Trump Says the US Is Trying to Reunite Kids With Their Families

Sorry, not those kids.

Yin Bogu/Xinhua via ZUMA

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This morning, President Donald Trump tweeted that the United States is helping with efforts to reunite families whose children have been separated from them due to heart-wrenching circumstances beyond their control: 

The president, of course, was referring to the all-out effort to rescue a boys’ soccer team that has been stranded inside a flooded cave in Thailand for two weeks. So far, at least four boys have come out of the cave alive. The ambitious rescue is being led by the Thai government. According to CNN, American military personnel are providing support and advice, but are not expected to do rescue dives. 

Meanwhile, hundreds of children who were separated from their families as part of Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy have not been reunited with their families despite a federal court order. And the government has been denying bond to some immigrant parents, prolonging the separation,  “completely disobeying the judge’s order—intentionally,” in the words of one immigration attorney.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

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So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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