There IS a Federal Court Order from a lawsuit settlement AGAINST this policy….
NY Times…..
JB: You spoke with several parents who have been separated from their children in recent months, all of whom were in ICE custody. What did they tell you?
HA: They expressed anguish, first and foremost, at being separated from their kids. They were still coming to grips with this idea that they were not with their children — and that there weren’t any prospects of being with their children anytime soon.
One thing that stuck with me was a father who told me he blamed himself for being separated from his child. He said that he’d had a nice life in Russia, and that he’d ruined it by being a dissident. He said that he had brought his family to the United States, and that, ultimately, the reason he wasn’t with his child was because of his decisions.
This raises a bigger question about agency. During Trump’s first term, parents weren’t presented with a choice about being separated from their children after crossing the border — it was something that happened fairly systematically. This time, the administration says it is giving parents a choice. Is that true?
The administration has repeatedly told me that these families have the opportunity to remain together. They could have been deported, as they were ordered to be, and they would still be together. They say it is the refusal to comply with this deportation that led them to this point.
For the Russian families I spoke with, this was not a choice in any way. To be removed back to their home country was not a choice that they could make. As one of the fathers told me, being returned to Russia would have meant an even longer separation, a surefire imprisonment and danger to his child. So to them, it wasn’t a choice, but to the government, it was.
This practice isn’t nearly as widespread as it was during the first term, at least not right now. Why is it still important to understand?
I think this is a new front in family separation. I spoke with former ICE officials, with advocates, with lawyers, with the A.C.L.U., and nobody had known about these types of separations.
During the first administration, there was a court order that blocked family separations at the southern border, although separations continued for certain reasons, including national security threats, public safety threats or child endangerment, with different protocols and procedures.
In this instance, the government has decided, at least internally, according to the documentation that we’ve seen, that separations happening within the country fall outside the scope of that court order. And as a result, they would argue, those parameters and those requirements don’t apply here.
What does this tell us about how the administration is pursuing its goal of deporting millions of people?
ICE is under an incredible amount of pressure to meet these lofty goals of mass arrests and mass deportations. Every single way that ICE can, they’re looking to boost their numbers. In the past, when a family refused to be deported or refused to comply with a deportation order, they might have been allowed to remain in the country, perhaps under ICE monitoring. Now, families are going to be separated, and they will continue to be held in custody. And the government will continue to try to deport them in the toughest way possible. This is not going to be a situation where people are going to be released into the country and allowed to live their lives.
This interview was condensed and edited for clarity. Read Hamed’s full story here.