It has been reported that 2,100 children that had been separated at the US-Mexico border under former president Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy had separated thousands of migrant families.
After their release, there is no surefire way to check if the children had been reunited with their families, and that they “may remain separated from their parents,” says US Department of Homeland Security.
There was a progress report released from a Family Reunification Task Force, following a study that had been ordered by the Biden administration last Tuesday.
The task force revealed statistics that 1,786 children had been reunified with their families in the United States and their home countries, but there still leaves room for around 2,127 children that have not been able to reunite with their parents.
Since 2017, border officials have separated up to at least 3,913 migrant children from their families.
The task force had held reunited seven families that had been separated, and then in the coming weeks, another 29 families had been reunited with each other. US Citizenship and Immigration Services had approved 37 parole requests in order for family members that had been separated from their children to re-enter the United States.
Vice President Kamala Harris has traveled to Central America in order to address the “root causes” of migration coming from Mexico and into the United States through the border.
More than 5,500 families had been separated during the Trump administration era, saying that they are committing “illegal entry” into the United States.
Five children have remained in custody of the Department of Health and Human Services because government officials cannot find them nor their family members.
Immigrant advocates have criticized the administration heavily, their pace in trying to find the families are painfully slow and there are hundreds of people who had been sent back to the countries they were trying to flee.
The administration at the moment lacks data of the 2,100 children being affected, but pointed the question of their safety towards the DHS. Groups have urged the president to not only rescind the anti-immigration agenda, but also recognize its harmful consequences caused by the US government and its impact on the families.