Administration Failed To Document Parents’ Consent In Leaving Children Behind When Being Deported, Official Claims
In defense of its "zero-tolerance" policy separations, Trump administration officials have argued that immigrant parents made the decision to leave their children in America. The new information reported by Politico could undermine that position.
Politico:
Most Deported Migrants Were Not Asked About Leaving Children Behind, Trump Official Says
Homeland Security officials may have neglected to give a choice to as many as three-quarters of all migrant parents removed from the United States about leaving their children behind, contradicting repeated public assurances from Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. The Trump administration failed to document consent in most such cases, an administration official told POLITICO. That lapse increased the number of departed parents whom officials must now find and contact about whether they wish to be reunited with their children, and, if so, figure out the logistics of how to bring them together. The revelation threatens to delay reunifications one day ahead of a court-ordered deadline to return most migrant children to their parents. (Hesson, Rayasam and Diamond, 7/25)
In other news —
Reuters:
Reunited Family's Next Challenge: Fighting For U.S. Asylum
Maria Marroquin Perdomo fretted as she waited with her 11-year-old son, Abisai, in the New Orleans International Airport. A day earlier, the mother and son had been reunited in Texas after being separated by U.S. immigration officials for more than a month, an ordeal that followed a harrowing journey from Honduras. Now they awaited another reunion: With the father Abisai had not seen in person since he was an infant. (Thevenot and Elliott, 7/25)
Arizona Republic:
Southwest Key Migrant Facilities See Sex Abuse, Harassment Allegations
Employees at two Arizona facilities housing migrant children separated from their parents at the border have been accused of inappropriate contact with minors on at least two occasions since 2015, including an incident that led to a conviction for sexual abuse, police records show. The reports were made at Southwest Key's Glendale and Tucson facilities and predate the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy that led to the separation of families that illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. (Philip, 7/25)
