(Photo : Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla)
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 21: The Department of Homeland Security seal on the podium used by acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan as he announces new rules about how migrant children and families are treated in federal custody at the Ronald Reagan Building August 21, 2019 in Washington, DC. The Trump Administration announced the change in rules that would allow it to indefinitely detain migrant families who cross the border illegally, replacing the Flores Agreement which limited on how long the government could hold migrant children in custody and how they must be cared for.
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) formally prohibited separating kids from parents who are caught illegally crossing the United States border. It is part of an effort by the Biden administration to upend the effects of former President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Acting Commissioner Troy Miller released a memo to Border Patrol and CBP's Office of Field Operations heads banning the separation of children from their parents or guardians for convictions on illegal entry to the country. It also included prohibiting the referral of parents for prosecution exclusively on the grounds of illegal entry to the United States.
Attorneys working to reach the migrant families separated by the previous administration have discovered parents of 54 more children in April, as indicated in a court filing on Wednesday. The parents of 391 children could not be reached, down from 445 last month, reported NBC News.
Local Scientists Seek to Use DNA to Reunite Families Separated at the Border
Lurie Children's doctors have proposed to reunite migrant families separated at the border. Like how consumers use DNA kits to discover lost family members, the program looks to reunite parents with their lost children.
Miller's memo included an exception on national security grounds. It enables CBP and Border Patrol agents to refer illegal entry for prosecution with the approval of local counsel and high-profile officials.
The guidance in his memo is intended to clarify a court order in 2018 that necessitated the DHS to reunite such families and stop separating families based on illegal entry charges, reported The Hill.
Pro bono attorneys commissioned to find them by a federal judge stated the parents of 227 of those children had been deported, 100 are in some place in the United States, and 14 have no contact information that the government has proferred. President Joe Biden's administration set up a task force to reunite separated families. The task force is working with the attorneys to return deported parents who have been identified.
Devastating photos have been displayed -- children weeping as their parents hope to provide them a bright future in the US but instead see darkness without them. According to Sara Katsanis, a research assistant professor at Northwestern Medicine and policy research on the application of genetics in society, "A whole lot of separations over several months in 2018, and many of those families have remained separated since then," she said. "And it has been very difficult to track down find and reunify. ... For many years when migrant families crossed the US - Mexico border, they might face separation if there is some suspicion of human trafficking or endangerment of the child. In 2017 and 2018 that policy shifted to broaden the scope of separations," reported Free Children.
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