The federal government would be barred from immigration policies that separate parents from children for eight years under a proposed court settlement announced Monday that also provides families that were split under the Trump administration with temporary legal status and short-term housing aid.
The settlement between the Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union, if approved by a judge, would at least temporarily prohibit the type of “zero-tolerance” policy on illegal immigration under which former President Donald Trump separated thousands of families at the border with Mexico.
“It is our intent to do whatever we can to make sure that the cruelty of the past is not repeated in the future. We set forth procedures through this settlement agreement to advance that effort,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told The Associated Press.
Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, hasn’t ruled out reviving the highly controversial tactic at the southern border if he wins next year’s election.
His administration separated children from their parents or guardians they were traveling with as it moved to criminally prosecute people for illegally crossing the border. The children, who could not be held in criminal custody, were transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services and then typically sent to live with a sponsor, often a relative or someone else with a family connection.
Faulty tracking systems caused many to be apart for an extended time or never reunited with their parents. Facing strong opposition, Trump eventually reversed course in 2018, days before U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego halted the practice and ordered immediate reunification in the lawsuit brought by the ACLU. --->READ MORE HERE
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| REUTERS |
U.S. barred from separating migrant children from their parents for eight years: Biden settles lawsuit and offers benefits and legal status to families split at the border under Trump:
The Biden administration has agreed to stop separating migrant children from their parents for eight years in a settlement with families split at the border under Donald Trump.
The U.S. will now offer families benefits and temporary legal statues in the deal with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that was reached on Monday.
Thousands who crossed the border are now entitled to housing aid, work permits, health care and can restart their asylum claims.
Migrants who were deported or returned to their home countries can also return to the U.S. and bring relatives with them.
The agreement currently applies to some 3,900 children separated from their parents during Trump's presidency from 2017-2021, according to the ACLU which represents separated families in a lawsuit first filed in 2018.
An estimated 500 to 1,000 children remain separated and the number covered by the settlement will likely expand, the ACLU said.
The settlement is part of an ongoing effort by the Biden administration to reunite families separated under Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy instituted in 2018, which called for the prosecution of all unauthorized border crossers.
Government watchdogs and immigration advocates have found the separations began before and continued after the policy's official start.--->READ MORE HERE
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