Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Monday 8 april 2019

U.S. says reuniting separated families laborious process

By ELLIOT SPAGAT cized the proposed time- terparts at Customs and
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The line on Saturday. Border Protection and U.S.
Trump administration wants "We strongly oppose a Immigration and Customs
up to two years to find po- plan that could take up to and Enforcement. Dr. Barry
tentially thousands of chil- two years to locate these Graubard, a statistics ex-
dren who were separated families," said Lee Gelernt, pert at the National Can-
from their families at the the ACLU's lead attorney. cer Institute, developed a
border before a judge halt- "The government needs to system to flag for early at-
ed the practice last year, make this a priority." tention those most likely to
a task that it says is more Sabraw ordered last year have been separated.
laborious than previous ef- that more than 2,700 chil- The vast majority of sepa-
forts because the children dren in government care rated children are released
are no longer in govern- on June 26, 2018 be reunit- to relatives, but many are
ment custody. ed with their families, which not parents. Of children
The Justice Department has largely been accom- released in the 2017 fis-
said in a court filing late Fri- In this June 17, 2018 file photo provided by U.S. Customs and plished. Then, in January, cal year, 49 percent went
day that it will take at least Border Protection, people who've been taken into custody re- the U.S. Health and Human to parents, 41 percent to
lated to cases of illegal entry into the United States, sit in one of
a year to review about the cages at a facility in McAllen, Texas. Services Department's in- close relatives such as an
47,000 cases of unaccom- Associated Press ternal watchdog reported aunt, uncle, grandparent
panied children taken into that thousands more chil- or adult sibling and 10 per-
government custody be- ting families. The adminis- The administration would dren may have been sep- cent to distant relatives,
tween July 1, 2017 and tration would begin by sift- provide information on sep- arated since the summer family friends and others.
June 25, 2018 — the day ing through names for traits arated families on a rolling of 2017. The department's The government's pro-
before U.S. District Judge most likely to signal sepa- basis to the American Civil inspector general said the posed model to flag still-
Dana Sabraw halted the ration — for example, chil- Liberties Union, which sued precise number was un- separated children puts
general practice of split- dren under 5. to reunite families and criti- known. a higher priority on the
The judge ruled last month roughly half who were not
that he could hold the gov- released to a parent. Oth-
ernment accountable for er signs of likely separation
families that were sepa- include children under 5,
rated before his June or- younger children travel-
der and asked the govern- ing without a sibling and
ment submit a proposal for those who were detained
the next steps. A hearing is in the Border Patrol's El
scheduled April 16. Paso, Texas, sector, where
Sheer volume makes the the administration ran a
job different than identify- trial program that involved
ing children who were in separating nearly 300 fam-
custody at the time of the ily members from July to
judge's June order, Jona- November 2017.
than White, a commander Saturday marks the anni-
of the U.S. Public Health versary of the administra-
Service and Health and Hu- tion's "zero tolerance" pol-
man Services' point person icy to criminally prosecute
on family reunification, said every adult who enters
in an affidavit. the country illegally from
White, whose work has Mexico. The administra-
drawn strong praise from tion retreated in June amid
the judge, would lead an international uproar by
the effort to identify ad- generally exempting adults
ditional families on behalf who come with their chil-
of Health and Health and dren. The policy now ap-
Human Services with coun- plies only to single adults.q