Category: Politics, Power, and Governance

WHY THEY STILL SEPARATE CHILDREN AND WHY THERE ARE CAGES

REASONING
The policy of separating children from their parents at the U.S. border was part of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” approach to immigration enforcement, which began in 2018.

Here are the main reasons cited for this policy:

Deterrence: The policy was initially framed as a deterrent to illegal immigration. The idea was that if the consequence of illegal entry included family separation, fewer families would attempt to cross the border illegally.

Prosecution of Parents: Under the zero-tolerance policy, all adults crossing the border illegally were to be criminally prosecuted. Since children cannot be held in criminal facilities, they were separated from their parents for this reason.

Verification of Relationships: There was indeed an aspect where officials needed to verify the familial relationship between adults and children due to concerns over human trafficking, smuggling, and the use of children by unrelated adults to gain entry or better treatment in the immigration process. This verification process sometimes led to separations when the relationship couldn’t be immediately confirmed.

Logistical and Legal Challenges: The separation also occurred because of logistical issues, such as insufficient family detention facilities, and due to legal interpretations of how to handle minors under laws like the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which mandates special handling for unaccompanied minors.

However, the implementation of this policy led to widespread criticism for causing significant trauma to children, for lacking adequate procedures to track and reunite families, and for not having a comprehensive plan for reunification post-separation. The policy was reversed in June 2018 via an executive order, but the reunification process has been complex and ongoing, with some children still not reunited with their parents years later due to various reasons including parents being deported without their children.

The policy of family separation as a deterrent for illegal immigration was officially ended by an executive order in June 2018. However, here are some key points regarding its current status:

Legal Prohibition: A federal judge has prohibited the separation of migrant families at the U.S. border for eight years as part of a settlement, aimed to prevent the reimplementation of family separations for deterrence purposes. This prohibition was set to last until December 2031.

Limited Circumstances: Separations can still occur, but under very limited circumstances. These include situations where there’s suspicion of child abuse, if the parent is convicted of serious crimes, or if there are doubts about the familial relationship between the adult and child.

Ongoing Separations: Despite the formal end of the policy, there have been reports and instances where family separations have continued to occur, sometimes due to misinterpretations of the policy, new policies like Title 42 which led to children being sent back alone if their families were expelled, or when children are deemed unaccompanied due to various reasons like the lack of immediate proof of kinship.

Reunification Efforts: The Biden administration has been working on reuniting families who were separated under the Trump policy, with some success, but there are still children who remain separated from their parents, many of whom were deported without their children.

Public and Legal Scrutiny: The practice and its aftereffects continue to be a point of contention, legal battles, and public discourse, focusing on human rights, immigration policy, and the welfare of migrant children.

While the policy as it was under the Trump administration has been legally curtailed, the broader issues of family unity, verification of relationships at the border, and how children are handled in immigration processes remain complex and subject to ongoing policy adjustments and legal oversight.

Reply addressees: @annaclarity1 @RichardDawkins