I will admit I'm kind of stupid, but can someone please tell me...

[Shrike47]

27. Because the children cannot be held in jail with the parents, theoretically the gov't finds care.

Donald and Melania decide to rob a bank and take Barron along. They get caught, arrested and put in jail. Normally, the police call Children’s Services. CS talks to the parents and the kid if he’s old enough: “any relatives who could take Barron while you’re in jail?” “No, they are all liars and thieves except the daughter who is too young to care for Barron.”

If CS can’t dig up a relative, they place the child in temporary foster care and file a petition with the court asking for temporary custody because there is no fit and available adult to care for Barron. In my state, there is an almost immediate hearing, the parents are transported to court if at all possible, everybody, including Barron, gets an attorney. CS usually gets temporary custody and places the child in a suitable foster home (while beating the bushes for relatives; there aren’t enough foster homes.)

The kid’s attorney visits the child in the foster home and around here, calls a hearing if he/she thinks the home is unfit. The parents attorneys confer with CS and obtain information about what’s going on which they can share with the parents.

These children being seized at the border are getting none of this and, as far as I can see, no due process, no advocacy, no protection. And their parents don’t know where they are. It’s appalling.