She’s caused outrage in the past with her damning social media posts, public statements and controversial speeches, and now Yassmin Abdel-Magied has weighed in on the current situation in the United States where migrant children are being split from their parents at the Mexican and US border.
Taking to Twitter, the activist compared the situation in America to Manus Island and claimed Australia was not much better than the US when it comes to the treatment of migrants.
“The worst thing about seeing this stuff go down in the US is knowing Aus is in no position to be morally superior given our record on Manus, Nauru and… I guess since invasion,” she wrote.
https://twitter.com/yassmin_a/status/1009354433547907072
Her comment was met with debate on social media. Some agreed with what she was saying.
One person wrote: “What’s worse is that in Australia we have a bipartisan agreement on this inhumane treatment of refugees”.
Another comment read: “I heartily agree. Wish they’d just copied our healthcare or gun policies instead of our cruel racist ones”.
A third added: “Come on. Don’t you know…Aus will pretend they have a clear conscience and judge the US until Trump throws us under the bus…then we will scratch our heads on cue and reveal ‘ohhh yeah. We forgot about that’”.
Then there were those who didn’t agree with the former ABC star’s stance.
One person said: “We are bad and they are bad. My point is: I disagree that because I’m Australian, I can’t ‘take a moral high ground’ and object to the GOP’s heinous immigration deterrence policy. I loathe ‘our’ offshore system. One child treated cruelly is too many. 1600 and counting in the USA”.
Another added: “Look at the real conditions with trump a big improvement on Obama same rules with Obama once again check your facts”.
The 27-year-old previously sparked outrage in Australia last Anzac Day in 2017. She wrote on Facebook: “Lest We Forget (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine …)”. Her words were interpreted by many has a dig at Australia’s veterans and disrespectful to the sacrifices our diggers made in Gallipoli.
Last year, hundreds of detainees were left without food, water and medication, while power at the detention centre on Manus Island was cut. The centre was closed permanently and despite being offered alternative accommodation, many refused to leave because they feared for their safety. The closure came as the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court ruled that the offshore detention centre was both illegal and unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, thousands of children from countries including Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have been held in US government-run facilities after being separated from their own families who face legal proceedings for crossing the border illegally. Shocking images of children in tears have flooded social media, with many urging the US government to change its policy on how the situation is handled.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj-Us3Fn_IS/?taken-by=jbmoorephoto
On Thursday morning, president Donald Trump listened to calls for change and abandoned his policy of splitting families at the US/Mexican border, signing an executive order requiring immigrant families be detained together.
“It’s about keeping families together while at the same time making sure that we have a very powerful, very strong border,” Trump said.