We are wrapping up the live coverage for the day.
Today’s dramatic events, as Trump signed an executive order ending the policy of separating children from their parents at the US-Mexico border, follow days of outrage from the public and politicians about the policy.
When signing the order, Trump said it was because: “I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.”
In a speech to a rally in Minnesota, Trump said the public outrage at the policy was drummed up by Democrats to distract from the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton, and he reiterated that he would maintain a tough stance on immigration, as opposed to what he calls the Democrats’ “open border policy”.
Critics of Trump’s immigration policy, say there is still much to be concerned about. The executive order instructs government officials to continue its “zero-tolerance” policy, prosecuting all immigrants who enter the US illegally.
While children will now be able to stay with their parents, this will be in detention, with “alien families” detained together “where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources”.
The president’s action also directs the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to go to court to ask for a modification to a 1997 court settlement, known as Flores, which currently prohibits the detention of migrant children for more than 20 days. If it is successful, children could be held in detention until proceedings have been completed.
We’ll continue following this story as it unfolds, thanks for following along today.
After days of public outcry, Trump’s signing of the executive order putting a stop to the policy of separating children and parents at the US-Mexico border, is not the end of the issue, as many people have pointed out.
Trump’s plan could see children detained indefinitely with their parents, and there are concerns about the lack of plans in place to reunite the 2,300 children currently in detention with their parents.
Olivia Solon writes how the burden of reunited families falls on NGOs.
Only hours after signing an executive order to end the practice of separating migrant families at the US-Mexico border, Donald Trump said the public uproar over his administration’s policy was a distraction by Democrats to hide the crimes of Hillary Clinton and the FBI.
Speaking to packed rally in Duluth, Minnesota, on Wednesday night, Trump tied the issue to the inspector general’s report about the FBI’s handling of its investigation of Clinton during the 2016 elections. “Right now they are building up immigration, they are building up immigration,” said Trump “they don’t want to show what’s happening in Congress where this scam has been revealed.”
Read Ben Jacobs’ full report from Duluth here.
Reuters have more on Donald Trump’s claims in tonight’s speech that North Korea today returned the remains of 200 US troops missing from the Korean War.
“We got back our great fallen heroes, the remains sent back today, already 200 got sent back,” Trump told a crowd of supporters during a rally in Duluth, Minnesota.
There has been no official confirmation of the move from military authorities. But US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that in coming days North Korea would hand over a “sizeable number” of remains to United Nations Command in South Korea, and they would then be transferred to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.
About 7,700 US military personnel remain unaccounted from the 1950-1953 Korean War, U.S. military data show. According to the Pentagon, North Korean officials have indicated in the past that they have the remains of as many as 200 US troops. More than 36,500 US troops died in the conflict.
If you fancy watching the president’s speech in full, he has helpfully tweeted a link to the video of it. It goes for an hour, though Trump does not speak for that whole time; four minutes are given over to Pete Stauber, the Congressional candidate, whom Trump was appearing in support of.
Thank you Duluth, Minnesota. Together, we are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! https://t.co/G0hbbx6xAK
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2018
Fox News, which was the only network to broadcast the rally, is predictably supportive of the president.
Speaking after the rally, Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson condemned “the Left” for their coverage of Trump’s immigration policy, saying “the debate wasn’t about what they say it’s about” and that they had been “whipping their supporters into a frenzy of mindless rage” which was “the shortest way of shutting down rational debate”.
In particular, Carlson said he was perplexed that people who had been calling for an end to the separation of families were still angry, even after the president signed an executive order putting an end to the policy.
Critics have raised concerns that Trump has sought to extend the time limit that children can be held in detention, meaning children and their parents might be subject to indefinite detention.
Updated
Things we learned from Trump's speech
Trump’s speech tonight at a rally held in Duluth, Minnesota in support of Pete Stauber, who is running for a seat in Congress, was long - nearly an hour - and wide-ranging.
Here are some key moments:
- Trump slammed Senator John McCain without naming him, when talking about his attempts to repeal Obamacare. “We had a gentleman, late into the morning hours, go thumbs-down,” Trump said of McCain’s refusal to support Trump’s push for the repeal. “That was not a good thing he did ... He went thumbs-down. Not nice! That was not nice.”
- The practice of shaming protesters at Trump rallies continues. Two protesters were singled out by Trump, who asked for them to be removed from the arena, as the crowd booed and jeered. Of one he said: “Is that a man or a woman? I couldn’t tell. He needs a haircut more than I do.” Of the other protester, Trump said:
We have a single protester, there you go, goodbye darling, goodbye darling, we have a single protester, he’s going home to his mum, say hi to mummy.
- Trump has claimed that the repatriation of the bodies of soldiers from North Korea, which he announced in the aftermath of last week’s summit in Singapore, had already begun, saying: “Today, already, 200 have been sent back.”
If this is true, this is new and significant. The Guardian’s Tom McCarthy is looking into this, but so far the White House has not replied to his requests for confirmation and there is no word on which agency was handling the repatriation, or when and where the remains had been received.
- Trump has reiterated his plans for a “Space Force”, to patrol the heavens. “We’re reopening Nasa,” he told supporters, prompting chants of “space force”.
We have the airforce, but now we’re going to have the space force. We need it! We need it!
Updated
This is Kate Lyons taking over from Sam Levin.
Well, Trump took a while to get onto the subject of his executive order during tonight’s speech, but once he started on the subject, he had a lot to say. Here are some of his quotes on the subject, in which he blamed the current situation on Democrats’ “open border” policy.
So the Democrats want open borders, let everybody come in, let everybody pour in, we don’t care, let them come in from the Middle East, let them come in from all over the place, we don’t care. We’re not going to let it happen.
And by the way today I signed an executive order, we’re going to keep families together but the border is going to be just as tough as it’s been.
Democrats don’t care about the impact of uncontrolled migration on your communities your schools, your hospitals, your jobs or your safety. Democrats put illegal immigrants before they put American citizens, what the hell is going on?
Trump also spoke about how the US needed immigrants, but only wanted those who came through “merit”.
