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Humanitarian Relief or an Abuse of Power?

By Bekki

So far, 401 children have been taken off a polygamist compound and into legal custody by the state of Texas. The raid was prompted by a call from a 16 year old girl - but if the police have found her, they haven't released that information to the media. The state has said they will put the children into temporary care - but they don't have enough shelter space or foster parents to provide care for all these children. Which makes me think that the authorities in question didn't really think this one through.

Court proceedings to determine if the children can be removed doesn't begin until Monday. Which means that 500+ people have been taken from their homes because of a phone call by a girl who hasn't even been found or identified. I question whether there was any abuse occurring at all, or if this is just persecution by the Texan authorities because they disagree with the way these people want to practice their religion.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on April 07, 2008 (boomark / email).