Against the Grain

Separating Children as Counterinsurgency

While the Trump Administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the US-Mexico border drew intense condemnation, the practice has been going on in this country for centuries. Historian Laura Briggs argues that it has been part of strategy of counterinsurgency, as during the anti-communist wars in Latin America, in which rebellious populations are terrorized by having their children taken.

Resources:

Laura Briggs, Taking Children: A History of American Terror UC Press, 2021