We do want people to come across our border, to come through our ports of entry, but we want people to come through merit, not just through luck or happenstance. We want them to come in through merit and we need people because we have so many companies right now… moving back into our country, we need people to help. But we want them to come in through the merit system, not a system where we get MS-13 and everybody else that other countries don’t want.
The Democrats open border policies have also allowed MS-13 to come into our country and drugs to pour into our streets and we’re stopping them.
Trump repeated threats he made earlier in the week that the US would cut aid to countries that people crossing the border came from and referenced the speech he gave when he launched his campaign for the presidency back in 2015, when he referred to those coming over the border from Mexico as “rapists”.
These countries, we’re sending them back, we’re putting in legislation, we’re not giving them anymore aid.
They send people up, remember the original speech, my original speech, they are sending, remember my words, they are sending and they’re not sending their finest, I can tell you and we’re sending them the hell back.
Summary
A summary of some of the key developments today:
- Donald Trump reversed course and signed an executive order to “keep families together”, ending his policy of separating migrant children and parents at the border.
- The text of the order, however, makes clear that Trump will stick to his hardline approach and “zero-tolerance” enforcement policy of criminally prosecuting everyone who crosses the border unauthorized.
- The government is also seeking a policy change through the courts to allow for the detention of migrant children for more than 20 days.
- Critics say Trump is seeking to effectively replace family separation with indefinite family detention and are calling for further reforms.
- US officials said there are no immediate plans to reunite children who have already been separated from their parents.
- Protesters are planning actions for later this month, and on Wednesday, some activists occupied an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) building in Oregon, forcing it to shut down.
- In Mexico, some women and children hoping to cross into the US say they are choosing between death at home or brutal treatment in Texas.
- Trump held a campaign rally in Minnesota where he repeated his signature attacks on Hillary Clinton, Democrats and immigrants.
Dispatch from court: 'I want to be deported'
Guardian reporter Oliver Laughland has been reporting today at a federal magistrates court in McAllen, Texas where dozens of migrants faced a judge. Here’s a dispatch on what they are facing:
At a mass plea hearing in a federal magistrates court in McAllen, Texas, at about the time of Trump’s announcement, 74 migrants, mostly from Central America, sat in a packed-out courtroom.
Each was charged with illegal entry misdemeanor, the vast majority never having committed a crime in the US. Before Judge J Scott Hacker, lawyers informed the court that 24 of the defendants were parents who had been separated from their children by US authorities after being apprehended near the border.
As most of the men and women were sentenced to time served, Óscar Rox-Flores, a Guatemalan migrant apprehended with his daughter two days ago, spoke before the judge.
“In my case I am here with my daughter,” he said. “I want to be deported with her so we can both go home together.”
Judge Hacker was able to offer no assurances. “I don’t have an answer that question,” he said. “Hopefully there are procedures in place.”
Witnessing some of the plea hearings here in McAllen & Brownsville, as fathers and mothers beg federal judges to reunite them with their missing children has been among the most shocking things I've ever seen.
— Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) June 21, 2018
Two fathers asked, as they were sentenced to time served, if it was possible to be sent home with their children. The judge was unable to offer them any assurances at all.
— Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) June 21, 2018
"Hopefully there are procedures in place," Judge Hacker told one Guatemalan father, separated from his daughter. He then wished him good luck as he was led out of court, handcuffed, legs shackled, head bowed.
— Oliver Laughland (@oliverlaughland) June 21, 2018
The Trump rally has come to a close with some predictable lines from the president:
The Republicans will win ... We will never stop fighting for our flag, for our country, for our freedom. We are one people, one family and one glorious nation under God, and together, we will make America wealthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America safe again.”
Trump is now arguing that the controversy over family separation at the border is meant to distract from Hillary Clinton:
Trump says the focus on family separation is an attempt by Democrats to protect Hillary Clinton from prosecution
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 21, 2018
“Crooked Hillary – have you been watching what’s been going on? ... How guilty is she?” Trump said, prompting “Lock her up!” chants. “They wanted to put us in trouble, and it’s not working too well, I’ll tell you. Disgusting ... phony witch hunt ... They’re building up immigration. They don’t want to show what’s happening in Congress.”
Trump is now bragging about his wealth and intelligence:
They always call the other side ‘the elite’. Why are they elite? I have a much better apartment than they do. I’m smarter than they are. I’m richer than they are. I became president and they didn’t. And I’m representing the greatest, smartest most loyal best people on earth - the deplorables, remember that?
Trump has also made false claims at the rally about the construction of his proposed border wall on the US-Mexico border:
Twice now President Trump has falsely claimed that he has started construction of the wall on the southern border. “That wall is happening,” he said. Fact Check: The wall has not started being built. There have been some enforcement of fencing of existing barriers.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) June 21, 2018
Trump is now praising the “heroic agents” of Ice and DHS:
They save millions ... thousands and thousands of lives. They are so brave, so tough. If you want to create a humane lawful system of immigration, then you need to retire the Democrats and elect Republicans to finally secure our borders.
He also said:
The media never talks about the American victims of illegal immigration...
As your president, I will always fight to protect American families. I will always fight for an immigration system that protects our borders and takes care of our sovereignty as a nation.
The president has returned to his campaign message focused on people killed by undocumented immigrants. Research has contradicted Trump’s claims linking immigration to crime, with studies suggesting that undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes than people born in the US.
Two protesters have interrupted the rally so far, prompting taunts from Trump:
“We have a single protester. There we go, goodbye, darling. We have a single protester, he’s going home to his mom. Say hello to mommy and tomorrow, the fake news will say, ‘Massive protests at the trump rally.’ One person.”
To the second protester:
“Get him out of here, go home to your mom, darling. Get him out of here. Out. ... Was that a man or a woman? Because he needs a haircut more than I do.”
Trump has just spoken briefly about his executive order and misrepresented the positions of Democrats on immigration:
So the Democrats want open borders: ‘Let everybody come in. Let everybody pour in, we don’t care. Let them come in from the Middle East … We don’t care.’ We’re not going to let it happen.”
