Trump Administration Puts Burden On ACLU To Locate Deported Parents Of Separated Children

The Associated Press: US, ACLU Divide On How To Reunify Separated Families
The Trump administration and the American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday revealed widely divergent plans on how to reunite hundreds of immigrant children with parents who have been deported since the families were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. President Donald Trump’s administration puts the onus on the ACLU, asking that the organization use its “considerable resources” to find parents in their home countries, predominantly Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The U.S. Justice Department said in a court filing that the State Department has begun talks with foreign governments on how the administration may be able to aid the effort. (Spagat, 8/3)

Politico: Trump Administration Tells ACLU To Find Deported Parents
“Plaintiffs’ counsel should use their considerable resources and their network of law firms, NGOs, volunteers, and others, together with the information that defendants have provided (or will soon provide), to establish contact with possible class members in foreign countries,” DOJ said. The administration suggested that the ACLU find out whether the deported parents wish to be reconnected with their children, or whether they waive that option. (Hesson, 8/2)

San Diego Union-Times: U.S. Government Wants ACLU To Find Missing Immigrant Parents
The ACLU pushed back in its part of the filing, asking the judge in the class-action lawsuit to order the government to keep working on its own to locate parents and to provide more information to the civil rights organization so that it can assist in the reunification. “The government must bear the ultimate burden of finding the parents,” the ACLU wrote in the filing. “Not only was it the government’s unconstitutional separation practice that led to this crisis, but the United States government has far more resources than any group of NGOs,” or nongovernmental organizations. (Morrissey, 8/2)

KQED: In 'Remarkable' Court Filing, Government 'Washing Their Hands' Of Reuniting Deported Parents With Their Children
“The court filing is remarkable,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt said. “The government is washing their hands of it, and saying we’ll try and do a little. They’re saying, ‘You all [the ACLU], find the parents.'" (Sepulvado, 8/2)

In other news on the crisis at the border —

ProPublica: Worker Charged With Sexually Molesting Eight Children At Immigrant Shelter
A youth care worker for Southwest Key has been charged with 11 sex offenses after authorities accused him of molesting at least eight unaccompanied immigrant boys over nearly a year at one of the company’s shelters in Mesa, Arizona, federal court records show. (Sanders and Grabell, 8/2)

The Hill: Worker Charged With Sexually Abusing Eight Migrant Children At Detention Facility 
Pacheco had worked at Southwest Key’s Casa Kokopelli shelter in Mesa, Ariz., since 2016. The shelter was cited by the Arizona Department of Health Services in 2017 for not completing background checks on employees, according to the site. (Thomsen, 8/2)

Arizona Republic: Southwest Key Employee Accused Of Molesting Eight Teens At Mesa Shelter
This is the third known arrest of a staff member at an Arizona migrant shelter related to allegations of molesting children. (Philip and Heath, 8/2)

Arizona Republic: Police Reports Describe 'Suicidal' Migrant Teens At Mesa Shelters
The Mesa facilities — one operated by Southwest Key, the other by A New Leaf Inc. — were part of a program to house juveniles who illegally entered the country by themselves and, more recently, children of families that illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. The reports of threatened and attempted suicides predate the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy, which led to the family separations. (Philip, 8/2)