The Trump administration expanded the Obama-era family separation policy in "zero tolerance" to deter illegal immigration and child trafficking, but the 600 kids left unclaimed at the border remain an issue President Joe Biden's officials are left to solve.
It will not be easy, but it will be a priority, according to Center for American Progress Vice President of Immigration Policy Tom Jawetz.
"If the administration is not successful at taking steps to reunite these families and make up for the damage that was done, it is something they will hear about from the public in six months, in 12 months, in 18 months," Jawetz told Politico.
"This is something that has to get resolved."
An announcement is due Tuesday on a task force assigned to reunite the families of the remaining 600 kids unclaimed by parents at the border after the Trump administration separated more than 5,500 families. Trump's border, immigration, and Justice Department officials expanded an Obama-era policy of family separation as a way to deter use of children by illegal immigrant, child and sex trafficking.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary-nominee Alejandro Mayorkas will oversee the task force and it is expected he will be confirmed Monday afternoon, setting up Tuesday for a number of immigration-related executive actions Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.
Activists want more than reunification, they want the illegal migrants who have not claimed their kids to get reparations.
"We will be very disappointed if the [task force] . . . does not address the thousands of other families that have been separated and need help," ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project Deputy Director Lee Gelernt told Politico.
"I expect the Biden administration to want to do everything it can to help these families and do as much as possible to remove the moral stain this has put on our country."
Gelernt wants legal status for them.
"I am confident that we will ultimately find the families," Gelernt told Politico. "But only the government can reunite the families and provide them with legal status in the United States."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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