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The Administration of President Joe Biden reported that since Tuesday it begins to reunify some of the immigrant families that were separated on the border with Mexico, under the hard line of “zero tolerance” against immigration from his predecessor, Donald Trump. Initially, four women will benefit from the new measure, who will be able to enter the country to be reunited with their children. The government also announced an initiative to increase the annual quota of refugees in the United States.
The ordeal for many of the families who were separated at the border when trying to migrate to the United States could be about to end. In recent years, thousands of minors remained in detention centers within the country, while their parents or other relatives who traveled with them to request asylum were deported.
In a first step to reverse what President Joe Biden has described as an “act of cruelty” and a “humanitarian tragedy,” his government announced that four families who were separated on the border with Mexico, during the presidency of Donald Trump, They will meet on US soil this week. National Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas described it as “just the beginning” of a broader effort.
Two of the four families include mothers who were separated from their children in late 2017, one from Honduras and the other from Mexico, said Mayorkas, who did not reveal their identities. He assured that these are children who were 3 years old at that time and “adolescents who have had to live without their parents during their most formative years.”
With this initiative, parents will return to the United States on humanitarian parole, while authorities evaluate other possibilities for long-term legal status, according to Michelle Brane, executive director of the Government Family Reunification Task Force.
“In these cases that we are talking about this week, the children are in the United States and the parents come to join them,” Brane said.
At the moment, the exact number of families that would be welcomed under this modality is unknown. The Secretary of Homeland Security indicated that the process is linked to negotiations with the American Civil Liberties Union (UCLA) to resolve a federal lawsuit in San Diego.
“We continue to work tirelessly to reunite many more children with their parents in the coming weeks and months (…) We still have a lot of work to do, but I am proud of the progress we have made and the reunifications we have helped achieve,” said Mayorkas .
While family separation under Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy ended in June 2018, official figures indicate that more than 5,500 children have been separated from their parents since July 1, 2017. Of these, About 1,000 minors are still without their families and more than 400 have not been located, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The organization’s lawyer, Lee Gelernt, said that the announced reunification of four families is excellent news, but stressed that it is not enough.
Biden raises refugee limit this fiscal year to 62,500
The US president also announced that he is resurrecting his promise to increase refugee admissions to 62,500 during the current fiscal year ending in September, after sparking a wave of criticism for initially keeping the refugee cap at a historically low level.
Just two weeks ago, the president had said that he would maintain the quota of 15,000 refugees a year, established by Trump, the figure was the lowest since the law regulating that protection came into force in 1980.
Breaking News: President Biden said he will allow as many as 62,500 refugees to enter the US during the next six months, a reversal after he faced criticism over keeping the number at a Trump-era level of 15,000. https://t.co/9CexvmSWy1
– The New York Times (@nytimes) May 3, 2021
Biden had justified his decision in the overflowing flow of migrants at the border crossings since last February and the challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic. His argument unleashed the ire of human rights defenders and members of his own political party, especially by stressing that the refugee admission program is distinct and independent from the migrant asylum system run by the country.
Now, the Executive announced that it “erases the historically low number established by the previous administration of 15,000, which does not reflect the values of the United States as a nation that welcomes and supports refugees.”
The announcements come as the Biden Administration has been grappling with a sharp increase in migrant crossings at the border, including unaccompanied minors and families with young children, mostly from Central America, which has drawn strong criticism. from Republicans who accuse him of causing chaos for his pro-immigration speech.
With Reuters, AP and local media
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source https://pledgetimes.com/us-biden-begins-reunification-of-separated-migrant-families-at-trump-era-border/
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