Migrants in the US: Hundreds of children further separated from parents

According to Homeland Security, almost 1,000 children of immigrants live in the United States without their families. Under ex-President Trump, they were separated at the US borders. The Biden government is trying to bring things together.

In the United States, almost 1,000 migrant children are still separated from their parents. This was announced by the US Department of Homeland Security yesterday. The ministry is responsible for reuniting families that were torn apart under ex-President Donald Trump.

In the meantime, 3,924 children have been identified who have suffered this fate. Of them, 2,926 have been reunited with their families through targeted efforts. The remaining children should also be reunited with their parents, announced Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas. “We reiterate our promises to work tirelessly to reunite these families who have suffered because of past cruel and inhumane policies.”

Crackdown on the border

Trump had taken a hard line in the fight against illegal immigration to the United States during his tenure. As part of a “zero tolerance” policy, families picked up at the border were divided up and the children separated from their parents. While the minors were taken to separate accommodation, their parents were arrested and in many cases deported.

Immediately after his election, the incumbent US President Joe Biden initiated a departure from his predecessor’s tough course and sharply condemned the actions.

families hard to find

According to the US government, locating the children’s parents is a difficult task. Between 2017 and 2018, the Trump administration did not document which families were picked up together in the border area. In addition, according to the ministry, the wanted parents often lived in poorly connected rural areas of Central America.

However, a wide range of channels are used to establish contact: from social media to telephone calls to personal visits to the front door. There are difficulties with families who have not returned to their home countries but have stayed in border countries such as Mexico.

At the time of the separation, many of the children were still too young to be able to remember their parents’ names or their homeland.