The latest twist in the separation of children from their parents on the border is baffling even from this White House. Politico reports:
“The Trump administration on Thursday informed a federal judge that it isn’t responsible for locating deported parents separated forcibly from their children at the southern border.
DOJ said in a court filing that the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit over family separations, should instead take the lead in reunifying deported parents with their children.”
NEW: Trump administration says in order to reunite remaining 572 separated kids @ACLU — *not* government which separated them — should be responsible for:
– Establishing contact
– Determining desire to be reunified & written confirmation
– Attorney consultation
– Data gathering pic.twitter.com/3X8HxM8Nad— Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) August 3, 2018
Lee Gelernt, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project told News & Guts:
“The government appears to be taking the remarkable position that it is the job of private entities to find these parents, and it can largely sit back and wait for us to tell them when we find people.”
The Trump administration chose to rip families apart as a matter of policy to punish people for seeking asylum.
We are eager to help locate these parents, but won’t allow the president to pass the blame for the crisis he created. https://t.co/gEYo7MyTwF
— ACLU (@ACLU) August 3, 2018
“ACLU lawyers argued that the Trump administration is trying to shirk its responsibility by passing its work off to private groups despite its own considerable resources.
‘Not only was it the government’s unconstitutional separation practice that led to this crisis, but the United States Government has far more resources than any group of NGOs (no matter how many NGOs and law firms are willing to help),’ they wrote.”
Just when you thought the Trump administration couldn’t set the bar any lower, it tells the @ACLU to find the parents THE ADMINISTRATION deported. The total disinterest in reuniting families is sickening. Donald Trump has the resources to fix this, he just lacks the heart. https://t.co/rsWKU6deCo
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) August 3, 2018
“A decision on how to bridge the differences falls to U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who has ordered that more than 2,500 children be reunited with their families. He was scheduled to speak with both sides in a conference call Friday.
As of Wednesday, 410 children whose parents were outside the country were in the custody of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.”