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A woman from Honduras with her child surrendering to US border patrol agents. David J Phillip/PA

US border agents scale back zero-tolerance policy for migrant families

Parents separated from their children have spoken about their desperate attempts to be reunited.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION has scaled back a key element of its zero-tolerance immigration policy amid a global uproar over the separation of more than 2,300 migrant families, halting the practice of turning over parents to prosecutors for charges of illegally entering the country.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said yesterday that President Donald Trump’s order last week to stop splitting immigrant families at the border required a temporary halt to prosecuting parents and guardians, unless they had criminal history or the child’s welfare was in question.

He insisted the White House’s zero tolerance policy toward illegal entry remained intact.

McAleenan’s comments came shortly after Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the administration’s tactics in a speech in Nevada and asserted that many children were brought to the border by violent gang members.

Immigration Separating Families David J. Phillip / PA David J. Phillip / PA / PA

Together, their remarks added to the nationwide confusion as mothers and fathers struggled to reunite families that were split up by the government and sometimes sent to different parts of the country.

Abandoned

Families are growing increasingly frustrated in trying to reunite with their children after weeks apart.

A mother from Guatemala wiped tears from her eyes yesterday as she told reporters in El Paso, Texas, about her 4-year-old son being taken away after they crossed the border.

The boy ended up at a shelter in New York.

Immigration Separating Families Miriam spoke to reporters yesterday about being separated from her son, who is four-years-old. Matt York / PA Matt York / PA / PA

When the mother contacted a social worker to speak with her son, she was told that the child was angry and didn’t want to talk because he believed his mother had abandoned him.

The mother was one of five parents who described their ordeals to reporters in El Paso. Speaking Spanish and all wearing ankle bracelets, the parents said they have not been told when they will see their sons and daughters again.

Addressing reporters in Texas, McAleenan said he stopped sending cases of parents charged with illegally entering the country to prosecutors “within hours” after Trump signed an executive order last week to cease the separations.

The commissioner and Sessions insisted that the administration’s policy remains in effect, even though immigrant parents are no longer being prosecuted under the new guidelines McAleenan said he is working on a plan to resume prosecutions.

“We can work on a plan where adults who bring kids across, who violate our laws, who risk their lives at the border could be prosecuted without an extended separation from their children,” he said. “We’re looking at how to implement that now.”

Resources

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders stressed that the administration’s reversal was only temporary because the government is running out of resources.

“We’re going to run out of space,” she said. “We’re going to run out of resources to keep people together.”

Providing a glimpse of relief, McAleenan said border apprehensions in June were trending “lower” from previous months but he declined to be more specific until numbers are released 8 July.

Speaking at a school-safety conference in Reno, Sessions cast the children as victims of a broken immigration system and urged Congress to act.

Immigration Separating Families David J Phillip / PA David J Phillip / PA / PA

While hundreds of protesters rallied outside a hotel-casino, the attorney general said more than 80% of children crossing the border arrive alone, without parents or guardians, and are “often sent with a paid smuggler. We can only guess how many never make it to our border during that dangerous journey.”

He claimed the MS-13 gang “is recruiting children who were sent here as unaccompanied minors, and some are brought to help replenish the gang. And they are terrorising immigrant schools and communities from Los Angeles to Louisville to Long Island to Boston. They are able to do so because we do not have a secure southwest border.”

He said five children had been found at the border carrying a combined 35 pounds of fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid drug blamed for an epidemic of overdose deaths nationwide.

Protests

Just outside the building where Sessions spoke, more than 200 protesters opposed to the administration’s immigration policies blocked a busy road.

Delcia Lopez | dlopez@themonitor.com Delcia Lopez | dlopez@themonitor.com

The coalition of civil rights, religious and union activists carried signs and drums and were joined by a mariachi band. Some sat in a busy roadway for while police diverted traffic around them.

No arrests were reported.