Today I signed an executive order… We’re going to keep families together, but the border is going to be just as tough as it’s been. Democrats don’t care about the impact of uncontrolled migration on your communities, your schools, your hospitals, your safety.
Chants of “Build that wall!” have broken out in the crowd.
Trump has called out the New York Times for past reporting on his crowd sizes at events and boasted about the turnout at tonight’s rally:
It’s fake news, I’m telling you, it’s so fake. Usually they don’t show the arena ... I don’t want to show my face, I want to show the crowds, it’s much prettier.”
Trump is now predictably slamming the media, sparking loud chants of “CNN sucks! CNN sucks!” ... “These are very dishonest people,” the president said before praising his recent meeting with Kim Jong-un:
I met Kim Jong-un and we had a great meeting, great chemistry. We got along really well ... Everybody was amazed that we had the meeting. … It was an incredible success...
I got along with Kim Jong-un. And that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. ... The fact that we do get along means we’re safe.”
He also said, “We’re going to keep winning, winning, winning.”
Trump rally begins
Trump has taken the stage at his rally in Duluth, Minnesota – his first rally in a state he lost in the 2016 election. The president begins his rally saying he won’t lose in 2020:
We came this close to winning the state of Minnesota, and in two-and-a-half years, it’s going to be really easy I think … I needed one more visit, one more speech.”
So far, he has made no mention of immigration or his executive order in the start of his speech, instead shouting out local Republicans.
While speaking at a roundtable in Minnesota before his rally, Trump slammed US immigration laws:
We have the weakest, most pathetic immigration laws anywhere in the world. Nobody has laws like we do.”
He also claimed Minnesota has “plenty of problems ... with respect to people coming in”.
Trump, at roundtable in Duluth, on illegal immigration:
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 20, 2018
"You have plenty of problems up here in Minnesota with respect to people coming in. And you've had a lot of problems and a lot of difficulty.
"And it's probably one of the reasons I almost won Minnesota."
The president is expected to speak soon at his rally.
Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs is reporting from the Trump rally in Duluth, where Lara Trump is speaking in advance of the president’s remarks:
Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, received a massive standing ovation, saying the issue of family separation was a distraction from Trump’s visit to North Korea.
She said the media was focusing on “people coming into our country illegally, breaking our laws and paying the consequences about it”. She went on to lay the blame for Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy implemented by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the Obama administration.
“People are hysterical about it. The media is going crazy about it, but this has been going on for years and years and years. It happened for eight years under President Obama. Where was hysteria? Where was uproar? Where where Democrats calling out for him to change it?”
Video board above the arena here at the Trump rally describes the president's Twitter account as "your source for real news" pic.twitter.com/MukY8dtZHy
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 20, 2018
No plans to immediately reunite families
US officials are now saying there are no immediate plans to reunite children who have already been separated from their parents, despite the executive order ending this practice, according to multiple reports.
The New York Times reports:
[A] Health and Human Services official said that more than 2,300 children who have already been separated from their parents under the president’s “zero tolerance” policy will not be immediately reunited with their families while the adults remain in federal custody during their immigration proceedings.
“There will not be a grandfathering of existing cases,” said Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Another reporter said there will be no “special efforts” to reunite children already torn from their families, meaning the government will continue for now to treat them as “unaccompanied” minors:
An HHS official tells @weijia that there will NOT be special efforts made to reunite children who have already been separated from their families bc of the Zero Tolerance Policy, despite Trumps EO. Process will proceed for minors currently in the unaccompanied children program.
— Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) June 20, 2018
Democrats condemn executive order
Democratic leaders have continued to slam Trump’s executive order and plans to effectively replace the practice of family separation with family detention. Here are a few of the latest statements.
House minority leader Nancy Pelosi:
The President’s Executive Order seeks to replace one form of child abuse with another. Instead of protecting traumatized children, the President has directed his Attorney General to pave the way for the long-term incarceration of families in prison-like conditions...
Using terrified small children as leverage to push the President’s anti-immigrant agenda represents an unspeakably appalling moral low-point for our nation. Yet, House Republicans continue their complicity in the President’s atrocities and cravenly cheerlead the President’s policy.
Senator Jeff Merkley:
Public outcry against separating families & imprisoning children has forced a change, but @realDonaldTrump appears to be replacing his inhumane child-snatching policy w/ another damaging strategy of handcuffs for all. Public pressure is working, but Trump's plan isn't good enough https://t.co/Fz1tgcJkls
— Jeff Merkley (@JeffMerkley) June 20, 2018
Senator Cory Booker:
Incarcerating families and children fleeing violence and oppression is an unacceptable response to the family separation crisis created by President Trump and his administration. The lack of any plan to reunite children with their parents and undo the damage that has been done by President Trump’s family separation policy is profoundly concerning to me.
President Trump should immediately reverse his abhorrent ‘zero-tolerance’ policy, which undermines America’s highest ideals and doesn’t make our country any safer.
Reveal, an investigative news website, has a disturbing report out on court documents alleging that some immigrant children have been forcibly injected with powerful psychiatric drugs at one of the US government’s shelters:
1/ Immigrant children have been forcibly injected with powerful psychiatric drugs at one of the U.S. gov't shelters, Shiloh Treatment Center outside of Houston, according to court documents and interviews. https://t.co/Ve4XSyRw5N
— Reveal (@reveal) June 20, 2018
The federal suit alleged that children reported being held down and injected, and Reveal said one child was prescribed 10 different shots and pills.
7/ We asked expert forensic psychiatrist Mark. J. Mills to assess the 420 pages of children’s medical records.
— Reveal (@reveal) June 20, 2018
He was alarmed. "That's like the old Soviet Union used to do."
See his full comments: pic.twitter.com/Gxf6SfImPo
The treatment center in question, which is a government contractor, did not respond to Reveal’s requests for comment on the lawsuit.
