Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order that will help keep families together at the border. Trump made this move after backlash from his administration policy that separated children from their parents.
Parents will still be prosecuted for illegally crossing the United States border but now families will be detained together. Also, the Department of Homeland Security, not the Justice Department will handle these cases.
There are several key components to this executive order. However, one of the most noticeable ones is that the order doesn’t reunite families already separated.
At least 2,300 children are in custody of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who find sponsors for these minors through the unaccompanied alien children program (UAC).
This program finds friends, relatives or appropriate volunteers (such as foster care) to take care of these children. Some of these children are in centers spread across Texas, while others have been sent to South Carolina, Michigan and New York.
Currently, it’s up to parents to locate their children and find a way to reunite with them. However, it now seems HHS will work with these parents and help reunite their families.
“Reunification is always the ultimate goal of those entrusted with the care of UACs and the administration is working towards that for those UACs currently in HHS custody,” said Brian Marriott, senior director of communications for HHS’s families division.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in 239 UACs are in the care of Cayuga Centers in East Harlem and that they have contracted diseases and are traumatized.
“The kids because they were held in group facilities when they came across the border…have lice, some have bed bugs, chicken pox, all sorts of contagious situations and you know, just think of the chaos of all this,” said de Blasio.
