Ex-CIA directors issue Trump condemnation
US gov’t still holds 565 immigrant children
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US government continues to hold 565 illegal immigrant children in custody, three weeks after a court deadline to reunite them with parents or guardians, a court filing showed Friday.
That included 24 children five years old or younger being cared for by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement.
ORR reported the parents of 366 of the 565 children were outside of the United States, making reunifications difficult.
The parents of 154 of the children indicated they did not want to be reunified with the children, it said.
And for over 180, the children could not be handed back to parents because the parents were flagged as threats to the children, were separately held in law enforcement custody, or were facing separate litigation.
Earlier this year, the government separated more than 2,500 children from their parents after families crossed the US border with Mexico illegally intending to stay in the country.
Rights groups challenged the separations and a federal judge in California ordered the families brought back together by July 26.
The Department of Homeland Security, which polices illegal immigration, said a number of parents accepted being sent back over the border, leaving the children to remain in the United States and hoping to join them later legally. ASHINGTON (AFP) – Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) directors and another half dozen of America's most senior spies have issued an unprecedented condemnation of President Donald Trump, after his decision to blacklist their colleague John Brennan.
In a statement, ex-CIA bosses appointed by Republican and Democratic presidents – including Robert Gates, George Tenet, Porter Goss, Leon Panetta and David Petraeus – denounced Trump's decision to strip Brennan of his security clearance.
Dozens of other former spies signaled their support for the statement.
''The president's action regarding John Brennan and the threats of similar action against other former officials has nothing to do with who should and should not hold security clearances – and everything to do with an attempt to stifle free speech,'' the statement read.
Describing Trump's move as ''inappropriate and deeply regrettable,'' they insisted ''we have never before seen the approval or removal of security clearances used as a political tool, as was done in this case.''
Two of those who signed the statement – former director of national intelligence James Clapper and former CIA director Michael Hayden – are, according to Trump, on a list of people who could lose their clearance.
Former officials often retain security clearance after leaving office to allow their successors to consult them on issues of the day. The White House said Brennan – a notable Trump critic -- had been stripped of clearance due to his ''erratic'' behavior.