Liam Neeson isn't walking through that door

The central myth of the Taken movies is that you would probably be able to do something if armed men took your kids. 

I know, I know -- it's probably different with you. Maybe you studied taekwondo. Perhaps you own a gun or even many guns. I even know a couple of folks who own AR-15s. Maybe you're just a big ol' boy and no one can take you.

Plus, the adrenaline would carry you, right? Everybody's heard that story about the car that trapped the kids and the 5-foot, 100 pound mom lifted the car so the kids could escape. Parenting elicits such powerful emotions that we would be able to do the same, right?

Thing is, armed law enforcement officers exercise their will on the public every day. They even do this to people who possess weapons. It's central to how our justice system operates. Most of the time, this is a right and necessary use of state power. 

Except when it's not. 

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I bring this up because I've run across comments along the lines of "Well, they wouldn't take my kids," or "I would defend my family."

This line of thinking is pernicious for couple of reasons. First, it's subtly dehumanizing of the actual people who did have their children ripped away from them. They don't love their kids any less than I love mine or you love yours. Their adrenaline was coursing through their veins the instant they realized that their child disappeared behind that door.

Second, it understates our government's power. It makes it seem like some how, some way, the parent could've chosen to keep their children. 

(I can hear the retort already -- "They shouldn't have brought them in the first place." You try raising your child in a town where drug cartels are the de facto government and tell me you wouldn't do everything possible to get the hell out of there.)

For most of us, if a person wearing a uniform and badge and holding a gun tells you to do something, you do it. 

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In a civilized society, law enforcement officers make an implicit promise that they wield this awesome power responsibly. 

On our southern border, this promise has been grotesquely broken.  

Consular offices are often involved in cases of unaccompanied migrant youth, especially when children want to return to their countries voluntarily. But this situation was “atypical,” according to José Vicente Chinchilla, the consul general of El Salvador, because they did not even know children separated from their families were coming to New York, let alone how many.

The Washington Post reported (I can't link because of paywall) about an immigration judge blowing up at a prosecutor because parents of separated children hadn't been given any way of tracking where their children are. 

We have entrusted the power to separate children from their parents to people who are too evil, craven, or stupid to understand the gravity of their jobs as public servants.  

In a more perfect world, Liam Neeson would take care of this problem and hold the relevant parties accountable. 

In our highly flawed world, it falls on us. In the short term, outrage works. 

In the longer term, elect people who take seriously the basic responsibilities of government. 

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Update:

It is shockingly difficult for immigration attorneys to locate children separated from their parents at the border. Today I spoke to lawyers who represent more than 400 parents. They've located two children.

— Kevin Sieff (@ksieff) June 22, 2018