February 2019

ABC News is reporting the Trump Administration is not sure if they separated thousands of more children from their families at the southern border. They’re not sure about this because they haven’t been keeping track. There’s little in the way of records of these separations.

Heartbreaking doesn’t even to begin to describe how I feel about this.

Even if you believe that it’s right for the United States to separate families trying to immigrate here, you have to admit that the United States Government should be responsible in keeping track of who belongs to whom. I can’t get my blood drawn in my doctor’s office without citing my birth date multiple times and confirming my identity, I can’t imagine why anyone in any position of authority wouldn’t implement some sort of tracking system for these children.

I mentioned on Twitter that I would write the web application needed to do this. Since the Trump Administration has claimed that the numbers aren’t that big, then it makes sense that the database to track these individuals wouldn’t need to be very large. I could write something in a weekend to accomplish this; I’m sure teams of government IT officials could write something better and faster in the same amount of time.

The process would be quite simple:

1. A child must wear a wrist band, much like what we wear in the hospital, at all times. The wrist band has a unique identification number on it.
2. All of the child’s data is stored in a simple database tracking their whereabouts. It could also be used to track food or medical allergies, medicinal needs, schedule information, and psychosocial notes on the child.
3. The guardian’s information would be entered into the same database and tied to the child’s ID number. A photo of the guardian would be entered into the database as well.
4. The guardian would be given an official certificate with the ID number on it. Without this certificate, the guardian would not have access to the child.
5. To regain access after whatever bureaucratic red tape was cut through, the guardian would have to present the “completion report” and the certificate, with a photo match taking place as well, for the guardian to regain custody of their child.

It’s not hard. Not difficult at all. But the gross incompetence of Homeland Security and ICE has created a mess that really should be treated like a crime against humanity. What they’ve done is just inhumane.

No child should be separated from their guardian if the child is not in harm’s way. The United States should not be putting the guardian in harm’s way. I don’t care if they’re coming from Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, France, or Venus. What the U.S. is doing is wrong.

And with just a little bit of effort, it could be a little less wrong. But there’s no interest in that when you’re part of the puffed up chest party.

It is such a dark moment in the history of this once great nation. I really hope this nightmare ends soon.