By Elishya Perera
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CWBN)_The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says that the parents of 545 children who were separated at the US-Mexico border under the Trump administration’s “no tolerance” migration policy, still have not been found.
According to a court filing submitted on Tuesday (Oct 20), the children were separated between 1st July 2017, and 26th June 2018. Despite a federal judge’s order that the children be reunited with their families, children from that period are difficult to find because the government had inadequate tracking systems.
Soon after taking office, President Donald Trump imposed a “zero tolerance” immigration policy on families seeking asylum at the US – Mexico border. This resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents, and being placed in shelters, while their parents were often detained or deported.
In June 2018, when US District Judge Dana Sabraw ordered an end to the practice under the “zero-tolerance” policy, more than 2,700 children were separated from their parents. Even though a court-appointed steering committee located the parents of majority of the children, the parents of 545 children are yet to be located.
While about two-thirds of parents of those children are believed to be in their countries of origin, however, many of the parents have a glaring trust deficit with anyone claiming to help them locate their children.
“The US government treated them horribly and then deported them without their kids. Many of the deported parents who are still separated, once we found them, in explaining our role in helping to reunite them, it’s hard for them to believe that anyone in the US is willing to help,” said Nan Schivone, the legal director at Justice in Motions, a non-profit organisation that has been assisting the ACLU to locate parents.
Ahead of the presidential debate yesterday (Oct 22), Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden released a statement calling the reports “an outrage, a moral failing, and a stain on our national character”.
The issue sparked a heated dialogue between Biden and President Donald Trump during the final presidential debate as well. Defending his administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, President Trump said, “We’re trying very hard (to reunite those families), but a lot of these kids come up without the parents. They come over through cartels and the coyotes”.
The former Vice president on the other hand said he will propose legislation to grant citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants brought over by their parents or guardians at a young age.
The president also made reference to “the cages”, the migrant holding facilities built during the Obama administration, with the intended purpose to hold migrant children for 72 hours before releasing them to federal agencies for placement.
When inquired why the Obama administration did not do more to protect them, Biden admitted that it “took too long to get it right”.
Referring to the 545 children separated children, Joe Biden said, “They got separated from their parents… (it) violates every notion of who we are as a nation”.
