[dropcap]P[/dropcap]resident Donald Trump announced today that he has signed an executive order to put an end to migrant children being separated from their parents. There has been national outcry from reports that children were not only being separated from their parents who were attempting to cross the border illegally but that children had been lost in the system and can not be accounted for.
“The Republicans want security and insist on security for our country and we will have that. At the same time, we have compassion and we want to keep families together. I am going to sign something in a little while that’s going to do that,” Trump said during a press conference earlier today.
Trump said that anyone attempting to cross the border illegally will still be prosecuted but that officials will find or build facilities so that families are detained together.
“Mr. Trump’s executive order directed the government’s lawyers to ask for a modification of an existing 1997 consent decree, known as the Flores settlement, that currently prohibits the federal government from keeping children in immigration detention — even if they are with their parents — for more than 20 days.
But it is unclear whether the court will agree to that request. If not, the president is likely to face an immediate legal challenge from immigration activists on behalf of families that are detained in makeshift facilities,” (The New York Times).
Trump initially refused to simply end the policy but has come under fire from international organizations and human rights groups.