McAleenan’s remarks follow an announcement last week by the federal public defender’s office in El Paso that federal prosecutors would no longer bring criminal charges against parents entering the U.S. if they have their child with them.

Amid the confusion, some Democratic members of Congress reiterated their frustrations that the Trump administration had not released its plan for reunifying families.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut was among those who toured a shelter at the Tornillo border crossing in West Texas.

“I think there is very, very powerful consensus on both sides of the aisle that reunification should be done immediately,” Blumenthal said. “These stories are gut-wrenching and heartbreaking of children 6 and 7 years old, separated from their parents, not know where they are and the parents not knowing where their children are.”

US defence officials said the administration had chosen two military bases in Texas to house detained migrants. An official says Fort Bliss will house families and Goodfellow Air Force Base will house detained unaccompanied children. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the record about a pending announcement.

As many as 2,300 children were separated from their migrant parents from the time the administration adopted the zero-tolerance policy until 9 June, officials have said.

The temporary shelter at Tornillo was close to its 360-person capacity. Reporters were allowed to briefly visit the shelter, where more than 320 children ages 13 to 17 are being held in air-conditioned tents. A facility administrator told reporters that the main complaint he hears from children on site is that the tents get too cold sometimes.

About half were from Guatemala, and 23 of the children had been separated from adults who accompanied them across the border.

Reporters were not allowed to enter any tents holding children. Two girls who stopped briefly in front of reporters said that they were doing well.

The exact process to reunite families has been unclear because migrants are first stopped by Customs and Border Protection. Then children are transferred to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, while adults are detained through Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is under the Department of Homeland Security.

Justice Department officials have asked a federal judge to amend a class-action settlement that governs how children are treated in immigration custody. Right now, children can only be detained with their families for 20 days. Trump administration officials are seeking to detain them together indefinitely as their cases progress.

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    Mute Dumb as a Rock Mika
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    Jun 26th 2018, 7:44 AM

    Open border immigration is not acceptable to the majority of Americans. Obutthole had 8 years to fix this problem but failed yet again…

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    Mute Tom Doyle
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    Jun 26th 2018, 7:47 AM

    @Dumb as a Rock Mika: The conman has majority control of both the houses (+ the white house) .But he has shown himself to be weak.Sad.

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Jun 26th 2018, 7:53 AM

    @Dumb as a Rock Mika: you failed when you opened your mouth.

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    Mute Tom Doyle
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    Jun 26th 2018, 7:55 AM

    @neilo: I wonder do these conservative guys still hide under their beds worrying about the millions of ‘illegal immigrants’ that Reagan gave amnesty to back in 86.. ?!

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    Mute Gus Sheridan
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:02 AM

    @Dumb as a Rock Mika: Trump sheep bending the truth as you do. Making America a standing joke in the world.

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    Mute Dumb as a Rock Mika
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:04 AM

    @neilo: Yes they are Neilo. They are just not saying it explicitly. If you can’t detain families together when they cross illegally, if there is uproar when you separate them, if you can’t deport them expediately within 20 days, well then you just have to leave them go. That’s open border immigration.

    Bush also had 4 years of failure in this area, along with failure in many other areas. Luckily, Low Energy Jeb didn’t get elected…

    So that’s the last two administrations, both failures on immigration…

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    Mute Dumb as a Rock Mika
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:06 AM

    @Tom Doyle: Nice try, Tom. But we know that it takes 60 votes to invoke cloture to end a filibuster in the Senate…

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    Mute Dumb as a Rock Mika
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:12 AM

    @Tom Doyle: You mean the Reagan Amnesty that completely backfired because businesses increased their illegal hiring practices and illegal immigration surged due to the incentives the Amnesty provided…People learned alright. A wall and proper border security before any other Amnesty….