A US official has confirmed that the government is seeking a policy change in courts to allow for the detention of migrant children for more than 20 days. Gene Hamilton, counselor to the attorney general, told reporters that the 20-day maximum will, however, remain in effect unless Congress or the courts change the rule:
JUST IN: Senior Justice Department official Gene Hamilton confirms the Flores settlement still controls, and that unless Congress or the court acts, the government can only detain families together for "up to 20 days."
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) June 20, 2018
AG's Gene Hamilton said DOJ is asking a court to change length of time families can be detained *together.*
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 20, 2018
"It's certainly the case that right now we have lawful authority to detain a family unit together for up to 20 days," but need court to allow them to detain beyond 20 days.
Trump’s effort to eliminate the time limit is one of the most controversial components of his new executive order. If successful, it means that even though children would not be separated from their parents, families could be detained together for lengthy periods of time as their immigration cases move through the process.
Hamilton also said he could not say when migrant children already separated from families might be reunited with their parents, deflecting a question to other federal agencies.
Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs is reporting from the Trump rally in Duluth, Minnesota where the president will speak later tonight.
#trumpfashion pic.twitter.com/vEPx7WN8o6
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 20, 2018
Jim Lundy, a Trump supporter from Lindstrom, Minnesota, said he was unconcerned about the reports about children being separated from their parents at the border: “I think it is bullshit.” He also said he believed the government was following the law: “I don’t understand what the problem is.”
Another reporter said that a common theme at the rally was supporters suggesting that photos and videos from the detainment center were fake or photoshopped:
Common theme: A Trump supporter in Duluth, one of many waiting in a long line outside tonight’s rally location, just told me she has compassion for separated families but ultimately believes that the detainment center photos and videos are fake and photoshopped.
— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) June 20, 2018
Calls for a plan to reunite families
While some critics are celebrating Trump’s decision to end his family separation policy, others are pointing out that the executive order offers no plan to reunite parents with the more 2,300 children recently torn from their families. Some Democrats are calling for an immediate plan:
This Executive Order in no way deals with reuniting the *two thousand three hundred* children who have been torn away from their parents and remain separated. When will they see their parents again? They must be reunited immediately.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) June 20, 2018
.@POTUS & @HHSGov: What’s the plan for reuniting separated children with their parents? Signing a piece of paper does not solve the problem.
— Michael Bennet (@SenBennetCO) June 20, 2018
Some reports have suggested that the government currently has no process in place for reuniting families divided by the Trump administration’s policies.
Earlier today, John Sandweg, who led Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) from 2013 to 2014, said he expects hundreds of separated children will never be reunited with their parents.
Here’s a new statement from the American College of Physicians, critiquing the order and calling for more robust solutions:
Accordingly, the EO does not ensure that there will be a permanent end to the policy of separating children from their parents at the border, as ACP advocates. The order also fails to address what is going to happen with the thousands of children who have already been separated from their families and remain in the custody of the U.S. government since the zero tolerance policy went into effect. Those children need to be reunited with their parents immediately. Any delay in reunification will exacerbate the negative health consequences inflicted on the children and their families.
Additionally, ACP remains concerned about the negative health consequences that have already been borne by the children and parents who have been separated. Those negative health impacts cannot be reversed. The children who were taken from their families are more likely to experience increased mental health impacts like depression, an increased likelihood of engaging in risky behavior such as smoking and alcohol abuse and drug use, and increased likelihood to develop preventable illnesses like heart disease, cancer, or stroke. These are effects that will last their entire lives.
Trump appears to be facing some backlash on the right for his executive order ending the widely criticized policy on family separations. Breitbart, the rightwing news outlet once run by former White House strategist Steve Bannon, has accused the president of giving in to “left-wing hate” on the site’s homepage:
Top of Breitbart's homepage right now: TRUMP BUCKLES pic.twitter.com/zDcMVZBf7B
— Sam Levin (@SamTLevin) June 20, 2018
Presidential candidate John Delaney will debut a new campaign ad on Morning Joe about immigrant detention. Delaney, a three term Maryland congressman who is mounting a long shot bid for the White House in 2020, talks about his grandfather being detained when he tried to immigrate to the United States in 1923 and ends with the now-famous image of a crying young girl being separated from her family at the border.
Updated
Guardian reporter Lauren Gambino has more analysis of the language in Trump’s executive order:
However, the text of the executive order makes clear that a hardline approach to prosecutions will continue.
The order instructs government officials to continue its “zero-tolerance” enforcement policy of criminal prosecution for every immigrant who crosses the border illegally, but says that officials will seek to “maintain family unity” by detaining parents and children together instead of separating them while their legal cases wind through a severely backlogged immigration court system.
The language leaves a great deal of wriggle room for exceptions, however, noting that “alien families” would be detained together “where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources”.
The president’s action also directs the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to go to court to ask for a modification to a 1997 court settlement, known as Flores, which currently prohibits the detention of migrant children for more than 20 days.
A successful legal battle could see parents held with their children in detention until proceedings have been completed.
After signing the executive order on family separation, Trump is already shifting attention to a different subject on Twitter, launching another attack on Mark Sanford, a Republican critic of the president who recently lost his re-election bid:
Had a great meeting with the House GOP last night at the Capitol. They applauded and laughed loudly when I mentioned my experience with Mark Sanford. I have never been a fan of his!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2018
The Washington Post has more on the GOP meeting and Trump’s remarks about Sanford. Trump also just tweeted angrily about “Fake ABC News”.
Activists blockade Ice in Oregon
In Portland, Oregon, activists are occupying an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) building in protest of the family separation policy. Guardian reporter Jason Wilson has details:
Ice now says the agency has temporarily shut down the operations facility “due to security concerns”. The agency did not provide a timeline for reopening:
ICE announces it has shut down its operations temporarily at its facility in SW Portland due to #OccupyICEPDX protest. pic.twitter.com/htJ7ESBcIP
— Ryan Haas (@ryanjhaas) June 20, 2018
The occupation in Oregon grew at the same time as Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump’s homeland security secretary, faced protesters while dining at a Mexican restaurant on Tuesday.
