware of what was happening, the narrative pulled me through it faster because it seemed like something good (the raising of awareness) was finally happening. I loved that he talked about the journalistic dilemma of not taking sides, and the reasons why he decided this story couldn‘t be approached that way. 4y
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MallenNC It was appalling that the government officials didn‘t care enough to either not have separations or at minimum to make it easier to reconnect these families, but as was written many times during the past four years, the cruelty was the point. They thought these desperate people would magically stop coming to the US. And if not, they did not care what happened to these families as a result. 4y
MallenNC The other thought I kept having was how many people “were just doing their jobs” knowing what the administration was doing was harmful, but they kept working and letting it happen. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC YES! I thought about that too! So many went along, knowing better. And that old defense of ‘I was just doing my job‘ ‘Just following orders‘ doesn‘t cut it....not in real life and not in war crimes. And having said that I felt really bad for Commander White who actually left, but then got pulled back in to fix it....and I‘m sure felt guilty he left and that it happened while he was gone (which is human nature), and Neilson‘s ⤵️ 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ...Cohort who kept trying to raise questions and kept texting the author saying you need to be at XYZ on this day, you‘re on the list to get in and report. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC And I agree, once his reporting was on the story it flew faster (plus this section was about half the length of Part I, sorry about that, I should have looked closer before I made that schedule)... but I‘m glad he did it the way he did, I think he highlighted how the diversion and gaslighting had everyone covering the wall building and XYZ and how this policy (that was a signed policy) was still denied and slipping under the radar. It‘s 4y
MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Yes White is the only one who I have sympathy for in that situation. I wonder how many people working their consider themselves good people in a bad situation. I think there‘s more of that happening than the true believers (like Stephen Miller) but the end result was still the same. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ...a sad lesson, but one we have to be aware of and reporters HAVE to be aware of...because they were steered instead of investigating. Plus why it‘s important not to gut investigative journalism for just news blips. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I keep thinking about that **one** woman who said over and over again “We need to add a check box!“ That one thing in order to note parents whose kids were taken into custody. And now of course, the ORR or Homeland saying “Oh yeah, we do have phone numbers for these parents. We just didn't use them.“ WTAF? 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I did actually finish this last week and posted my review, which is spoiler free even though this was and is ALL over the news. Once I started I couldn't stop. Did you guys get to the part about Katie (now Miller) at the border yet? That just made me bang my head against my desk. Horrific behavior. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage Part 3 starts with the lawyer still trying to get access to the parents in federal high security prison & being denied access to them!🤦‍♀️ Talk about incarceration without representation, but hey, they aren‘t US citizens so I guess that makes it A-ok! And yes, I‘ll probably finish it tonight or tomorrow, it was so hard to put it down this week, I don‘t blame you at all for reading straight through! It makes me want to read 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ...which I‘ve put off reading for a long time, because I‘m already thinking this will trace back to a back room deal to put bodies in prisons for money at the end of the story. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I‘d like to read that also. I just makes me think we haven‘t really moved beyond believing anyone not white and make is 3/5 a person 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC I‘ve also been thinking about the long held belief that kids don‘t feel pain or are infinitely resilient. Not so. Here‘s a book about what really happens. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage I‘m many ways that subtext is still there, especially in some circles. For the prison issue, I think it comes down to money, how can they make a buck, and what populations can they exploit to make it that won‘t have the resources to resist. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Yeah, I hate for-profit prisons ... 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage That one looks really good, I‘ll add it to my list to read too. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage It‘s funny how all the big wigs convicted of crimes get out for home confinement for COVID, but not the little guy.🙄but I know we‘ve discussed that before. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage I read past that now...OMG...I feel so used now. I didn‘t even realize who she was before that abs all those times she put him on the list to get in and texted him to be there I thought it was because she wanted him to report, like a whistleblower, not that she wanted him to report how wonderful it all was! I didn‘t even realize they was her with her maiden name! 😩 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa IKR! I was completely surprised that she was THAT Katie ... 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Part 1 is tough, and I‘m still working my way through it (yes, I‘m a bit behind...I‘m at Chapter 4). But the reporting is so good, and the hindsight is heartbreaking, the looking back as a reporter and realizing the huge story right under your nose that you didn‘t see (or in this case literally under his feet). It‘s like watching a tsunami building, the people in the know KNOW, and they don‘t care, and actively lie about it (under oath no less).