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    Mute Dumb as a Rock Mika
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:14 AM

    @neilo: I don’t really care whether immigration was higher or lower under Obutthole…all I’m saying is that he failed in dealing with the issue…

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    Mute Dumb as a Rock Mika
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:16 AM

    @neilo: The decision to criminally prosecute is essential to enforce immigration laws. Not to do so leads to open borders for families…

    It’s a mess Neilo…Congress have the real power to fix it….they won’t….

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:22 AM

    @Dumb as a Rock Mika:Nice try,Dumbs.But doesn’t it take more than 51 votes to end the debate? Or is it the way that you have already forgotten about Pencey poohs vote :-) Try to keep up,pet

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:30 AM

    * not even more than 51 :-)

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    Mute Dumb as a Rock Mika
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:42 AM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: I don’t know what you are trying to say, Franny. You need to reread my point.

    It takes 60 votes to invoke cloture and end a filibuster…In simple language for you, any immigration legislation passing through the Senate requires 60 votes to ensure safe passage. Otherwise, it can die by filibuster…

    You might want to read up on these things before you make a clown of yourself…

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jun 26th 2018, 9:01 AM

    @Dumb as a Rock Mika: Can the Republicans invoke the ‘nuclear option’ -yes or no ?

    i do like to read up on things,dumbs..

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    Mute Dumb as a Rock Mika
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    Jun 26th 2018, 9:16 AM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: They wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that, they actually think strategically…not like the Democrats, who gave up a conservative Supreme Court for 30-40 years because they wouldn’t compromise…

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jun 26th 2018, 9:28 AM

    @Dumb as a Rock Mika: so i was correct.Thanks

    Have a great day

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    Mute Native
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    Jun 26th 2018, 9:35 AM

    @neilo:

    He didn’t call immigrants animals, he called MS-13 members animals, their motto is “Kill, Rape, Control”. Democrat Nancy Pelosi took exception to this and twisted the lie the Trump aimed it towards all illegal immigrants. Poor stuff alright

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    Mute Dumb as a Rock Mika
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    Jun 26th 2018, 10:00 AM

    @Francis Mc Carthy: Nice try Franny but you were wrong. You have come up with some hypothetical to back up your assertion that it doesn’t take more than 51 votes to end a debate. Remember Pency Poos vote. And you asked me to try and keep up.

    It’s fine Franny, you were schooled on the legislative process in the US and made to look a clown.

    The problem you had, which you tried to cover up by moving the goalposts, was that you were getting the normal legislative process mixed up the the budget reconciliation process the Republicans used for Health and Tax. Pency Poos vote would matter in that instance. No filibuster allowed.

    If you want, I’ll school you on that issue too…

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    Mute Native
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    Jun 26th 2018, 1:34 PM

    @neilo:

    Haha liar, he was referencing MS-13 and the serial convict border jumpers. Try harder sonny.
    https://youtu.be/PYQ9OOdv4gc

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    Mute Mark Jones
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:31 AM

    This is disappointing to read. The borders need to be secured

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    Mute James Maloney
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    Jun 27th 2018, 2:33 AM

    @Mark Jones: Those white house idiots are in the process of creating the next wave of terrorists… its bigly sad that they’re so stupid!

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    Mute Mark Mc Steve
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    Jun 26th 2018, 9:05 AM

    Build that wall

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    Mute Jonathan Byrne
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:33 AM

    I think this a media case of, usa…. Bad everywhere else….. Good.

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    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
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    Jun 26th 2018, 8:39 AM

    @Jonathan Byrne:get some sleep,dude

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    Mute 2thFairy
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    Jun 26th 2018, 7:47 AM

    And now they have to try and clear up this ungodly mess.
    What seemed to be the most progressive western country has become the most backward thinking country.

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    Mute Tom Doyle
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    Jun 26th 2018, 7:44 AM

    Trump is weak on immigration.Sad.

    On a serious note,I do hope that there was no young baby that was sold onto some couple…But of course we’re talking about America,a country where adoption is a billion $$$ industry.

    15
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