Trump Commits Crimes Against Humanity

by

John J. Dunphy

(published in the 9/7/19 edition of The Telegraph of Alton, IL)

Benjamin Ferencz knows quite a bit about crimes against humanity. Born in Hungary in 1920, his family immigrated to the United States when he was just ten months old. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1943 at the height of World War II, Ferencz joined the U.S. Army and served in an anti-aircraft battalion. As the Allies began to discover the extent of Nazi atrocities, the army assigned Ferencz the task of gathering evidence of war crimes. In this capacity, he entered concentration camps as they were liberated.

“Indelibly seared into my memory are the scenes I witnessed while liberating these centers of death and destruction. Camps like Buchenwald, Mauthausen and Dachau…even today, when I close my eyes, I witness a deadly vision I can never forget” such as “the crematoria aglow with the fire of burning flesh, the mounds of emaciated corpses stacked like cordwood waiting to be burned.”

Ferencz was honorably discharged on December 26, 1945 and returned to New York with the intention of practicing law. However, he was soon recruited to serve as one of the prosecutors at the war crimes trials held at Nuremberg, Germany. Ferencz served as chief prosecutor for the United States during the Einsatzgruppen case.

The Einsatzgruppen were mobile death squads, which accompanied the German army on the Eastern front. They murdered over two million persons, most of whom were Jews. Their targets also included Romani, partisans, Soviet commissars and other groups regarded as subhuman by Nazis. Ferencz secured the conviction of all 24 defendants, who had served in the Einsatzgruppen as commanding officers.

Ferencz is the last surviving Nuremberg prosecutor. At age 99, however, he has lost none of his passion for justice. During a recent interview with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ferencz condemned Trump’s policy of separating children from their parents at our nation’s southern border.

“I was furious that anyone would think that it’s permissible to take young children — five, four, three years of age — and take them from their parents” and then tell these children and their parents “we’ll get you together, maybe, at a later date.”

Ferencz boldly condemned Trump’s separation of children from their parents as “a crime against humanity.” Is he guilty of hyperbole? No. The man who entered liberated concentration camps and successfully prosecuted the Einsatzgruppen defendants is more than capable of determining what actions constitute crimes against humanity.

But didn’t Trump end the practice of separating migrant parents from their children at the border in 2018? The horrifying truth is that families are still being torn apart.

The Texas Tribune reported in its July 12, 2019 edition that data collected by the American Immigration Council and other immigrant advocacy groups showed that “almost 400 children were separated from their parents between June 2018 — when the Trump administration ended its controversial zero tolerance policy — and March 2019.” That number had soared to 700 children by May, according to information provided by the government to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Why are these families torn asunder? The Texas Tribune reported that “lawyers and advocates say agents are relying on minor crimes, flimsy evidence and unverified allegations of gang affiliation.”

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services on August 7 ended deferments for migrants and their relatives who are undergoing life saving medical treatment in our nation. According to Newsweek, “there are about 1,000 medical-related deferred action applications each year.” Letters were sent to many of those who had been granted deferments stating they would be forcibly deported if they didn’t leave the United States voluntarily within 33 days. In response to public protests, the deportations have been temporarily suspended.

Trump’s government had no moral qualms about condemning these innocent persons to probable death. I wonder whether Ferencz would regard such an action as a crime against humanity. I do.

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John J. Dunphy’s books include Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois and Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group. He is the Godfrey Fifteenth Precinct Democratic Committeeperson and serves as recording secretary for the Godfrey Democrats.