Stephen Miller and 'Sophie’s Choice': History Repeats Itself

The 1982 film “ Sophie’s Choice” earned actress Meryl Streep an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of a post-war, Polish refugee living in New York City who hides an unimaginably horrible past from her lover. Eventually the secret that torments her is revealed.

Sophie was forced to choose which of her two young children to send to a Nazi death camp, and which to “save” by sending him to a forced labor camp. The film’s depiction of the unfathomable evil of the Nazi officer who forces that decision upon Sophie is terrifyingly unforgettable. So much so that in American English, it is common to describe an awful, impossible choice as a “Sophie’s Choice.”

This is the phrase that springs to mind upon reading that Stephen Miller, President Trump’s senior immigration advisor and the architect of the failed “zero tolerance” policy, is planning to roll-out yet another cruel and barbaric practice called binary choice.

According to the New York Times, Miller’s latest perversion of American values would involve offering migrant parents seeking asylum a binary choice – either voluntarily accept separation from their children or waive their minor child’s lawful humanitarian protections and agree to jail-like incarceration for the entire family. It is a foul proposition.

Miller, whose own Jewish-American ancestors arrived as migrants fleeing Eastern European persecution, and whose immediate family has publicly repudiated him for his un-American immigration views, displays a particularly disgusting brand of intolerance and heartlessness with this latest concoction. The mostly Honduran, Guatemalan and Salvadoran families arriving at the border have already made one binary choice, either stay put and face death and violence from state or criminal actors, or undertake a perilous journey in hopes they might reach a safe and magnanimous nation where they can work and find opportunity.

If Miller and Trump have their way, our Border Patrol (BP) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel will be unwillingly placed in the role of Sophie’s Nazi tormenter. And let me make clear, those CBP and BP officials are anything but that.

I spent decades as a colleague and then a boss to these folks throughout Latin American embassies. I served twice in Mexico and saw them work our ports of entry and the border in between to keep the homeland safe. I know our Department of Homeland Security (DHS) professionals as people of integrity who balance empathy with procedures and compassion with border enforcement.

Under a Binary Choice policy, they will once again be compelled to physically pull crying toddlers away from desperate parents, or slam cell doors on whole families, traumatizing children with an American jail experience, after they may have already suffered physical or sexual violence in their countries of origin.

For the desperate migrants and the men and women of DHS tasked with the implementation of Mr. Miller’s binary choice, they will all face an impossible task, a modern-day Sophie’s Choice.

Fortunately, the Miller/Trump “Country’s Full” crowd have proven themselves as amateurish as they are heartless. Most of Trump’s major immigration efforts have been stymied in Congress and the courts. Not a millimeter of his Wall has been constructed, and Trump now hears the war whoops of his nativist base. In this context, he will almost certainly continue to promote more restrictive legal immigration, as well as attempting counterproductive steps to stem irregular migration, such as cutting off development of rule of law assistance to the Northern Triangle.

Further measures reportedly being contemplated include removing birthright citizenship for children of migrants born in the United States, simply refusing to accept asylum claims at the Southwest Border, and naming a new DHS Secretary and Chief of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who are similarly motivated to engender comparisons with the German officer who commanded Sophie to “choose…or they both die.” It has become trite to say, “We are better than this as a nation.” But we are and have already proven it.

The Administration’s previous efforts at child separation of migrant minors from their families were disastrous. They proved overwhelmingly unpopular with the American people, reinforcing for most of us that even Trump-supporting, immigration hardliners across the country are capable of recognizing a moral redline when it comes to enforcement.

Unfortunately, for the DHS professionals and the American people who know that “ this is not us,” the President seems determined to implement an impossible Sophie’s Choice policy, at least until the courts halt it. In the meantime, innocent children will continue to be traumatized at the hands of American officials.

Most immigration authorities I know, will abhor this enforcement work but they are dutiful public servants and will employ the President’s instructions until compelled by law or an injunction not to.

I predict that one day award-winning, yet tragic movies will be made about this shameful episode in our history. Americans will once again ask ourselves, “How did that happen?” Messrs. Trump and Miller will have much to answer for.