Trump’s immigration order sparks confusion, deep concern
EDINBURG, Texas — President Donald Trump’s reversal of a policy separating migrant families at the Mexico border sparked confusion over how the new guidelines will play out and deep concern that the changes don’t go far enough, allowing children to still be held in detention even if they remain with their families.
“We are pleased that the president is calling a halt to his inhumane and heartless policy of separating parents from their children,” said Peter Schey, the lawyer in a lawsuit that resulted in a key agreement governing the treatment of migrant children in detention called the Flores settlement.
Despite the president’s order, Schey said he was concerned that several thousand children have already been separated from their parents “without the Trump administration having any effective procedures in place to reunite children with their parents, many of whom have already been deported.”
Trump said Wednesday he didn’t like seeing children being removed from their families, a recent practice that has sparked worldwide outrage. But he also said “zero tolerance” on illegal immigration continues, and children will be held with their parents while the adults are prosecuted.