Sam Levin in the Guardian’s San Francisco bureau here, taking over our live coverage of Trump’s executive order on family separations. Here are some initial reactions to the details of the text. Notably, the order says the government aims to keep parents and children in detention during immigration proceedings, which can take months or more than a year:
Trump's executive order on family separation says that to the extent permitted by law DHS will keep immigrant parents and kids in detention during any illegal entry and immigration proceedings. Those proceedings could take months or more than a yearhttps://t.co/AUwgDErUZW pic.twitter.com/9rR1mWM06M
— Adolfo Flores (@aflores) June 20, 2018
The order specifically directs the US attorney general to ask the courts to alter a 1997 agreement that required the release of children without “unnecessary delay”, which has been considered 20 days. In other words, the US is seeking permission to detain children without time limits:
The Trump order seeks to change the 1997 agreement that requires the govt to release kids without "unnecessary delay," which has been interpreted as 20 days. Trump wants to keep them detained indefinitely, until the end of their legal case. pic.twitter.com/dFbAcay7YZ
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 20, 2018
President Trump is asking the courts for permission to detain children without time limits if their parents are being prosecuted for an illegal border crossing -- or any other immigration proceeding
— Camila Domonoske (@camilareads) June 20, 2018
Some have also pointed out that the language around keeping families together seems to provide quite a bit of wiggle room and the potential for loopholes. The first section includes this caveat:
“It is also the policy of this Administration to maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources.”
Others further noted that the order repeats falsehoods about the origins of the separation policy:
And here's Trump lying in his actual executive order, too. pic.twitter.com/6cpaSfzKib
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) June 20, 2018
Updated
Here is the latest reaction from Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and adviser, to her father’s executive order. She calls it a “critical action ending family separation at our border”. Again, the administration initiated the “zero tolerance” policy that lead to the separations.
Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2018
Updated
As you may have noticed from the title of Trump’s executive order (“Affording Congress an opportunity to address family separation”), Trump blames the legislative branch for the “zero tolerance” immigration policy which lead to the separations.
The executive order blames congress: "It is unfortunate that Congress's failure to act and court orders have put the Administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law."
— Lauren Gambino (@laurenegambino) June 20, 2018
Some have also pointed out that the order’s title appeared to be misspelled when it was initially released.
And the word “Separation” is misspelled in the title of the executive order, because, of course it is: pic.twitter.com/GtXj1hPh6D
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) June 20, 2018
Updated
Here is the full text of the executive order signed by President Trump:
AFFORDING CONGRESS AN OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS FAMILY SEPARATION
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq., it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of this Administration to rigorously enforce our immigration laws. Under our laws, the only legal way for an alien to enter this country is at a designated port of entry at an appropriate time. When an alien enters or attempts to enter the country anywhere else, that alien has committed at least the crime of improper entry and is subject to a fine or imprisonment under section 1325(a) of title 8, United States Code. This Administration will initiate proceedings to enforce this and other criminal provisions of the INA until and unless Congress directs otherwise. It is also the policy of this Administration to maintain family unity, including by detaining alien families together where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources. It is unfortunate that Congress’s failure to act and court orders have put the Administration in the position of separating alien families to effectively enforce the law.
Sec. 2. Definitions. For purposes of this order, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Alien family” means
(i) any person not a citizen or national of the United States who has not been admitted into, or is not authorized to enter or remain in, the United States, who entered this country with an alien child or alien children at or between designated ports of entry and who was detained; and
(ii) that person’s alien child or alien children.
(b) “Alien child” means any person not a citizen or national of the United States who
(i) has not been admitted into, or is not authorized to enter or remain in, the United States;
(ii) is under the age of 18; and
(iii) has a legal parent-child relationship to an alien who entered the United States with the alien child at or between designated ports of entry and who was detained.
Sec. 3. Temporary Detention Policy for Families Entering this Country Illegally. (a) The Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary), shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, maintain custody of alien families during the pendency of any criminal improper entry or immigration proceedings involving their members.
(b) The Secretary shall not, however, detain an alien family together when there is a concern that detention of an alien child with the child’s alien parent would pose a risk to the child’s welfare.
(c) The Secretary of Defense shall take all legally available measures to provide to the Secretary, upon request, any existing facilities available for the housing and care of alien families, and shall construct such facilities if necessary and consistent with law. The Secretary, to the extent permitted by law, shall be responsible for reimbursement for the use of these facilities.
(d) Heads of executive departments and agencies shall, to the extent consistent with law, make available to the Secretary, for the housing and care of alien families pending court proceedings for improper entry, any facilities that are appropriate for such purposes. The Secretary, to the extent permitted by law, shall be responsible for reimbursement for the use of these facilities.
(e) The Attorney General shall promptly file a request with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to modify the Settlement Agreement in Flores v. Sessions, CV 85-4544 (“Flores settlement”), in a manner that would permit the Secretary, under present resource constraints, to detain alien families together throughout the pendency of criminal proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration proceedings.
Sec. 4. Prioritization of Immigration Proceedings Involving Alien Families. The Attorney General shall, to the extent practicable, prioritize the adjudication of cases involving detained families.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
June 20, 2018.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump, sitting at the Resolute desk, said: “Thank you very much. We’re signing an executive order. I consider it to be a very important executive order. It’s about keeping families together while at the same time being sure that we have a very powerful, very strong border, and border security will be equal if not greater than previously.
“So we’re going to have strong, very strong borders, but we’re going to keep the families together. I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.
“We’re gonna have a lot of happy people,” Trump said as he signed the executive order.
Vice president Mike Pence was at Trump’s left and Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was at his right.
Updated
In signing the order, Trump said the “zero tolerance” prosecution policy would continue. That policy leads families to being separated because it subjected all migrants who crossed the border illegally to criminal prosecution. When parents were taken to detention, children were reclassified as “unaccompanied minors” and sent to government-run facilities.
It is not immediately clear how that will continue while families stay together.
This reversal comes after the Trump administration faced withering criticism over the policy from politicians on both sides of the aisle, humanitarian groups, pediatricians, religious groups and others.
Updated
Trump signs family separation executive order
Donald Trump has signed the executive order ending family separation at the White House.
