The administration of US President Joe Biden reached an amicable agreement on Monday (October 16) with migrant families separated at the border with Mexico under a policy of his predecessor Donald Trump, the Department of Defense announced. Justice.
Nearly 4,000 minors were separated from their parents under President Trump under his so-called “zero tolerance” policy of bringing criminal charges against anyone who entered illegally across the border. As a result, parents could be immediately detained without their children.
“The practice of separating families at the southwest border was shameful,” Justice Minister Merrick Garland was quoted as saying in a statement. The agreement, which ends a class-action lawsuit initiated in 2018 in federal court in California, must still be submitted to a judge for approval. It provides assistance to affected families for immigration procedures, housing and care.
This agreement also aims to reduce the possibility of further separations in the future and notably prohibits the government from any action in this direction over the next eight years.
“Closing one of the darkest chapters” of the Trump era
Shortly after arriving at the White House, Joe Biden created a unit in February 2021 dedicated to identifying and locating separated migrant families. This unit has so far “reunited more than 750 children with their families” and has identified 85 others about to be, according to the press release.
The influential civil rights organization ACLU, which led the collective procedure, congratulated itself in a press release on having reached “a historic agreement” making it possible to “close one of the darkest chapters of the Trump administration “.
“An essential element of this agreement is that the government finally agreed not to renew this zero tolerance policy,” emphasizes the ACLU.
The tragedies experienced by separated families had sparked an outcry even in Republican ranks, leading Donald Trump to decide in June 2018 to put an end to this policy intended to dissuade migrants from crossing the border. A federal judge, for his part, ordered the reunification of divided families.
But, at the same time, the administration continued to separate families using the rule allowing an undocumented parent to be arrested and expelled if they committed a serious crime.
