Trump Signs Order to Detain Families Together Instead of Separating Them at the Border
President Donald Trump has given in to the mounting clamor from both liberals and members of his own party, as he agreed to reverse the current policy of separating children from their parents and guardians at the border.
Trump has signed an executive order, one that "will solve that problem," according to the President. The new order puts a stop at the current practice of separating families when charging adults with illegal entry — instead, the new policy allows families to be detained together, as NBC News noted.
The order that Trump signed on Wednesday would keep families together in federal custody as they await prosecution, a reversal of an earlier practice, started earlier this April, of separating children from their parents.
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"It's about keeping families together while ensuring we have a powerful border," Trump explained, adding that he did not like "the sight or the feeling of families being separated," as quoted by the Guardian.
Aside from keeping children in detainment with their parents, little else will change from the "zero tolerance" enforcement policy, one that maintains that all immigrants who attempt to cross the border illegally will be met with criminal prosecution.
Even then, this new policy still gives the Department of Homeland Security a bit of room to determine if a family can be kept together. The "alien families," as the document referred to the migrant families, would be kept detained as a unit "where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources."
That said, the new order also directs the agency to give priority to hearings for families, which could speed up the process given the severe backlog the immigration court system is faced with after the enactment of the "zero tolerance" border policy.
To address the issue of the "Flores settlement," one that prohibits the government from holding children in detention for longer than 20 days, the order has also directed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to file a request in federal court.