He announced this afternoon he would be ending the practice.
Though the family separation policy is due to be ended at any moment, the nationwide protests against it planned for 30 June are still on.
Anna Galland, executive director of MoveOn Civic Action, said the demonstrations would go forward because of reports that the adminstration plans to use indefinite detention for families, which is illegal under current law.
June 30th #FamiliesBelongTogether protests are ON. Trump's shift - thanks to public outrage - means kids and babies will still be in jail. This isn't a fix; it's making baby jails permanent. Reunite the families. End baby jails. Work for freedom. JOIN US: https://t.co/0KcLXHgAUb
— Anna Galland (@annagalland) June 20, 2018
About an hour ago, we reported on the airlines refusing to fly separated children who are in government custody.
The homeland security department’s press secretary, Tyler Houlton, condemned this decision in a series of Tweets.
For 15 years, @DHSgov has worked diligently with America’s airlines to secure aviation and facilitate the travel by air of millions of Americans and visitors and we will continue to do so.
— Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS) June 20, 2018
For insight into the Trump administration’s decision to implement family separation, the Guardian’s Tom McCarthy spoke to David Horowitz, whose protege was Stephen Miller, the 32-year-old architect of Donald Trump’s immigration policy.
Horowitz, a 79-year-old former Black Panther party activist turned conservative firebrand, was feeling defensive on behalf of Miller in an expletive-laden phone interview with the Guardian.
“He’s a very smart young man,” Horowitz said. “Here’s the issue: should America, like every other fucking country in the world, particularly Mexico, have borders? That’s the issue. And the Democrats have just demagogued it to make it anti-immigrant. It’s bullshit.”
Trump’s announcement that he would end family separation follows a parade of statements by his adminstration claiming that it was outside their power to do such a thing.
On 15 June, Trump told reporters: “I hate the children being taken away. The Democrats have to change their law. That’s their law.”
On 14 June , White House press secretary Sara Huckabee Sanders said: “It’s the law, and that’s what the law states.”
And on Monday, one of the most strident defenses was made by the homeland security department secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who addressed reporters at a White House press conference.
Nielsen told reporters the homeland security department was merely enforcing the law in a way that past administrations had failed to do. “Here is the bottom line: DHS is no longer ignoring the law. We are enforcing the laws as they exist on the books.”
Did she misspeak the entire time? Was she unaware that the president had the power to end his administration's policy (something that doesn't actually require an executive order)? Or was she misrepresenting the policy and knowingly making false claims about how it could end?
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) June 20, 2018
Updated
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a class-action lawsuit in March against the family separation practice, expanding an individual lawsuit filed on behalf of a Congolese woman who hadn’t seen her seven-year-old daughter for four months. They have since been reunited.
The ACLU’s executive director, Anthony Romero, said in a statement Thursday:
“President Trump has been brought to his knees because of the lawsuit we filed on February 26 and the ensuing public outcry. Kids should not have been separated from their parents in the first place and they still don’t belong in jail. His alleged solution to a crisis of his own making is many months too late. It is a crisis that should not have happened to begin with. He has caused irreparable damage to thousands of immigrant families.
The devil is in the details. This crisis will not abate until each and every single child is reunited with his or her parent. An eleventh-hour executive order doesn’t fix the calamitous harm done to thousands of children and their parents. This executive order would replace one crisis for another. Children don’t belong in jail at all, even with their parents, under any set of circumstances. If the president thinks placing families in jail indefinitely is what people have been asking for, he is grossly mistaken.”
Among those putting pressure on the Trump administration to end the family separation policy were major US airlines, American Air and United.
In the past few days, people had been posting on social media about children being transported on these airlines flights. Within three days of being apprehended at the border, children are transported to shelters operated by the health department.
Those shelters are all across the country, which is why they are transported by air. It’s possible some of the children described on social media had actually traveled across the border on their own and had not been forcibly separated by their parents because they are the population usually transported to those shelters.
But American Air and United airlines have released statements clarifying they will not let the US government fly separated children on their aircraft.
“We have no desire to be associated with separating families, or worse, to profit from it,” American Air said in a statement. “We have every expectation the government will comply with our request and we thank them for doing so.”
Summary
It has been a busy morning. To summarize events:
- This afternoon, Donald Trump reversed course and pledged to sign an executive order that would stop family separation. The latest news story on that is here. Trump and his adminstration have repeatedly said their hands are tied in putting an end to this practice.
- Though the practice of family separation is set to end, there is lingering concern about what will happen to families who have already been separated. There are children in US custody whose parents were deported months ago, according to advocates. A former immigration agency head warned “permanent separations” are possible.
- Last night, Trump declined to end family separations on his own. At a closed-door meeting with House Republicans on Tuesday evening, Trump told members he was “1,000%” behind their immigration reform effort. But he did not offer a clear plan of action.
- The reversal came after the Trump administration has faced withering criticism over photographs, video and recordings of young children crying for their parents as they wait in metal cages at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processing centers.
- The House speaker, Paul Ryan, said Wednesday morning that the lower chamber of Congress would vote on Thursday on a pair of immigration bills. “We don’t think families should be separated, period,” Ryan said at a press conference.
Anthony Scaramucci, the White House communications director for six days last year, has blamed the family separation policy on John Kelly, the White House chief of staff.
As I predicted Monday, once @POTUS got focused on the child separation issue he put an end to it. President @realDonaldTrump is a compassionate person. He was getting bad advice and info from his Chief of Staff, who started pushing this policy in March 2017 while at DHS. https://t.co/M4DDSJjSau
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) June 20, 2018
Of the 15 members of Congress invited to Trump’s cabinet meeting, one was a woman – Liz Cheney, the Wyoming representative who is also the daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney.
The senators were: Lamar Alexander, John Cornyn, Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, John Hoeven, Jim Inhofe, Ron Johnson, David Perdue, Dan Sullivan, Roger Wicker and Mike Crapo.
The representatives were: Liz Cheney, Mike Gallagher, Adam Kinzinger, Mac Thornberry and Mike Turner.
