The leftists who are suddenly all upset about separating children from their arrested parents if the crime is illegally entering the country, something that was fine while Obama was president, are actually setting the stage for the mass exploitation of children.

What the leftists want is this: if a group of adults and one or more children are caught trying to sneak into the U.S., the whole group, or at least the "father" and "mother," should be released on their own recognizance into the U.S.  The supposed reason is that if the U.S. arrests the adults, then the children will be separated from their parents.

The problem with this is that it makes a child a get-out-of-jail-free card for up to two illegal adults.

Does anyone seriously doubt that some MS-13 person would hesitate to kidnap a kid and tell him that if he doesn't say the guy is his father, the guy will kill him in order to ensure that if the guy is caught by the Border Patrol, he won't be detained?

A whole new black market in children will develop just south of the border, where illegals bereft of families, and more likely to be criminals as opposed to economic migrants, will buy, rent, or lease children to ensure that they can start collecting welfare in the U.S. even if they are unlucky and are apprehended.

Additionally, the leftists don't seem to be too concerned about cases where the children are separated because it can't be established that they aren't being trafficked.  But does anyone really think taking the adults' word – remember: when the adults are being questioned, it's a fact that they were knowingly violating immigration laws and hence aren't honest – is the best way to prevent human-trafficking?

The leftists don't care; they're just using the children to force a de facto open borders policy on the U.S. and to attack Trump.  If more kids are hurt in the long run, that's just a price they're either willing to pay or too stupid to recognize.

You can read more of Tom's rants at his blog, Conversations about the obvious, and feel free to follow him on Twitter.