Trump Overturns Own Family Separation Policy

President Trump has moved to reverse his policy of separating children from their parents at the US border.

The move comes only days after Trump blamed Democrats for the policy. The Trump Administration announced a policy shift in April, describing it as a “zero tolerance” approach.

The US President indicated that the “zero tolerance approach” was still in place, despite the fact that children will no longer be separated from their families.

Christian peacemaker and activist Donna Mulhearn previously travelled to Iraq, Israel and Palestine to work with those affected by conflict. In a post on her Facebook page, she highlighted that, “Children and families seeking asylum in the US can now be detained indefinitely in camps thanks to [Trump’s] Executive order.”

Attorney General Jeff Session’s office will move to modify the Flores settlement “in a manner that would permit the Secretary, under present resource constraints, to detain alien families together throughout the pendency of criminal proceedings for improper entry or any removal or other immigration proceedings.”

The Flores settlement requires that Department of Homeland Security officials cannot detain children for more than 20 days.

Human rights groups have condemned the executive order for still placing children in detention. Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said that the president was swapping “one crisis for another.”

The move comes days after more than 600 members of the United Methodist Church announced that they would seek to have Sessions expelled from the denomination.

The policy shift is also in stark contrast to the line held by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who tweeted that the administration did not have a policy of separating families.

We do not have a policy of separating families at the border.  Period.

— Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen (@SecNielsen) June 17, 2018

Image by Michael Vadon

Jonathan Foye is Insights’ Editor