Thread: Trump backs down on migrant family separations policy

Trump backs down on migrant family separations policy


Donald Trump: "You're going to have a lot of very happy people"

US President Donald Trump has bowed to public pressure and signed an executive order promising to "keep families together" in migrant detentions.


Mr Trump reversed his own policy amid international fury over the separation of undocumented parents and children.


He said he had been swayed by images of children who have been taken from parents while they are jailed and prosecuted for illegal border-crossing.


But the order does not address families already separated by the policy.


US immigration officials say 2,342 children were separated from 2,206 parents between 5 May and 9 June.


"It's about keeping families together," Mr Trump said at the signing ceremony on Wednesday.


"I did not like the sight of families being separated," he said, but added the administration would continue its "zero tolerance policy" of criminally prosecuting anyone who crosses the border illegally.


The executive order calls for:

• Immigrant families to be detained together while their legal cases are considered
• Expediting immigration cases involving families
• Requesting the modification of a court ruling that dictates how long immigrant children can be detained

The president said his wife, Melania, and daughter, Ivanka, who reportedly have been applying pressure on him to drop the policy, "feel strongly" about ending the practice of separating migrant families.


"I think anybody with a heart would feel very strongly about it," he said. "We don't like to see families separated."


Vice-President Mike Pence and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who has emerged as the face of the White House policy, were both present for Wednesday's order signing.






The president had previously said "you can't do it through an executive order", insisting that only Congress could fix the policy by passing immigration reform before his U-turn on Wednesday.


Republican congressional leader Paul Ryan said the House of Representatives will vote on Thursday "on legislation to keep families together".


He did not immediately provide details of the bill, but said it resolves the issue of so-called Dreamers, undocumented adult migrants who entered the US as children, "in a very elegant way".


Trump backs down


Analysis b y Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington


For days administration officials have insisted they were simply following the law as written and their "zero tolerance" policy for illegal border crossings meant they "have to take the children away", in the president's words.


Critics have countered that Mr Trump unilaterally created the situation that produced the heart-rending accounts of children separated from their parents, and he could unilaterally fix it.


By taking executive action, the president is effectively acknowledging they were correct.
Now the fight will probably move to the courts, with legal challenges to the administration's decision to hold detained families together while their immigration status is adjudicated.


That is more politically hospitable ground for Republicans, who already face challenging mid-term congressional elections.


Read more of Anthony Zurcher's analysis




Why the uproar?


In April, the US attorney general announced a "zero-tolerance" policy to criminally charge and jail undocumented border crossers.


As children cannot legally be jailed with their parents, they are kept in separate facilities.



Theresa May: US child detention "disturbing" and "wrong"

US immigration officials say more than 2,300 children have been taken from some 2,200 parents since 5 May.



The sound of migrant children separated from parents

Pictures of dozens of children sleeping in fenced enclosures and audio of them crying emerged in recent days, provoking the widespread criticism.


Under previous US administrations, immigrants caught crossing the border for the first time tended to be issued with court summonses and released.


Six American airlines have told the Trump administration not to use their aircraft to transport child migrants who have been separated from their parents.


Alaska, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest and United airlines all said the policy contravened their values.




Where are the children taken?


Holding cells: They are first detained at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities, where chain-link fenced enclosures are used, though the children can only be legally held there for three days.


Detention centres: They are then supposed to be moved to one of around 100 detention centres run through the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services. US officials recently showed reporters around a converted Walmart Supercenter in Texas which was housing migrant boys aged 10-17. They apparently had access to beds, classes and games.



Migrant boys detained in a former Walmart in Texas

"Tender age shelters": AP news agency reports that babies and toddlers are being taken to three "tender age shelters" in southern Texas. A CBP official said it is up to the discretion of border agents whether to detain "tender-aged" children, who are typically less than five years old.


Tent camps : US officials have set up a tent camp for migrant children in Tornillo, Texas.


Family members: Under US law, the children are meant to be released to stay with relatives or foster carers "without delay". In practice, the ORR says this process takes about two months .


How are they reunited? Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has set up a hotline for parents to call after they are released from custody. However, a former ICE director has said some family separations are "permanent".




The US teens training in border patrol

What happens now?


Mr Trump's order says that families could remain together in detention instead of separating children from parents illegally crossing into the country.


But immigrant children are only allowed to be held for 20 days, according to a 21-year-old landmark court decision known as the Flores agreement.


The order also calls for the justice department to request to modify the Flores agreement to allow children to be held longer, but it is unclear what will happen if the law does not change.


The Trump administration is likely to become tangled in legal battles with immigration activists on behalf of detained migrants if it is unable to overturn the Flores agreement before the 20-day deadline.


"This is a stopgap measure," said Gene Hamilton, counsel to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.


The order also did not provide any date or timeline on when it would be implemented and does not address how the more than 2,000 children already stripped from their families would be reunited.


Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar has said his department will begin working to return detained immigrant children to their families, but did not give a timeline.


A top HHS official told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday they have no system in place to do so.




https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-44552852

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Mr President.
you sign the paper now what now what going to happen . they will still come over . as you be for you take care of your country & I will take care of my Country .well it look like you are taking care of all other country .this has to stop . I see what going on get more boot's On the ground .Im in Pa & it a mess with the illegal immigrants (you said English only that a good one) they can not read) I watch this operation back yard Browl -VOP-ALPHA-CO-team Pulaski( MR President you also should watch this & so should congress it all about Mexico)

I hope there is a "silent" order to keep them together and safely return them HOME!

yes yes & hurry up

Trump folded like a cheap suit. He tends to do that under pressure. His overpowering desire to be liked is more important then his sense of justice! If he thinks too many people are turning against him and he's going to cave. That is why he worries me so much on the amnesty issue.

An illegal alien from Cameroon with his wife wanting "asylum" and why would USA turn him away if he goes back would get murdered!

Really? Come all this way and not stop in ANY safe country and stay there!

People from ALL over the world getting into Mexico, Mexico allows it. They can stay there.

People from ALL over the world think that WE have to take them all in and pay for them. Stop sending this message to these people to come here. We want a 10 year moratorium on all immigration. No more people.

They come for the free stuff and we need to cut off every taxpayer funded benefit to illegal aliens, asylum, TPS and refugees. That is WHY they come here.

They should ALL have a sponsor who is 100% financially responsible for them

Same goes for ALL work visa's. Their employer must provide their healthcare, pay for their child births and all their expenses. That employer should also pay the school for their children's tuition. WE FOOT THE BILL. None of them should get anything for FREE.