Yes, when you phrase something without context it's easy to make it sound insane.
When you include the context where they need to verify that it's not human trafficking and that children are separated from their parents every day when the parents are arrested for any other crime, it's not quite as insane.
I believe you are the one lacking context. I'll assume your are not being intentionally malicious and are just naive.
Abuse is almost certainly occurs in the presence of power structures with severe disparity. Children are being placed in the custody of people who lack appropriate training, background checks and supervision. Children can not defend themselves and they are separated from the people who do protect them: their parents. These are sufficient conditions for children to be mistreated; I can't bear to think of what happens when the people who run these systems choose to be actively malicious. These conditions are not only present in these "detention centers" (a thinly disguised euphemism for prisons), but also in places like poorly run orphanages and even some religious institutions, to name a few.
I am disgusted by the lack of empathy when discussions such as this one come up. I could care less by your stance on immigration policy; forcing children into these systems, especially when there is no real need for it, is abhorrent behavior.
Is there human trafficking going on on the border or not? If yes, then the detention policy and separating kids from their handlers upon ingest is happening for legitimate reasons.
> forcing children into these systems, especially when there is no real need for it, is abhorrent behavior
HOW that detention is being executed is definitely worth debating and certainly how individuals are treated can verge into tragic territory. Your disagreement extends into the WHY, possibly for noble political reasons, but which turns a blind eye to a serious humanitarian crisis.
> I am disgusted by the lack of empathy ...
This is where I got snarky, and deleted what I was going to say. I'll just note that south of the US borders, there is a LOT of human suffering to be disgusted about caused by failed approaches to government there.
>Children can not defend themselves and they are separated from the people who do protect them: their parents
Apparently you have never heard of what happens to every child initially separated from parents arrested for a felony. I suggest you look into the foster system in the US to see the horrors.
The treatment at the children sucks, but it has nothing to do with Trump. It's entirely based on children in the US receiving shitty treatment under 'the system' in the US.
That sounds plausible. Except that this is happening on a much larger scale than your examples. And they're keeping families separated for months.
Edit: And what really freaks me about this is what's likely over the next few decades. As global climate change disrupts marginal economies, and migration volumes increase hugely. We're basically looking at concentration camps.
Edit: Some prisons now allow mothers to keep their children.
When you include the context where they need to verify that it's not human trafficking and that children are separated from their parents every day when the parents are arrested for any other crime, it's not quite as insane.