Vice-president Mike Pence and secretary of state Mike Pompeo were also at the table, as well as White House director of legislative affairs Marc Short and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders standing in the room.
Notably absent was Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security department secretary who has been overseeing the family separation program.
Updated
An immediate concern for families, attorneys and advocates will be whether or not the government includes a system to reunite families in the executive order.
There is currently no system in place to reunite families, including those where the parents have already been deported while the children are held in US government custody.
Kids in Need of Defense (Kind), which has been working with separated children, said as recently as 12 June it had met with a two-year-old who was separated from her father in March. The father was deported within a month, but as of 12 June, the girl was still in the custody of the US government.
They are also advocating for a four-year-old who was separated upon entry in Dec 2017. The father was deported and the daughter was still in custody as of 12 June.
Trump continues: “If you’re weak ... if you’re really, really pathetically weak, the country’s going to be overrun with millions of people. And if you’re strong, then you don’t have any heart. That’s a tough dilemma.”
He goes on to speak about trade. “Honestly, we need people coming into our country,” Trump said.
He explains that we want “great” people coming into the country “based on merit.”
Updated
Sitting in the White House cabinet room, Donald Trump announced he will sign an executive order to end family separation.
Trump said: “We’re looking to keep families together. Very important. We’re going to be signing an executive order. We are also going to count on Congress, obviously, but we are signing an executive order in a little while. We’re going to keep families together but we still have to maintain toughness or our country will be overrun by people, by crime, by all of the things that we don’t stand for and that we don’t want.
So I’m going to be signing an executive order in a little while before I go to Minnesota but, at the same time, I think you have to understand, we’re keeping families together but we have to keep our borders strong. We will be overrun with crime and with people that should not be in our country.”
Trump said that if immigration policies didn’t change “millions” of people would flood the border.
From 1 October 2017 to 31 May 2018, more than 252,000 people were apprehended at the border, according to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Updated
Donald Trump to end his family separation policy
Trump said he will sign an executive order to end family separations, according to the White House pool report.
Trump said in the cabinet room: “We’re going to be signing an executive order in a little while... We’ve got to be keeping families together.”
Updated
Bloomberg White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs has updates from inside the White House, where senators are meeting with Trump. She says Trump confirmed to the group he will be signing an executive order on family separation today.
BREAKING: TRUMP CONFIRMS he will sign an executive order today on family separation.https://t.co/hW6MWorOI5 https://t.co/UiG4Ek0Rx4
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 20, 2018
Reports are coming in that Trump plans to sign “something” about immigration.
BREAKING: Trump says he'll be "signing something" on immigration, wants to keep migrant families together.
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 20, 2018
And Bloomberg’s senior White House correspondent is reporting that Kirstjen Nielsen, the homeland security secretary, was at the White House minutes ago. The homeland security department has been overseeing family separation.
WH @presssec confirms @SecNielsen is here but did not answer Qs on whether @DHSgov is working on or @realDonaldTrump will support exec action on immigration to stop family separations
— Margaret Talev (@margarettalev) June 20, 2018
Near the border, women at a Tijuana, Mexico migrant shelter spoke to the Guardian’s Nina Lakhani about family separation and how it impacted their efforts to enter the US. The adminstration has also imposed stricter standards for asylum-seekers
Ana Ramirez, like most women here, is unaware of the new curbs on victims of gang violence and domestic abuse announced last week by the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions.
Asylum is for people fleeing persecution because of their religion, political beliefs or membership in a social group, he said, not those fleeing crime.
Ramirez has come prepared with a police report and believes this will persuade US immigration authorities to grant them asylum. “I have proof, if we go back, they will take my son or kill us all, I’m trying to keep my family together … I’m seeking asylum, I wouldn’t enter illegally.
Updated
Our correspondent Richard Luscombe in Florida reports on federal detention centers for children:
A recently reopened federal detention camp housing unaccompanied child immigrants close to Miami is causing tensions between Rick Scott, Florida’s Republican governor, and the Trump administration.
Scott, a vocal Trump cheerleader who has won the president’s backing for his run at a US senate seat in November, has written to health and human services secretary Alex Azar calling for an immediate end to the forced separation of families, and demanding answers about conditions inside the “temporary shelter for unaccompanied children” in Homestead.
It is unclear how many of the 1,200 children at the camp have been separated from their parents per Trump’s zero tolerance policy, or how many arrived in the US unaccompanied, but according to the Miami Herald, the camp was only reopened this spring and houses teenagers aged 13 to 17.
“I absolutely do not agree with the practice of separating children from their families. This practice needs to stop now,” Scott wrote in the letter.
He said he had received “unconfirmed reports” that children in the Homestead facility had potentially been forcibly removed from their parents and asked Azar what health, educational and social services were being provided to them.
On Tuesday, Florida’s Democratic senator Bill Nelson accused the Trump administration of a “cover up” over the camp after he and US Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz were turned away by federal officials when they attempted to visit for a “welfare check”.
“It’s clear this administration is hiding something,” Nelson said in a series of Tweets. “The Trump administration’s actions to block us from checking on these kids is inexcusable.”
Wasserman Schultz said the politicians had received assurances they would be allowed in, but were then turned away by federal officials who warned them they were trespassing.
Updated
The Associated Press, meanwhile, is reporting that the agency that has overseen family separation, the homeland security department, is considering its own order to end the practice.
BREAKING: AP Sources: Homeland Security secretary drafting order to end family separation at border; unclear if Trump will sign it.
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 20, 2018
White House considering ending family separation - report
Fox News chief White House correspondent, John Roberts, said the president is considering ending family separation today through an executive action.
EXCLUSIVE: @realDonaldTrump considering some sort of executive action today to allow children to stay with detained parents through immigration adjudication process. Sources say Admin believes it is likely to draw a court challenge on the basis of Flores v Reno
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) June 20, 2018
Roberts said the action would allow children to remain with their parents while their case goes through immigration court.
This is how family cases were traditionally managed until Barack Obama’s adminstration faced sharp criticism for overseeing prolonged family detention after a surge of families and children approached the border in 2014.