MallenNC I‘m a little behind as well, but my main thought was how clinical the paperwork and memos make this terrible policy seem to those in charge. They didn‘t care if children were lost in this system but they also didn‘t want to admit to what they were doing. The immigration testimonies that Jacob includes are heart breaking. (edited) 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa And knowing that they are classifying them as unaccompanied, and also expediting the deportation of “unaccompanied minors” at the same time. So taking their children, then sending them back to their countries (that they are seeking asylum from) without family or parents. 😢 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC I know, those testimonies at the beginning of each chapter are so heartbreaking. 4y
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MallenNC I kept thinking of what it would feel like if I had been taken from my parents at the age of these children. I have a very vivid memory of being lost in a store once at about age 8 and how terrified I was that I couldn‘t find my daddy, and that whole situation probably lasted less than 30 minutes. And I still remember it! So what these children will have as a lifelong trauma even if they are eventually reunited. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC The lasting damage is horrible...if these kids grow up to be a new group of “death to America” types, who could really blame them. I‘ve seen a few of the reunifications on the news, and it‘s usually so heartbreaking because the little kids blame their parents, and have put up this wall around themselves, it breaks my heart to see even their trust in their parents so decimated. The trauma and years of therapy this will take to even ⤵️ 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa ...try to make right....I can‘t even imagine, and there is no making it right really ever. 4y
MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I know little kids can‘t understand what has happened and even older kids may understand on an intellectual level that their parents are victims too but they may still feel the anger on an emotional level. There‘s so much about it that is just awful. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC I think it boils down to, as a kid you see your parents as invincible, they know best, and when they are wrong (about coming to the US, about your losing them) there is a loss of security and trust there that is almost impossible to get back. That bond is severed. And as the author quoted (I think it was a lawyer as saying) even the worst addicts have rights to see their children. 4y
MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa That‘s all very true. And not even getting into what kind of conditions these children were in. 4y
Suet624 This situation is heartbreaking and sinister. 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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So that means all that time they said they didn‘t have information to unite these families, they really did have some and were sitting on it? 🤯 there will definitely be more to this story.

#Separated
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/lawyers-say-trump-admin-has-handed-...

Prairiegirl_reading Disgusting!!!!! 4y
MallenNC I continue to be surprised yet not by the lack of concern this administration has given to these children and families. 4y
vivastory “We have been repeatedly asking the Trump administration for any additional data they might have to help locate the families and are only finally getting these new phone numbers and addresses,“ said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. “Unfortunately, it took the issue reaching the level of a presidential debate to move them to give us this data.“
A useful reminder for the future that debates do indeed matter
4y
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vivastory This is just evil. There's simply no other word for it. 4y
Cathythoughts Heartbreak 4y
GreenGrl87 💔 4y
GingerAntics Sadly, this doesn‘t surprise me. Nothing about this man surprises me anymore. 4y
Chrissyreadit OMG!!!!! I fucking hate them. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @vivastory I agree! I just don‘t see how any functioning human can see this and still worship that man, because taking peoples kids for no reason and withholding them from each other is just plain evil. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Chrissyreadit I‘ll second that! How does this not fall under crimes against humanity? 4y
Chrissyreadit @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I‘m literally wondering that all the time! 4y
BookmarkTavern I am desperately hoping that one of the first things that Biden does is establish a task force with the singular goal of reuniting every separated family. 💔 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage This really makes me want to rant and rave. It is so beyond the pale. 🤬🤬🤬 4y
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BarbaraTheBibliophage
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My new listen ... not an easy one. Glad to be buddy reading with @Riveted_Reader_Melissa and @MallenNC — join us if you‘d like. We just started!

It‘s a stretch but I‘m using it for #abouthousing in the #nonfictionchallenge2020 .

