The Trump administration declared mission accomplished following the court-mandated deadline Thursday to reunite migrant families they tore apart, yet more than 700 kidnapped children continue to be separated from their families, many because the U.S. had already deported their parents. While 1,820 children were reunited with parents in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody or released in “other appropriate circumstances,” 711 others continue to remain in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) facilities. “Without details or transparency,” notes one immigrant rights group, the administration has deemed them “not eligible or currently not eligible” for reunification.
“Lawyers for the parents have repeatedly asked the government for information regarding the people who the administration claims are ‘ineligible’ in order to, where appropriate, challenge the decision to keep child from parent—standard due process in family law before a child is taken from a parent,” America’s Voice said. “No such information has been forthcoming.”
But the same administration that commonly slanders an entire group of immigrants as criminals and animals is now claiming that some of these parents are ineligible to reunite with their own children because of alleged criminal histories, a convenient cop-out for an administration that had no plan in place on how to reunite families and then was court-ordered to do so.
“I fear that [the Department of Homeland Security] is declaring certain parents and children ‘ineligible’ for reunification,” tweeted Congress member Joaquin Castro of Texas on the day of the deadline, “because they don’t know their identities or have lost track of the parent or child. It may be cover for incompetence born out of malevolence.”
Then, there’s the parents this administration has already horrifically deported. Advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), allege some parents were coerced or mislead by immigration officials into agreeing to deportation, “and some parents say they signed paperwork they didn't understand and unknowingly relinquished their rights to reunite with their children.” If that’s the case, return these parents to the U.S. for reunification now.
The fact remains that the so-called “law and order” administration, yet again, missed a court-ordered deadline to reunite families they chose to tear apart. Judge Dana Sabraw has bent over backward to work with this administration for the sake of these kids, but this administration has continued to break that trust. There need to be resignations. There needs to be punishment. There needs to be a sweep of a complicit Republican Congress that has been enabling this evil. There needs to be accountability for the young lives this government has damaged for years.
“We’re thrilled for the families who are finally reunited,” the ACLU said, “but many more remain separated. The Trump administration is trying to sweep them under the rug by unilaterally picking and choosing who is eligible for reunification. We will continue to hold the government accountable and get these families back together.” This crisis will not be over until then, and don’t let anyone forget it.