Former President Donald Trump had implemented a policy of separating illegal immigrants from their children. Speaking of “  national shame ”, his successor Joe Biden set up upon his arrival a cell intended to identify and locate separated families.
Thursday, February 2, the Minister of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas gave an update on the issue of migrant children separated from their families. After two years of work, nearly 4,000 children separated from their families between 2017 and 2021 have been identified, the minister explained. Of these 4,000, just under 1,000 have still not been reunited with their parents. Among them, 148 children are “  in the process of joining them  ”, and “  183 families have been informed that they can be reunited  ”.
Alejandro Mayorkas spoke of ”  essential work not yet finished  “, and promised that the task force would continue to try to contact separated families in order to give them the possibility of reuniting in the United States.
Launched in April 2018, the Trump administration ‘s so-called ”  zero tolerance ” policy lasted only a few months. It was about opening criminal proceedings against anyone who entered illegally at the border with Mexico, and thus imprisoning the parents without their children. A deterrent according to the Trump administration.
But after the abandonment in June 2018 of this policy, which had caused an outcry even among Republicans, this administration had continued to separate families. It used a rule to arrest and deport an undocumented parent if they have committed a serious offence, but, the associations explain, it also applied to minor offences, such as traffic violations.

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