Riveted_Reader_Melissa I used Malala‘s book for that about refugees. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa It was a stretch too, but I already filled my immigration/refugee square, and it was related. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa At least we think alike! I‘m down to one last prompt - cyber security. Debating between two books for it. One 350 pgs and the other twice that. Depends on what else happens ... 🤪 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage I understand that! It‘s the end of the year and depends on your mood and time limits! 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Sure does. All I want is escapist fiction right now. But I‘ve got two challenge books to do and a handful of ARCs! 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage Haha! I feel the same, lots of escapist fiction. I think I‘ll make that a January/winter plan. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Sounds like a good idea! I planned a bunch last weekend. 😎 4y
charl08 Wow, sounds tough. 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Our first #Separated section, it was short, but still very powerful. When he lays out the numbers and the timeline, it‘s still stunning. I had a hard time reading it and a hard time putting it down at the end of our prologue. ⤵️

#Separated
@MallenNC @BarbaraTheBibliophage and anyone else interested in joining in.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa How did you feel about this brief overview, and the author‘s impressions looking back on his first experience stepping into this story and trying to report it? Were you still shocked, or not surprised any more by the raw details? 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage I feel like learning the details is more sad than shocking. And once I started, I just kept listening to the book. I like Soboroff‘s style. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage I really liked his style too. I‘m reading, not listening, so it‘s a bit different, but he comes off very personable and makes it very relatable. I really liked his story about the memo book, about how the notes might not make sense to anyone else, but brought back vivid details for him. 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage And for me shocking and sad, I‘m still shocked, not about the details so much anymore, but how we let it get that bad, that fast, and at how quickly such a monumental story seems to have dropped off the radar for most. 4y
MallenNC I went to journalism school (though I work in higher ed PR instead) so I believe in journalism‘s power to bring attention and change when needed. I am always interested in reporter stories. I was really engaged when he was talking about how his reporting started. I watched his reporting of this on MSNBC and have been impressed by how he has remained focused on the border crisis. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC Yes! When he talked about that I thought, yep I was one of those watching that then followed him. 4y
MallenNC The Prologue really showed the danger that families who came to the border were facing. It reinforced what we read in We Are Displaced, that refugees don‘t leave home for frivolous reasons. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC I like those too, journalist stories, they are humans just like us, so being there and seeing it through their eyes is so interesting. And I bit more raw than the end filtered news story. 4y
MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I think it has to be terribly difficult to see the kinds of tragedies that many reporters do and share that with the world in ways that can be understood. And they also have to do it under deadline. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC I feel like my focus these last four years on the actions of the Administration has led me to quite a few books by reporters. From the Maddow book about oil to Unbelievable by Katy Tur and now this one ... it's been an education in how stories develop bit by bit. And other slam you over the head. 4y
MallenNC @BarbaraTheBibliophage I read Katy Tur‘s book when it came out and I remember how she thought this was going to be a short term assignment because Trump was such a long shot candidate. And then she spent all that time being yelled at and threatened at rallies. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Definitely - the speed with which this story went from bad to horrific is pretty amazing. I am gutted by these stories he's included from parents about being without their children. They're from the court case he references, I believe. Absolutely criminal. 4y
MallenNC @BarbaraTheBibliophage I‘ve read Rachel Maddow‘s other book about the U.S. and it‘s endless wars, but I haven‘t read the other one yet. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC Yeah, exactly. And now she's parlayed all that investment of time and effort into a permanent afternoon hour on MSNBC. She earned it with her experiences. And I can't imagine being at those rallies in her position. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC Opposite for me. I have Drift on my shelf by got Blowout as an ARC, so I jumped to that first. It's super good. 4y
MallenNC @BarbaraTheBibliophage I know! I couldn‘t take it. I‘m glad she got some reward for her work. Since I‘ve been working from home I‘ve been able to see her more on MSNBC. 4y
MallenNC @BarbaraTheBibliophage It‘s on my list! Rachel Maddow is so smart. (edited) 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC OMG yes, she is. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC @BarbaraTheBibliophage I have both Maddow books on my to read list and haven‘t read either yet! I‘ve read a couple of Richard Engel‘s books set in the Middle East and I loved this one by a photojournalist 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC @BarbaraTheBibliophage I haven‘t read Katy Tur‘s book, I wasn‘t sure I could handle that much Trump. More power to her for that assignment. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I have one of Engel's books on my list for #readingasia2021 -- and that photojournalist story would be great for our #Booked2021 #bookwithpictures prompt! 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC Every time I read a book about him, I worry it will be too much. And then I feel like I just need to be “eyes wide open“ even if it's hard. Looking forward to the day when he's not all over the news for something or other. 4y
MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage I read Katy Tur early on, which may have helped. I‘ve definitely limited my consumption of Trump books. I do wonder if Katy would‘ve taken that assignment if she‘d been able to see into the future. Maybe. 4y
MallenNC I like Richard Engel as a reporter. I haven‘t read his books. I have read It‘s What I Do. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage I remember thinking that in 2016, can‘t wait until election day so I stop seeing him everywhere. And it won‘t stop now either, he‘s planning to run in 2024, you know, if he can‘t win this one. I figure if nothing else it‘s one more way for him to raise money, stay in the news, and most importantly make sure his rival in 2024 can‘t investigate him. 🙄 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage I‘m leaning more to “eyes wide open” on the issues he‘s created, and trying to limit the him central books. So yes Separated and Russian Roulette, but I didn‘t read the second Woodward book. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I finally realized what this book reminds me—in style although the content is different—Catch and Kill! 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage I really liked Catch & Kill too, I got Ronan Farrow‘s other book already... to read next year though. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Yes, I have his other book also. What seems similar is how Ronan and Jacob both talk so much about the process of reporting their stories. At least so far, no one is trying to get Soboroff to stop doing his job like Farrow experienced. Plus, uh, I couldn‘t stop listening once I started. I‘ll be finished in a day or so. 🥸 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Russian Roulette is really good. But I wonder if something written later might tell more of the whole story. I think that came out in 2018. I‘ll have to see what I can suggest. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage It happens, no worries! I‘m glad you like it. I‘m still working my way through last month‘s #NonfictionNerds Half reading and half audiobook, because a lot of the archival stuff has her reading it. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I definitely liked that RBG book better in audio. Her voice makes it all the more inspiring. And reading it seemed so legal mumbo jumbo-ish. At least to me ... 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BarbaraTheBibliophage Yep. I had the ebook that I had gotten on sale awhile back and ended up stalled until the audiobook finally came up from the library. Some books just work better on audio, some reading, some a combo. 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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And just a reminder, there is still time to jump into the #Separated read. We are just starting with the Author‘s Note and Prologue this weekend and diving into Part 1 next week.

