Over 140 days past a federal judge’s reunification order, 173 children stolen from families at the southern border continue to remain under U.S. custody, according to the most recently available court filing, with more than 100 of them the children of parents who have already been deported and have said, for varying reasons, that they do not wish to reunify with their child. Family separation remains a crisis.
Eight of these children are “not ‘eligible’ to reunite,” with the 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 also 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. In one such instance, officials tore apart a father and son and refused to provide any evidence to back up their claims that the dad, Julio, had gang affiliations. They were finally reunited last week after spending months apart.
But, another falsely accused dad, Carlos, continues to wait to have his two children, 11-year-old Alison and 7-year-old Carlos Jr., back in his arms again. For now, the two kids are in a children’s detention facility while Carlos is being detained hundreds of miles away. “I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye,” he said. According to CNN, 81 children and 76 adults have been separated since Donald Trump’s executive order purporting to end family separation over supposed claims of criminal affiliations.
Today, Monday, Dec. 17, marks 144 days since the judge’s reunification deadline. Family separation remains a crisis.