It has been a busy morning. To summarize events:
- This afternoon, Donald Trump (click here) 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....
The adults need to come out of the detainee facilities and taken to the areas where the children are held. The staff of the facilities are going to have to do their best to unit families and while waiting for any necessary DNA testing, the process of "Capture and Release" can begin.
The policy of separating families has ended, but, this still isn't over. The adult detainees that cannot find their children at any internment camps that house the children will need the assistance of the USA agencies that placed the children to find them.
I have no doubt this will take awhile and NONE of the children that came here with their parents should have been adopted out. There are also parents that have been returned to their countries that do not have their children returned yet. There is also the case of the man that committed suicide and where his child is and where there are relatives to now care for the child.
This is an enormous task, but, the children have been traumatized and it is the fault of the USA government. They have to be followed or provided for in some way that will mitigate the damage to them. Basically, the parents need lawyers to help with the future of their children.
I think there may be a chance Sessions will argue (to save money and save face) before a judge somewhere that the children already separated from their families will remain so. There is a vigilance that has to follow the end of the cruelest immigration policy ever in the USA.
