Even though United States president Donald Trump recently signed an executive order to keep immigrant families together and reunite the ones that have already been separated, the process hasn't been that easy. As per the latest government tally, about 711 immigrant children still remain separated from their families and some may even never be reunited.
The deadline to reunite families was on Thursday, July 26, and federal judge Dana Sabraw while announcing the dates had clearly mentioned that they were "firm deadlines" and "not aspirational goals," reported CNN. However, the deadline was of little help as hundreds of children still remain separated.
The reasons behind this are said to be many. While it was earlier said that the officials did not have the information on the whereabouts of several parents, reports have it that some of these children and their families weren't eligible for reunification. Now, lawyers and activists are said to be trying to find out other ways of making sure that these children aren't left alone, but the legal procedures are quite lengthy and tiresome.
It's just layers and layers of legal complexities that have been created," Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, a nonprofit organisation that provides legal representation for unaccompanied minors, told CNN. "There are some really thorny legal questions that arise," she added.
Something that is heartbreaking is that the fact that these children are now considered "unaccompanied alien children" even though they crossed over to the US with their parents.
One of the reasons why these immigrant children couldn't be reunited with their parents is said to be their families' criminal records. Immigration officials said that this was being done for the safety of the children. Meanwhile, another reason has raised quite a few doubts. Officials said that some parents refused to be reunited with their children, something that is being debated as false claims.
Immigration activists have raised doubts that the parents could have been coerced into signing documents declining reunification, without their knowledge. However, the government has refuted these allegations.
So what's next?
The children who haven't found their families yet could be sent to live with their relatives or state sponsors. The sponsors too have to fulfil certain criteria to keep the children with them namely
- Adults who can provide for the child's physical and mental well-being
- Do not have a record of any activity that could be a risk to the child
- They must go through and pass a background check.
- Must attend all future proceedings in regards to the child's immigration process.
- Must ensure that the child reports to the ICE, in case an order has been passed by the court for deportation.
In case, the immigration officials cannot find a state sponsor for the children, they will be under the federal foster care.
"The normal rule is that with these unaccompanied kids, if they don't have a relative that they can be released to, if they didn't arrive with a parent, then they are placed into federal foster care," Young added.
However, she also said that most of these children have minimal chances of being adopted and in a career spanning 30 years she has seen only about a dozen children being adopted.
Deportation fears
The woes do not end there. Even after a child is under the care of state sponsors or the federal foster care, they will still have to prove their eligibility for immigration, failing which they are likely to be deported from the US.
Those children, who parents have already been deported, could sign a deportation order and leave the US to be with their families. While it was also being said that the parents could be brought back to the US for reunification, John Sandweg, the acting director of ICE from 2013-2014, told CNN, that the chances of this happening were slim.
"There's a very good chance they're going to be permanently separated," Sandweg explained.
A few days ago it was also reported that an Indian woman who had illegally crossed over to the US from Mexico, was detained and her five-year-old differently-abled son taken away.
Bhavan Patel's case was taken up for hearing and she appeared frail and worried in the courtroom and constantly wrung her hands. She is seeking asylum in the US after fleeing political persecution in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, her attorney said during the hearing, according to the Washington Post. She is said to have travelled to Greece and then Mexico after which she was trying to cross over to the US.
The 33-year-old was then granted a $30,000 bond by an Arizona court, but it is not known if she has been reunited with her son. Meanwhile, the five-year-old was said to be in one of the children's facilities and Patel's attorney Alinka Robinson explained: "Her son is not doing well."
