Facing the looming specter of a return to anti-immigration policies during Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, Congressional Democrats on Wednesday told a Biden administration task force to “help protect the thousands of families torn apart by illegal immigration.” He introduced a bicameral bill that would give him the power to “continue reunification efforts.” President Trump’s Zero Tolerance Policy, which inhumanely separates children from their parents,” and “Preventing Future Separations.”
On International Immigration Day, Democratic Representatives Delia Ramirez (Illinois) and Joaquin Castro (Texas), Senators Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Jeff Merkley (Oregon), Senator Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) and Representative Ed Markey (Massachusetts) attended. ), introduced the Family Reunion Special Committee Act. This comes after a report by human rights groups revealed that 1,360 people have been reunited with their families. Migrant children separated from their parents during President Trump’s first term have yet to be reunited.
“President Trump’s cruel zero-tolerance policy of tearing families apart intentionally inflicted irreparable trauma on immigrant parents, children, and communities,” Ramirez said in a statement Wednesday. “This is a habit we will never forget or repeat.”
“While we can never completely right these wrongs, the Family Reunification Task Force Act is an important tool to address the harm inflicted on families separated at the border,” she added. . “Our legislation is designed to urgently reunite families and ensure that families are never separated by our government at the border.”
Democratic President Joe Biden created a family reunification task force under a 2021 executive order, but immigration advocates fear the order will be rescinded when President Trump takes office next month. . Thousands of immigrant children were separated from their families during President Trump’s first term. The Biden administration also separated hundreds of immigrant children from their parents or legal guardians, according to a ProPublica report released last week.
President Trump has vowed to begin mass deportations on his first day in office. He also wants to abolish birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and instead of separating families whose children are U.S. citizens, they should be deported with their undocumented parents. Suggests.
“The first Trump administration’s family separation policy was a catastrophic failure, and six years later, hundreds of children remain separated from their parents,” Blumenthal said Wednesday. “The Family Reunification Task Force has done important work to identify and reunite families traumatized by this cruel policy, but that work is not done yet. Regardless of whether they are employed or not, this is a necessary step to continue righting the wrongs of family separation.” ”
Dozens of advocacy groups support the bill.
“My family and I are grateful to the members of Congress who are supporting the Family Reunification Task Force so that children who are still separated from their families can finally be reunited,” said one of the support groups. said Ksenia M. of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project. invoice.
“The few months I was separated from my then three-year-old daughter were incredibly painful. As a family, we will live with the effects of that separation for the rest of our lives,” she said. added. “We urge the U.S. government to continue to prioritize reunification and justice for all families affected by family separation policies.”
“Family separation policies were one of the darkest chapters of the former Trump administration, taking infants and young children from their parents’ arms and tearing apart thousands of families,” said Sarah Mehta, senior border policy advisor at the ACLU. said.
“This terrible nightmare continues for too many families who are still waiting to be reunited,” Mehta added. “We need laws like the Family Unification Task Force Act to ensure these children are not forgotten and can finally be reunited with their loved ones.”
