President Joe Biden promised during his campaign to establish a task force "on his first day as president" to reunite migrant families that had been separated during the Trump administration. But his series of executive orders is expected to be delayed "by at least a few days," according to sources close to the discussions.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain had said the administration would "start the difficult but critical work of reuniting families separated at the border," but a separate planning document that circulated among officials indicated the immigration executive action would be unveiled Friday, more than a week after Biden was sworn in, reports NBC News.
NBC's sources said the orders are delayed "by at least a few days" but wouldn't disclose the reason.
The task force is expected to combine forces from the departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and State and to be led by Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden's nominee to head DHS, according to three sources said to be familiar with the plans.
The focus of the task force is to reunite migrant families that were separated at the border but not by deportations across all four years of former President Donald Trump's time in office. It will also produce a report on what had led to separations but won't be conducting an investigation leading to criminal charges of officials, leaving that up to the Justice Department to determine if witnesses should be called.
The task force's work will also lead to all families that were separated at the border to be eligible for reunification, not only those that were separated under the "zero tolerance" policy that removed children from parents whose only crime was to cross the border illegally during May and June 2018.
During that period, 3,000 migrant children were separated from their parents. Before that, more than 1,000 families had been separated during a pilot program in and around El Paso, Texas, and after June 18, the ACLU says another 1,000 families were separated at the border.
Meanwhile, many parents have been deported, and the task force is not expected to announce whether those families will get special permission to return to the United States to claim their children.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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