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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#BuddyRead for #Separated

I know @MallenNC & @BarbaraTheBibliophage were interested, but please feel free to join in if you are interested. If you let me know in the comments below I‘ll tag you going forward.

The first section is just the intro since in know some of us will be wrapping up the #SheSaid read and it‘s the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States. After that it‘s a section (Part) each week, wrapping up before Christmas.

MallenNC Thanks for setting this up. It helps me to have a schedule for books that I want to read but that I sometimes hesitate to start! (edited) 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC I‘m the same! I buy them, because I know I want to read them and then I put them off. I think because I know they‘ll be tough reads or thought provoking, well that and I‘m good at being distracted by shiny new books and other group read distractions. 4y
MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I am constantly distracted by shiny new books, but also I put off reading something like this because I know it will be upsetting. But I want to know because it happened/is happening and shouldn‘t be ignored. 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC Same! I want to know the real facts, but I also know it will be tough knowing. It definitely helps to read with someone else though. Then we can be sad or outraged together. 4y
MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa That really helped with Know My Name. 4y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC I know, and I‘d been sitting on that one for almost a year since I bought it until I read it. And having read it, I wish I‘d have read it sooner, it was more uplifting than I expected in many ways, and so well written...so I don‘t know why I put them off so long, some mental block. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @MallenNC @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I just downloaded the audiobook from Scribd. Will definitely get started shortly! I think it‘s good to have someone to discuss these difficult books with. 🤓 4y
MallenNC @BarbaraTheBibliophage It definitely helps me to be able to discuss. 4y
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JenniferEgnor
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Pickpick

This book is heart breaking—the author tells the story moment to moment, day to day. Such a cruel thing comes from the administration that claims to care about ‘life‘. Remember how scary it was when you were a kid and got lost in the store, separated from your parents, even for just a few minutes? Abolish ICE. Fuck this evil admin.

BookmarkTavern Absolutely agree! 💯💯 4y
JenniferEgnor @ozma.of.oz there‘s an ICE center near me. I‘d love to storm it TF down. 4y
BookmarkTavern I live in between two of them. I empathize entirely. Here‘s hoping that our new administration can be bullied into shutting them down. Permanently. 🤞🏻🤞🏻 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Planning a group read for #Separated between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anyone interested in joining in?

Riveted_Reader_Melissa I know you were interested @MallenNC so I‘ll tag you here. 4y
MallenNC Yes, I‘m definitely interested! 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage I do want to read this. Not sure the timing will work, but I‘ll give it a shot! 4y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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I did not need another book that I HAVE to read this year... but I HAVE to read this one!!!

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