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Comment by alfredallan1 | Hacker News Reader

Yes, it is happening now. The point is that it was also happening under Obama (I don’t know the scale of it though), so it is unfair to blame just the Donald for it, while Barry gets a free pass. At least Trump did reverse his stance on splitting families up, as a token, if nothing more.

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I don't see how that's the point at all. There are many, many awful things that have happened in the past. It's still completely fair to blame people who are doing awful things now. I'm not trying to accuse you of bad faith, but in practice, bringing up past injustices by people who are no longer in power seems like little more than a distraction unless you're suggesting a way we can redress them now.

Oh no, I never said or meant that current bad practices are justified based on past precedents.

Just that blaming the incumbent while ignoring identical practices by the predecessor seems borderline biased reporting by the media. Not that the current situation shouldn’t be highlighted - it most certainly should be. But giving the impression that it is a new development (by ignoring the fact that it isn’t) seems politically motivated - just because of the extant political tensions and divisive climate.

I’m not sure past wrongs can indeed be redressed except notionally, by official apology, but at the very least future wrongs ought to be prevented.

It's a false equivalency. Scale matters, as does the intent/policy of the administration.

"Immigration experts we spoke to said Obama-era policies did lead to some family separations, but only relatively rarely, and nowhere near the rate of the Trump administration."

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2018/jun/19/...

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