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Ending Separation of Immigrant Families - US

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June 21, 2018

Why in news?

Trump has signed an executive order to end separation of immigrant families on the US-Mexico border.

What was the separation policy?

  • This was part of Trump administration's “zero-tolerance” approach to dealing with undocumented migrants.
  • It involves separating children from undocumented migrant parents.

What is the legal backing for this?

  • There is no single U.S. law requiring families to be separated.
  • But there are loopholes in legislations leaving way for two legal provisions:
  1. a law against “improper entry by aliens” at the border
  2. a decree known as the Flores settlement
  • The first law makes it impossible to suddenly deport certain vulnerable categories of migrants.
  • These include families, asylum-seekers and unaccompanied minors.
  • To overcome this, Bush and Obama administrations adopted the policy of “catch and release”.
  • Under this, migrants would be released from custody pending their deportation case adjudication.
  • Family separation was unnecessary at that time.
  • But under the zero-tolerance approach, all undocumented migrants are charged in criminal courts.
  • Here, the Flores settlement applies.
  • This is because it limits to 20 days the length of time migrant children may be held in immigration detention.

Why is the policy reversed now?

  • While their parents face charges, the children are transferred to a different location.
  • Separation leads to devastating consequences for the families.
  • They remain in the custody of Customs and Border Protection personnel.
  • Recently, disturbing images and videos of struggling children have emerged.
  • In particular, there was a disturbing audio allegedly of crying children at one such unit.
  • There was widespread protest about the ethics of using children to discourage further undocumented border crossings.

What is the present order?

  • The order does not end the “zero tolerance” policy.
  • It still calls for criminal prosecution of immigrants crossing the border illegally.
  • However, now the illegal immigrant families would be detained together.
  • It also moves parents with children to the front of the line for immigration proceedings.

What are the concerns?

  • There are mixed reactions to the executive order, with significant concerns being highlighted.
  • The President’s Executive Order seeks to replace one form of child abuse with another.
  • It may pave the way for the long-term incarceration of families in prison-like conditions.
  • Instead of protecting traumatised children, it may place them in more disturbing conditions.
  • It may indeed be a continuation of violation of children’s human rights.

 

Source: The Hindu

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