The Obama adminstration faced several legal challenges and was eventually forced to stop detaining families indefinitely. Many families were then released and asked to return for a future court date.
Late-night hosts continue to discuss the backlash to family separation, and last night, The Daily Show suggested another form of activism: having people who oppose family separation call Fox News.
“Get on the phone and call the people who can do something about this. I’m not talking about Congress,” host Trevor Noah said. “I’m talking about the policy makers at Fox News.”
1-888-369-4762 https://t.co/DmuC2BURYC
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 20, 2018
CNN senior editor Alex Koppelman noted on Monday that the story was missing from Fox News’s headlines:
Story of kids being separated from their parents is number one on basically every major news site right now -- except on the front page of https://t.co/bDShAcgguA, where it might as well not exist. pic.twitter.com/NGgHf3Ho6l
— Alex Koppelman (@AlexKoppelman) June 18, 2018
Donald Trump’s former presidential campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, has refused to apologize for dismissing the separation of a mother from her daughter with Down’s syndrome.
In response to a panelist on Fox News mentioning the separation last night, Lewandowski responded: “womp womp,” suggesting the separation was not that serious of a situation.
The next morning on Fox News, he was asked whether he wanted to apologize.
“An apology? I owe an apology to the children whose parents are putting them in a position that is forcing them to be separated,” he said.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed on Wednesday that it separated a child with Down’s syndrome from her mother earlier this month.
The agency said in a statement that this was not a result of the “zero tolerance” policy that results in family separation, but because the mother was being held as a witness in a “smuggling incident.”
The mother was traveling with her five children, three of whom were US citizens, in a car driven by another US citizen, when the group was stopped, according to CBP. The agency said the three children with citizenship were released to an aunt in the US.
“The mother was not prosecuted, but is instead being held as a material witness to support the prosecution of the smuggler, which precipitated the separation of the two other children, both Mexican citizens,” the statement said.
.@Zac_Petkanas says on Fox News a 10-year-old girl with Down Syndrome was separated from her mother at the border.
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) June 19, 2018
Corey Lewandowski responds: "Womp womp." pic.twitter.com/cZMXWmwbjw
Updated
Former immigration official: 'Permanent separation. It happens'
Advocates and attorneys are extremely concerned that there is no system for families to be reunited.
John Sandweg, who led the immigration enforcement agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), from 2013 to 2014, has told reporters he expects hundreds of separated children will never be reunited with their parents.
“Permanent separation. It happens,” Sandweg told NBC News.
Separated adults are quickly being sent to immigration court, where they could be deported. Children, meanwhile, are low priority for immigration courts and may have to wait years before their case is heard.
“You could easily end up in a situation where the gap between a parent’s deportation and a child’s deportation is years,” Sandweg said.
Kids in Need of Defense (Kind), which has been working with separated children, told the Guardian one of their tactics for reuniting parents and children is putting educated guesses into the case tracking system in the hopes it would lead them to parents they were seeking.
“You just play around: maybe the child’s number ends in five, so the adult’s number could end in six,” said Megan McKenna, Kind’s senior director of communications and community engagement. “So you put that in the system and see if you get a hit. Or it could be the other way around.”
That tactic has worked a few times, but is not a solution.
He says that during his time at ICE there were rare cases where children could not be reunited with their parents. Separation becomes permanent. This was *before* Trump’s policy that has so far separated 2300+ children from their parents.
— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) June 19, 2018
Updated
Donald Trump continues to blame Democrats for the family separation practice he implemented.
He is also mischaracterizing party position’s on immigration laws. People from both parties oppose family separation and the Democrats do not support open borders.
It’s the Democrats fault, they won’t give us the votes needed to pass good immigration legislation. They want open borders, which breeds horrible crime. Republicans want security. But I am working on something - it never ends!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2018
A few minutes after sending that Tweet, Trump retweeted his son Eric Trump, who wrote: “It is hard to believe that the historic North Korea / Kim Jong Un summit was exactly one week ago. Truly amazing to see the lengths the left / the media will go through to change the narrative.”
Nationwide day of action slated for 30 June
Small protests have dotted the US in recent weeks as the impact of the family separation policy became clear. More demonstrations are planned, including a nationwide day of action on 30 June.
Opposition to the Trump administration policy has also resulted in Facebook’s largest fundraiser, with people across the globe contributing more than $7.5m in four days to an immigration non-profit, Raices. “We’ve been occasionally crying around the office all day when we check the fundraising totals … There are terrible things happening in the world. And there are many people who are deciding not to look away but to do something,” wrote Raices on Facebook.
Local efforts have also sprung up across the country, including in New York City, where a public Google doc titled: Family Separation - What Can I Do is circulating.
Last night, protesters brought their frustrations to Kirstjen Nielsen, the head of the homeland security department, which is overseeing family separations. Nielsen was eating in a Washington DC Mexican restaurant when people began shouting at her.
“How can you enjoy a Mexican dinner as you’re deporting and imprisoning tens of thousands of people that come here seeking asylum in the United States?” one person yelled.
Updated
The Trump administration is defending family separation by saying it is enforcement of a law and claiming the only way to end the practice is through Congress.
Neither of those statements are true.
The Trump administration in April announced a “zero-tolerance” policy, stating “our goal is to prosecute every case that is brought to us”. Under the Trump administration’s new enforcement policy, every migrant who crosses the border illegally – even those seeking asylum in the US – is subject to criminal prosecution.
Immigration rights groups had been warning about family separation since last year, when they documented hundreds of cases of US immigration authorities separating parents and children at the border.
How the practice has developed since then is explained in this Q&A:
As Donald Trump’s administration continues to separate children, including babies and toddlers, from their parents, citizens and politicians are increasing pressure on the government to end the practice of family separation.
Trump has so far declined to end family separations on his own and instead last night backed a plan for Congress to end the practice through legislation.
We’ll be providing live updates today on efforts to end family separation, analysis on the chaotic implementation of the practice and dispatches from the border and the shelters where children are being held.
