Migrant kids, relatives still separated at border
Vetting of nonparents takes too long, critics say
The Biden administration is still sheltering children separated from close family members in federal facilities for weeks on end – something immigrant advocates and attorneys had hoped the new administration would have resolved by now.
Biden administration officials have signaled they are pivoting away from Trump administration policies they felt were inhumane toward migrants, especially children. But as federal agents grapple with a rising numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, what to do with the children who come with an adult who is not their parent is a growing concern.
Children often arrive with a grandparent, older sibling or other relative but are separated until federal officials can confirm the accompanying adult is their relative, as mandated under U.S. law. The procedure, which is different from the controversial Trump administration policy of separating immigrant mothers and fathers from their children, is designed to protect minors from human traffickers and grant them legal protections. But it also classifies the youngsters as “unaccompanied minors” and places them in federal shelters until a sponsor or adult is vetted, a process that can take several weeks or even months.
Although not as dramatic as Trump administration-era family separations, which unleashed a furious backlash,
separating children from other close relatives could be equally detrimental, said Lisa Koop, associate director of legal services at the National Immigrant Justice Center, a legal advocacy group that represents immigrant youth.
“It really does look and feel in many ways like a parent-child separation,” Koop said. “The trauma of the separation is very similar.”
A growing wave of unaccompanied children at the border is fast becoming President Joe Biden’s first major immigration challenge. More than 4,000 migrant children were transferred in January to the custody of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, the agency tasked with caring for them once they cross the border, up from 3,330 in December and nearly four times the number that arrived in October, according to
agency statistics.
Under the Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act of 2008, children who show up with an adult who is not their parent are classified as unaccompanied minors to make sure that they’re placed in less restrictive facilities, avoid expedited deportation status and their immigration case is presented as an interview in front of an asylum officer rather than a more formal court setting.
Advocates have said they want the children who show up with relatives to retain those protections but hoped the Biden administration could reduce the amount of time they spend in federal shelters. For months, advocates have lobbied Biden officials for changes to reduce the time those children spend in federal custody.