The Trump administration has a record number of migrant children in detention all across the U.S., nearly all of them minors who came to the U.S. by themselves. Many of these kids could be released to potential sponsors, but immigration officials have instead been arresting them.
Then there’s a smaller group of children detained by officials who aren’t unaccompanied minors at all, but in fact kids who were stolen from families under the “zero tolerance” policy. They’re supposed to be back with their families, following a court order. But 141 days past that federal judge’s deadline, over 170 of these kids continue to remain separated.
Of this overall group of children, 102 have parents “presently departed from the United States whose intent not to reunify has been confirmed by the ACLU.” But many parents have said they “were coerced into signing deportation forms after being falsely told by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers that it was the only way to reunite with their children.”
Another eight of the kids are “not ‘eligible’ to reunite,” with a court filing stating that for four of those parents, the “Steering Committee has advised that resolution will be delayed.” But in some instances, organization leaders have had to do the job of incompetent Trump officials and navigate “treacherous roads, distrustful communities and remote villages” to try to locate parents that were carelessly deported. “Resolution will be delayed”? More like, “permanent separation.”
Family separation continues, not just because these kids are still separated from their loved ones, but because officials are still separating families at the border under unproven claims that some asylum seekers, some of them fleeing gang violence, are themselves gang members. One falsely accused dad, Julio, has was just reunited with his son following months of separation. Another falsely accused dad, Carlos, continues to wait to have his kids in his arms again.
Today, Friday, Dec. 14, marks 141 days since the judge’s reunification deadline. Family separation remains a crisis.