In Texas, some migrant dads who were reunited with their kids were briefly re-separated, report says
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A group of migrant families who were separated at the U.S./Mexico border and then reunited under Judge Dana Sabraw’s court order were again separated for a short period this week, according to The Texas Tribune, after Immigration and Customs EnforcemenIn Texas, some migrant dads who were reunited with their kids were briefly re-separated, report says
A group of migrant families who were separated at the U.S./Mexico border and then reunited under Judge Dana Sabraw’s court order were again separated for a short period this week, according to The Texas Tribune, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) alleged “disruptive behavior” at the Karnes County Residential Center in Texas and moved about 16 dads to a different facility overnight. However, the dads and their advocates are saying this was retribution from ICE. According to RAICES, “armed ICE officers”—as many as 60, Express News reported—stormed the facility’s hallways and arrested more than a dozen migrant parents who had only recently been reunited with their children.” ICE essentially claimed the dads had been acting out. “But advocates characterized it as backlash against migrants who had been speaking out about their conditions,” including launching a hunger strike earlier this month. Other detained dads who were also separated and taken to the second facility said they “were just sitting in their rooms when ICE officers arrived, armed, to take them away. Some fathers, speaking anonymously and through translators on a press call Friday afternoon, said they could not understand why they were targeted.” One dad said he “couldn’t understand, I could not imagine being separated from my child again without being able to say goodbye. It was as if we were criminals.” When Donald Trump is seeking to replace family separation with family detention at places like Karnes, and immigration officials have repeatedly lied in order to incriminate immigrants in their custody, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) need to provide more answers. “ICE claims that family detention facilities are humane and civil,” RAICES tweeted, “comparing them to summer camps. Summer camps don’t get stormed by armed guards arresting their campers separating them from their kids to retaliate against non-violent protest.” “I’ve reached out to ICE and DHS for more information about what led up to the police incident and want to know more about those who were transferred out of the facility,” tweeted Congress member Joaquin Castro, “because this could constitute the re-separation of families,” noting that his office had received reports about attorneys getting kicked out of Karnes this week. “We have yet to fully verify that all migrant children have been reunited with their families,” he continued, “so possible re-separation is alarming.” Read more