The deadline to reunite young children with their families came and went last week as the Trump administration continues to make abundantly clear that they have no plan to end the family separation crisis. This is simply unacceptable. Families belong together, and Democrats won’t rest until President Trump ends his cruel attacks on immigrant families. See more below:
For parents who were separated from their children, the pain can be unbearable and irreparable:
Los Angeles Times: “While some children were placed with parents Tuesday, many more families remain separated, not knowing when they would see one another again.
“‘I can’t sleep. All night, every morning I pray. I ask God that he will soon return my son,’ Che Coc said. ‘I came with him. I carried him in my arms. I ask God to put him back in my arms as soon as possible. Without him I can’t be happy.’”
NBC: “Roger, a father from Honduras, said he was so desperate and distraught that he cut himself and threatened suicide after his son, Roger Jr., 4, was taken from him when they sought asylum at a port of entry in February.”
“‘It was too difficult for me. He is my only son — he is the reason for my life,’ said Roger, who did not give his last name.”
New York Times: “‘When are they going to give them back?’ Mr. Jacinto-Carrillo asked of the thousands of children still in custody. He had trekked to the United States with his 5-year-old daughter, Filomena. He was deported. She remains in foster care in New York, where she recently turned 6. ‘I want her back in Guatemala,’ he pleaded.”
Washington Post: “‘It’s something I would never wish on any father, any mother,’ Bartolome Martinez said in Spanish at a restaurant in Phoenix, holding Jonathan, 4, on his lap. ‘God doesn’t give you the strength to see a child go off to something uncertain, where you don’t know what’s going to happen, who will take care of him, who will receive him.’”
The chaos of the Trump immigration policy has led to some American citizens to be separated from their families:
USA Today: The Department of Justice said Tuesday that a family possibly containing U.S. citizens was separated as a part of immigration enforcement.
The lack of clarity in the administration’s process led a judge in California to issue a temporary hold on deportations for reunified families:
Politico: “Attorneys seeking to reunify migrant children separated from their parents at the southern border said Thursday that they were not able to verify the Trump administration’s claim that nearly five dozen children had been returned to their parents.”
NBC News: “The federal judge overseeing the U.S. government’s efforts to reunify more than 2,500 migrant children it separated from their parents ordered a temporary hold on deportations for reunified families on Monday.
Judge Dana Sabraw of the Southern District of California said the government must halt the deportations in response to a filing by the ACLU that claimed the government has refused to deny “that mass deportations may be carried out imminently and immediately upon reunification.”
For many children still in government custody, there is no end in sight to their separation from their parents:
Associated Press: “But nearly half of the children under 5 remain apart from their familiesbecause of safety concerns, the deportation of their parents and other issues, the administration said.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to advance its anti-immigrant agenda, and says it can now deport people with green cards:
Miami Herald: “Documented immigrants can now be deported from the United States if they break the rules of federal and state programs that offer public benefits to immigrants.”
The administration is also turning its back on asylum seekers fleeing persecution and violence:
CNN: “The Trump administration is implementing a new asylum policy at the border that will result in potentially thousands of asylum seekers being turned away before they can plead their case in court.”