Trump just pulled a stunning televised stunt to justify separating kids from parents (WATCH)

While President Trump may have been forced by public outcry to cease the separation of refugee children from their parents at the border, it doesn’t mean that he’s given up on attacking immigrants.

Yesterday, Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) sent out a tweet reporting that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was privately telling legislators that the separation policy may return once the public furor dies down.

Today, President Trump himself added credence to that story with the viciousness of his anti-immigrant rhetoric at what he labeled an URGENT speech on immigration.

“We’re gathered today to hear from the American victims of illegal immigration. You know, you hear the other side. You never hear this side. You don’t know what’s going on. These are the American citizens permanently separated from their loved ones… very unfair,” Trump began his fear-mongering.

Trump decided to parade “angel families” who have lost loved ones to crimes committed by immigrants on stage at his press conference, fully ignoring the fact that a March 2107 study by the Koch brothers-financed, libertarian-influenced Cato Institute found that:

“all immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated than natives relative to their shares of the population” and that “even illegal immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated than native-born Americans.”

After reading a series of statistics about crimes committed by immigrants that carefully avoided using percentages that would reveal the findings that the Cato Insitute discovered, findings that would undermine his own agenda of using fear as a method to push his misguided policies, Trump brought the “angel families” on stage to tell their stories and display poster-sized photos of their lost family members.

The whole press conference was eerily reminiscent of the practice Hitler employed during his rise to power of parading the victims of crimes committed by Jews in front of large crowds to imply all Jews were criminals.

Trump went on to announce the formation of an immigration crime office that would be tasked with tracking down convicted immigrants.

“We’re following these people. We’re following them, so it can’t happen again by that individual,” Trump declared, taking the next step in the establishment of a police state.

The president concluded his speech with a paranoid and racist attack on the diversity visa lottery program.

Trump’s attempt to frighten the U.S. public into accepting his negative views on immigration and drive the issue as a determining factor in the midterm elections demonstrates his desperation in trying to divert public attention away from the ever-tightening investigations into Russian collusion, obstruction of justice, and the many other corruption scandals that have plagued his administration.

By doubling down on his fear-mongering — even after the American public expressed its outrage at the horrifying pictures of immigrant toddlers held in cages and separated from their families — Trump is indicating that he won’t be stopped until a Democratic-controlled Congress is voted into office in November.

It’s our responsibility to ensure that that is exactly what happens. Register to vote now, if you’re not already registered, and make sure that you and everyone you know supports a blue wave this fall.

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Vinnie Longobardo

is the Managing Editor of Washington Press and a 35-year veteran of the TV, mobile, & internet industries, specializing in start-ups and the international media business. His passions are politics, music, and art.