Trump makes US a hypocrite on human rights

While the President and Vice President refuse to take any ownership for the inhumane conditions at facilities that they are responsible for, other countries are probably recalibrating their views of the US. America's reputation as a leader for human rights around the world has been tarnished by the Trump administration's legacy here at home. The inhumane treatment is not only harmful to the migrants we are charged with protecting within our borders -- it will also hamstring our ability to promote human rights abroad.

US officials have shared that detention facilities are overwhelmed by an influx of migrants across our southern border. In a letter she wrote to Congress in March, former Department of Home Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen asked for assistance and cited overflowing facilities with the potential for a "system-wide meltdown." The DHS also has written a public report noting dangerous overcrowding and the prolonged detention of children. A more recent House Oversight Committee report detailed the ongoing nightmare of Trump's policy of separating children from their families.

These inhumane conditions aren't just grabbing domestic headlines -- the world is watching. The United Nations said last year that the Trump administration's child separation policy violates international law, while the organization's commissioner for human rights was "appalled" by the current conditions of migrant facilities in the US and said that the administration's treatment of migrants may violate international law.

The United States, under successive Presidents from both parties, has been a champion for human rights around the world. Violating these rights here at home, however, makes the goal of promoting them around the world all the more difficult - hypocrisy doesn't provide the US much leverage. While members of the administration can point the finger at Congress or the Northern Triangle countries, where many of these migrants are from, the reality remains that human rights abuse is happening under their watch.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/14/opinions/trump-record-human-rights-abuse-vinograd/index.html