Trump signs order ending migrant family separations
WASHINGTON/MCALLEN: President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was directing federal agencies to begin reuniting children and parents who had been separated at the US-Mexico border.
Trump’s announcement came as his wife Melania made a damage-control visit to a border detention facility in Texas where children are being held.
On Wednesday, Trump had signed an executive order that ended his administration’s policy of separating children from migrants families crossing into the US illegally.
Around 2,300 children were separated from their families since the policy went into effect in May. They were kept in separate facilities while their parents underwent legal process pending deportation.
Under the new order, the US will allow children to stay with their parents for the duration of the court proceedings.
“We’re going to have strong — very strong — borders, but we are going to keep the families together,” Trump said, moments before he signed the order on Wednesday. “I didn’t like the sight or the feeling of families being separated.”
The order is unlikely to have any bearing on the fate of the 52 detainees from India who are being held in a jail in Oregon. Indian authorities have been in touch with their American counterparts, but are likely to find themselves constrained from going full-tilt on the issue unless the detainees seek their help.
“They are seeking asylum alleging persecution in India, and it would be absurd for the Indian government to help them establish that,” said a former Indian immigration official.
Trump had been under pressure from critics and allies alike over his administration’s controversial policy.
Trump had, for most part, struck a defiant note as he tried to use the plight of the children to force Congress to pass a broader law enhancing border security, curbing family-based immigration.
In the end, the images proved too powerful to overcome.