More than 500 children kidnapped from their families by the insurrectionist former president have been reunited with their loved ones, the Biden administration has announced. In a statement, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the reunifications a “significant milestone,” crediting the “tireless” efforts of both public servants and “committed non-governmental organizations.”
“While the Department of Homeland Security and the Task Force take great pride in this accomplishment, we also know that this important work isn’t finished,” Mayorkas cautioned. While a federal judge ordered the previous administration to stop separations in June 2018, it had been stealing children beginning in 2017, reports later revealed. Family Reunification Task Force executive director Michelle Brané said officials and advocates are still working to reunite 700 children who remain separated.
RELATED STORY: Parents sue over family separation policy: 'I thought I was never going to see my son ever again'
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“We’re making progress,” Brané said in comments reported by The Hill. “We have been able to contact many of the families that we had not previously had any contact with when we came into this job and into this mission. And we know that there is a lot of work left to be done. We are committed to continuing to work to find these families.”
In his statement, Mayorkas said that “nearly 200 children are currently in the process of being reunified with their parents.” The Hill reported that officials have sought contact with 150 other parents. “There is also a group of parents for the more than 150 children the task force has not yet been able to contact.”
That report also pointed to a portal created by the Biden administration in partnership with the International Organization for Migration last year that gives separated parents a way to contact the federal government to seek reunification. “The Task Force, through its partners, also continues to identify and engage families who were separated to ensure they are aware of the reunification process and the support the Task Force has arranged,” Mayorkas continued. “This support includes critically needed behavioral health services to assist the families in addressing the trauma they have suffered.”
NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff reported this past summer that under the Biden administration, more than 2,000 family members affected by the inhumane “zero tolerance” policy have been allowed to temporarily live in the U.S. The humanitarian parole system allows beneficiaries to live and work here for about two years. While President Biden has said he supports permanent legal status for separated families, that’ll only be possible through the backlogged asylum system, or congressional action.
“We will continue to work tirelessly to deliver on President Biden’s commitment to reunite children separated from their families at the United States-Mexico border,” Mayorkas continued.
“The Biden administration should be applauded for reuniting hundreds of families cruelly separated by the Trump administration, but unfortunately there could be more than a 1,000 families who are still separated, and we still haven’t even found 150 families, ” American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt said in The Hill’s report.
Not one official with the previous administration has been held accountable for this human rights atrocity. While the insurrectionist president lost his reelection, he’s poised to run again, and could very well win the GOP nomination. Former officials who oversaw separation efforts have gone on to get cable news contributor deals. But families have still been seeking some semblance of justice, filing lawsuits as recently as this past summer against the federal government. M.S.E., one such plaintiff, said she was never even given a chance to hug her child goodbye.
“M.S.E. repeatedly asked the officers about J.M., but they never explained what happened to J.M,” the complaint stated. “Instead, the officers said M.S.E. and the other parents would be deported, and their children would be put up for adoption. They told M.S.E. to forget about her son.”
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Biden administration has reunited nearly 400 children stolen from parents by previous president